Blogger Andrew Sullivan slammed Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a “talent-free hack,” and openly wondered if “she has any core beliefs” on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time.”

Sullivan began by criticising “This unbelievably useless, terrible candidate of Hillary Clinton, who has shown no –.”

After host Bill Maher asked Sullivan to explain, he asked, “Have you ever — has she ever given a speech that you were inspired by? Does she have any good retail skills? Is she able to come across on TV?”

Sullivan added, “A large majority of the country don’t believe a word she’s saying, for good reason. This week, her cynicism reached like an almost perfect Clinton level.”

After Maher suggested the press might be to blame, Sullivan responded, “Oh poor, poor Hillary. She can’t handle the press?”

Sullivan later stated, “She’s a talent-free hack.” He further argued, “The only decision you could really put on her was the disastrous Libya invasion, which repeated every mistake that George W. Bush made, that violated everything that Obama stood, and has led to disaster.”

He further called Clinton “a mediocrity, and I think if the Democrats are sane and sensible, this is a dangerous time for this country, they need to find someone with ability, and talent, and leadership. But not her.”

Sullivan also blasted her email server as a “dumb error,” continuing “60% of the country don’t believe a word she says. … no one gets elected president if no one trusts you, or believes a word you say, for good reason. Do you really believe she genuinely opposes this Pacific trade pact? Do you really — the one she argued for, negotiated for, and this week came out against it? For what reason? She can’t even give a good reason.”

Maher conceded that Clinton is “a calculating politician,” but that “I’d rather have a politician who calculates than one who can’t.”

Sullivan countered, “The question is, not whether she can calculate, is whether she can do anything but calculation, whether she has any vision, whether she has any core beliefs, or whether she’s in the prison of another bubble called Washington, which tells people just because of…people that they’ve worked with, or the establishment that they’re unimpeachable, they will always be the candidate.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett