Who has ever called him "the last sane voice on the left", apart from maybe himself?

[muriel_volestrangler]

It's a ridiculous claim, that no one else could ever have heard without laughing.

I first saw Maher in the late 90s, when I was living in the USA. At the time, he struck me as an "acceptable libertarian". I was surprised how much he was liked on DU in the 2000s, but I suppose he was never pro-Bush, so counted as an ally. But at no point was he "on the left"; socially liberal, but I've never seen him talking about living standards for the working class - the basic requirement to be called "on the left". He'd fit in with Reaganite/Thatcherite economics.

His social liberalness has frequently faltered since then, as you note.