aftermath of the attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush said that the terrorists responsible were cowards. During the September 17, 2001 episode, one of Maher's guests, Dinesh D'Souza, said “These are warriors. And we have to realize that the principles of our way of life are in conflict with people in the world. And so—I mean, I’m all for understanding the sociological causes of this, but we should not blame the victim. Americans shouldn’t blame themselves because other people want to bomb them.” Maher agreed, and replied: "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, [it's] not cowardly." Similar comments were made by others in other media. Advertisers withdrew their support, and some ABC affiliates stopped airing the show temporarily. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer denounced Maher, warning that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do." Maher apologized, and explained that he had been criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers. The show was canceled the following June, which Maher and many others saw as a result of the controversy, although ABC denied that the controversy was a factor and said the program was canceled due to declining ratings. Maher said that the show struggled for advertisers in its final months. There were subsequently comments in various media on the irony that a show called Politically Incorrect was canceled because its host had made a supposedly politically incorrect comment. The show was replaced on ABC by Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2003. Maher rebounded with an hour-long weekly program on HBO called Real Time with Bill Maher premiering on February 21, 2003, which follows a similar format. Awards and recognition The show won a 2000 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series." In addition, it was nominated for seventeen other awards, including: "Outstanding Variety"; "Outstanding Music or Comedy Series" (every year from 1995 to 2002); and "Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program" in 1997. The show also won two CableACE Awards in 1995 and 1996 for Talk Show Series and was nominated for a third in 1997. It was also nominated for two Writers Guild of America awards for best Comedy/Variety series in 2001 and 2002. Related media Maher released a book in 1997, Does Anybody Have a