But Bloggers Sometimes Use Naughty Words

Deranged conservative radio host Michael Savage:

"You know, the Gore-leone crime family is now the number one crime family in the world, when you think about it. He's about to pull off the biggest scam in the history of the world. It's bigger than any bank heist, bigger than any drug deal. It's bigger than any counterfeiting scheme, and he's doing it all nice and natural with a little help from the socialist perverts in Norway, who gave him a Nobel Prize. Why do I call them socialist perverts? Answer: because they are. By and large, 90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation, according to the latest scientific studies."

And, yes, he's nationally syndicated. That's via Dave Roberts.

Comments

Yep, that Michael Savage is quite a character from what I've heard...

Maybe if enough of us complain to the FCC, his radio stations will be forced to replace him with someone calmer and more rational like Ol' Charlie Manson...

Posted by RKU | December 13, 2007 6:01 PM

Whoever did that groundbreaking research deserves a...oh, wait.

Posted by EpicureanQuaker | December 13, 2007 6:02 PM

I don't ask for civility.

But some grasp of geography would be nice.

"Norway"

Seriously? Jesus fucking christ.

Posted by southpaw | December 13, 2007 6:04 PM

Ah, shoot, the ceremony for the peace prize is in Oslo. I take it back.

Posted by southpaw | December 13, 2007 6:18 PM

Since Savage actually gives money to liberal Democrats, I think he qualifies as an agent provocateur - he's outrageous specifically to make conservatives look bad.

But hey - that Google thing is way too hard for you pundit guys to make use of.

Posted by James Robertson | December 13, 2007 6:20 PM

By and large, 90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation, according to the latest scientific studies.

Well, you can find statistics to prove anything.

Posted by Al | December 13, 2007 6:23 PM

Remember when MSNBC was aping Fox News and hired this asshole.

Posted by Pritesh | December 13, 2007 6:27 PM

Savage is one of the best conservative talk show hosts to listen to while driving just to keep yourself awake, because he will say something outrageously angry and stupid pretty much every time he opens his mouth. Nothing compares. (I've found Limbaugh surprisingly boring.)

Also, check out the Michael Weiner/botany part of his bio.

Posted by Zack | December 13, 2007 6:28 PM

For interesting information on Michael Savage nee Weiner's semi-homerotic letter to Alan Ginsberg, see here:

http://www.nndb.com/people/588/000044456/

We also hear about his struggles with male beauty.

Posted by Daniel Shays | December 13, 2007 6:28 PM

By and large, 90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation, according to the latest scientific studies.

I'm pretty sure the Savage Weiner has conducted his own 'scientific studies' into child pornography and molestation.

Posted by Tom Hilton | December 13, 2007 6:32 PM

James Robertson really can explain away anything.

He gets today's sophistry prize.

Posted by Hannah Montana | December 13, 2007 6:38 PM

Yes! That's it - Savage is actually a good person who is portraying a crazy person in order to make conservatives look bad. Genius!

These guys obviously are "agent provocateurs," too:
George W. Bush - really, who's this stupid and venal? Obviously it's an act
Dick Cheney - really, who's this consistently evil? He does the wrong thing every single time - it goes against the law of averages!
Rush Limbaugh - he says, at minimum, eight stupid and/or offensive things every day - clearly a liberal plant
Ann Coulter - this is where the evil liberal plot to make conservatives look bad becomes way too obvious! I'll admit it, I have stacks of her books in my basement, I bought them to boost her sales and make conservatives look bad!
Dennis Hastert - the bungling boob persona was all an act! He's actually a crafty, scheming liberal!
Rick Santorum - a comic book conservative villian! Clearly an act.
The Free Republic - this entire Web site is a sham - to make conservatives look bad!
Alberto Gonzales - I suspected he was a secret liberal all along. Honestly, seventh-graders are more savvy than this "conservative."

Now we know - James Robertson has pulled back the curtain!

Posted by Woody Bombay | December 13, 2007 6:39 PM

I think James Robertson is a plant designed to make conservative trolls look bad.

Posted by Hannah Montana | December 13, 2007 6:45 PM

I don't think Savage is an agent provocateur, but I do think he's the male Ann Coulter -- he says shit solely because it's outrageous, solely to get a reaction. He's not joking, but he's not exactly serious. Thus, the best way to fight him is to ignore him.

Posted by too many steves | December 13, 2007 6:54 PM

steves,

I don't care enough about Savage to characterize my ignoring him as 'fighting' him.

James Robertson, though, I am very concerned about. Because he is On To Us.

Posted by Woody Bombay | December 13, 2007 6:57 PM

By and large, 90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation, according to the latest scientific studies.

Outrageously inaccurate. Ninety percent of the people on the Nobel Committee were into child pornography or molestation. Only 37 percent were into child pornography and molestation.

This is what happens when journalists just skim the abstract, instead of actually reading the whole study.

Posted by JB | December 13, 2007 6:58 PM

Michael Savage is a piece of shit. The preceding is in fulfillment of my personal crusade to say nothing about this tier of conservative media figures except to point out the obvious, and move on. I think we'd be better off if everyone did this. Thank you for your consideration.

Posted by Rich | December 13, 2007 7:11 PM

Savage is clearly over the top, but underneath all the hyperbole, there's a kernel of truth: Saint Gore is taking his Nobel and his government connections to Kleiner Perkins where he will cash in off of the next wave of ethanol-like government mandated environmental regulations. Perhaps not a bank heist, but not exactly noble either.

Posted by Fred | December 13, 2007 7:41 PM

That stat is from scientific studies. It must be right. Why do you hate science, Matt?

Posted by Lucy | December 13, 2007 7:49 PM

"By and large, 90 percent"

Posted by Bill | December 13, 2007 8:08 PM

I have no idea why I bothered, but I went over to OpenSecrets.org to look up his contributions.

Michael Savage was born Michael Weiner, and is based in the San Fransisco area. There is one Michael Savage, listed as self employed, living in the area (Piedmont) who has donated to... John McCain! There's no Michael Weiner who fits that description.

But hey, if James Robertson has evidence that Savage is lying on his disclosure forms, by all means, present it!

Posted by Sam L | December 13, 2007 8:15 PM

Yeah, Fred. It's all an elaborate scheme to make money. Because I'm sure he would have had problems making money if not for the whole Nobel thing. Thanks for figuring that one out.

Posted by Mike | December 13, 2007 8:39 PM

I remember reading an op-ed in the WSJ in which someone argued that Savage didn't really believe all of the outrageous spouts off. The motivation that was argued for wasn't that he's an "agent provocateur". The op-ed writer just thought he wants to be as famous as possible and make a ton of money. He sure just succeeded in getting MY to give him some publicity. I try listening to the guy for crude entertainment value now. A look at Savage's wiki article makes his journey from liberalism to conservatism seem largely legit, though. Can anyone find this WSJ op-ed?

Full Disclosure: My Great-Grandmothers maiden name was Leone, so I could be a paid shill for the Gore-leone crime family.

Posted by pjgoober | December 13, 2007 8:51 PM

Wait no, since I'm in the family, I'm not a paid shill. I am a full partner.

Posted by pjgoober | December 13, 2007 8:54 PM

BMM's worlds collide, a beatdown of Savage by Charles Barkley (via TrueHoop).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAZzgTLsDYY

Posted by joejoejoe | December 13, 2007 9:27 PM

I think he is representative of the class of individuals, who tend to be mostly pissed off white dudes but who are by no means exclusively so, who have very little interest in politics in the nominal sense. He doesn't actually care about advancing some group's interest or his own pet causes. Rather, politics is merely a valve he uses to vent all of his repressed anger and frustration. I've seen this enough times to suspect it's really a biological phenomenon. I don't think it's good for democracy, because it puts all the emphasis on a never ending rollercoaster of catharsis, rather than on, say, the empirical examination of potentially successful policies. But it probably does keep dudes like Mr. Savage from going totally insane and peppering some shopping mall with shotgun blasts. So maybe the trade off is worth it. I dunno.

Posted by gerontion | December 13, 2007 9:29 PM

Since the Peace Prize committee has five members, if 90% of them are into kiddie porn, then one of them is only halfway into it.

Posted by Grumpy | December 13, 2007 9:29 PM

I forget where I found that video. Maybe here. All my internets are blending into one.

Posted by joejoejoe | December 13, 2007 9:31 PM

Since Wiener is hurling accusations, he might wish to be specific as to which four of the five members of the committee are into kiddie porn (that's 80%) and which remaining member is only halfway. Is it...

68-year old Ole Danbolt Mjøs;
70-year old Berge Furre;
57-year old Sissel Marie Rønbeck;
66-year old Inger-Marie Ytterhorn;
or 56-year old Kaci Kullmann Five?

Note that three of the five members are women.

Posted by Grumpy | December 13, 2007 9:36 PM

There was a story in one of the local (Bay Area) weeklies a year or two ago on Savage. It turns out he was in grad school at Berkeley in the late 50s/early 60s, and was an associate of the Beats during that period. He attempted to get close to Alan Ginsburg, who didn't seem to want much to do with him; there was a clear homoerotic element in his letters to Ginsburg. I won't recite the whole exerpts of the letters here, but let's just say that Savage wrote that he wanted to "photograph the anus" of Ginsburg.

After he got kicked out of Berkeley, presumably for the usual grad school reasons, not making adequate progress, etc... he turned conservative and wrote mocking letters to the same Beat poets he earlier idolized.

To me, this makes a lot of sense, psychologically. We've seen this same dynamic before.

Posted by XY | December 13, 2007 9:55 PM

"photograph the anus" - Savage as Borat! I love it.

Posted by joejoejoe | December 13, 2007 10:03 PM

After he got kicked out of Berkeley, presumably for the usual grad school reasons, not making adequate progress, etc... he turned conservative and wrote mocking letters to the same Beat poets he earlier idolized.

Wow. I've never been so glad to have finished grad school, now that I know that the fate of grad-school drop-outs is to turn into right wing crazymen.

Savage is clearly over the top, but underneath all the hyperbole, there's a kernel of truth

Fred, dude, every right wing shill uses the same line: "surely so-and-so is extreme, but the essence of what he's saying is true." Shut it. We know your beliefs are nothing but a worthless gutter ideology.

Posted by Tyro | December 13, 2007 10:04 PM

I believe Mr. Robertson was referring to the fact that last year Savage donated $5,600 to Jerry Brown's campaign for Attorney General.

http://penpressclub.org/2006/10/radios-michael-savage-backs-jerry.html

Posted by Blackadder | December 13, 2007 11:22 PM

Better a Savage than an Yglesia, thank you very much.

At least savage is standing up to Islamo Fascism unlike the deranged Yglesias

Posted by Rob | December 14, 2007 12:02 AM

""photograph the anus" - Savage as Borat! I love it."

I am sure you would love it. Is this the some of your criticism of Savage?

What a bunch of deranged lefties. What am I saying there is no other kind of lefty, you are all deranged.

Posted by Rob | December 14, 2007 12:06 AM

Michael Savage is either mentally deranged, or a huge phony. He's the same guy who got kicked off msnbc for telling a gay caller to "get aids and die." The same guy who likes to talk about how he'd like to murder "the degenerates in San-Fran-Sicko." The same guy who says the democratic leadership should be hanged for treason. The same guy who says whenever he sees someone with an antiwar bumper sticker, he flies into an uncontrollable rage and wants to commit bodily harm upon them. I love it when people like Bill o'reilly talk about all the hate coming from the left, and then ignore people like savage.

Posted by mad6798j | December 14, 2007 12:15 AM

Rob: Islamo-fascism like this?

ABC News, New York, 12/12/07: "'You killed him, you killed Jesus, you killed him on Hanukkah, you dirty Jew, you [expletive] Jew,' [Assault victim] Adler said the attackers said.

Adler said the incident was sparked by him wishing his friends a Happy Hannukah to his friends.

"And almost immediately, you see the look in this guy's face, like I've called his mother something," Adler said. "And I see the way this guy looks, and I see the way that this guy wants to fight me, and I look, and I see another guy right in front of me, another guy. And I see the crowd moving in."

"Attacking someone because they yell 'Happy Hanukkah' is obviously reason to believe this is an anti-Semitic," Parsheva said.

When Hassan Askari, another passenger on the train, tried to help, he was beaten up too.

"I don't understand," Askari said. "They just said 'Happy Hannukah.' That was it. There was nothing else." [...]

"No one else helped up, except Hassan," Parsheva said. "No one else on the train."

"A Muslim-American saved us, when our own people were on the train and didn't do anything," Adler said. "Someone who in the media often gets painted as the enemy of Israel and the Jews, this is a...Sunni Muslim, this is someone that jumped in, he knew we were Jews, to help us."

Happy Holidays. May your thumb not be up your anus in your time of need.

Posted by joejoejoe | December 14, 2007 12:51 AM

Rob, you would be advised to use commas in the future.

It will marginally decrease your incoherence.

"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives." -- J.S. Mill,

(enter ROB): but he must be a deranged leftie what am I talking about all lefties are deranged end transmission

Posted by Daniel Shays | December 14, 2007 12:58 AM

Tyro: Wow. I've never been so glad to have finished grad school, now that I know that the fate of grad-school drop-outs is to turn into right wing crazymen.

Not always. When I dropped out of graduate school, my response was to become depressed and embittered. I was in graduate school in a technical discipline: maybe that's the difference.

Posted by anonymous | December 14, 2007 1:25 AM

Sorry, that should have been a semi-colon between the words "discipline" and "maybe", not a colon. I think so, anyway (remember, I was in a technical discipline in graduate school, not English).

Posted by anonymous | December 14, 2007 1:29 AM

By the way, are there any lawyers out there who know if he is liable to a suit for defamation/ slander? He must surely be crossing a line somewhere, mmaking a factual claim about this small group of people which is incorrect, defamatory and clearly malicious.

Posted by Jon | December 14, 2007 2:43 AM

"Note that three of the five members are women."

Oh my goodness, what a sexist assumption! I really thought that women had finally broken through the "glass ceiling" and achieved a status where they could just as equally be suspected of pedophilia as men!

Posted by GoryHart | December 14, 2007 3:48 AM

Well, if he's in San Francisco, maybe one of these days he'll cross my path - and accidentally trip and break his neck.

Or somebody will mug him and leave a .45 hollowpoint in his head. (Wonder how much cash he carries in his wallet - probably a lot since he's probably paid a few hundred grand a year...)

Like Willem Defoe said in "Triple X: State of the Union": "An unfortunate accident. Could happen to anyone."

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | December 14, 2007 6:46 AM

Savage = barrel of fish.

Posted by An Outhouse | December 14, 2007 8:13 AM

Richard Steven Hack = whackjob violent faux liberal troll.

Posted by Crusty Dem | December 14, 2007 9:03 AM

Savage is actually the only one of the right wing radio people is generally fun to listen to. Of course he is crazy, but he is not robotic like most of them. He proudly compares himself to the crazy uncle who comes to holiday dinners and rants on and on. He simply makes the mistake of thinking that people respect the crazy uncle as a truth teller.

And despite all of the abuse he drops on other groups, he seems to be legitimately touched when his syncophantic fans praise him. Unlike a Limbaugh who would respond to praise with an "of course" Savage tends to start questioning the caller to see what he liked most. Was it the way I did this?

Having to spend too much time driving through Western Pennsylvania, I actually consider it a bit of luck to stumble on his show. It is usually good for some laughs.

Posted by Lon | December 14, 2007 9:16 AM

"Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forfty percent of all people know that."

Posted by norbizness | December 14, 2007 9:21 AM

In my city (Louisville, KY) Clear Channel acquired our main AM talk station (WHAS 840), something of a community institution because it has always had moderately decent local content. Last week, though, Clear Channel's corporate overlords decreed that Joe Elliott, a great local broadcaster (who is blind to boot) had to go to make way for... you guessed it... Michael Savage.

I guess Clear Channel's right-wing overlords are really THAT afraid of 2008 if they think it will take the likes of Savage to keep the red-state Kentuckians deranged enough to keep voting Republican.

Posted by Brian | December 14, 2007 9:33 AM

If you're so inlcined, respond to lunatics like Savage with your dollars. I listen to his show now and again when nothing else is on talk radio, kind of like I'll watch a replay of some catastrophe unfold on television or youtube now and then - each are interesting in an "I can't believe what I'm hearing / seeing" kind of way. If a company chooses to support this nut by advertising on Savage's show (or Mark Levin's...or Bill O's...or Rush's....) I make a mental note not to shop there / eat there / go there. Reverse advertising at it's best...

Posted by Hops | December 14, 2007 10:19 AM

What has Savage purported to do to stand up to "Islamo-fascism?" People who died fighting the Taliban or female police officers in Iraq who refuse to give up their weapons can say they've done something to stand against militant Islam. When has Savage done more than yak about it?

Posted by Dragonfly | December 14, 2007 10:31 AM

Re Crusty Dem

"Richard Steven Hack = whackjob violent faux liberal troll."

Just in case Mr. Crusty Dem hasn't been following this blog, he should be aware that frequent commentor Mr. Hack is a convicted bank robber who was a guest of the federal government in the federal birdcage in Leavenworth, Kn. for 8 years. Mr. Hack has also previously advocated the assassination of police officers.

Posted by SLC | December 14, 2007 10:44 AM

"Having to spend too much time driving through Western Pennsylvania, I actually consider it a bit of luck to stumble on his show. It is usually good for some laughs."

Don't forget that we're the ones who gave the world Rick Santorum, too. Of course, I don't think he was joking but he was still kinda comical towards the end there.

Posted by Shawn | December 14, 2007 11:05 AM

By the way, are there any lawyers out there who know if he is liable to a suit for defamation/ slander? He must surely be crossing a line somewhere, mmaking a factual claim about this small group of people which is incorrect, defamatory and clearly malicious.

Yes. His only possible defense would be to claim that no one takes him seriously.

Posted by rea | December 14, 2007 11:51 AM

Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, etc. all, see examplars of Dr. Johnson's quote: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

Yes, they are fighting Islamo-Facism, just like the fought Global Communism, all the way to the bank.

Posted by Rickster Sherpa | December 14, 2007 12:37 PM

It makes me wonder. FEC fined a broadcaster 700k for showing a boob during an intermission in a football game, causing mental anguish among all beer swilling fans who just wanted to have some clean fun, nothing more outrageus than causing a permanent spine damage (rare during football games, but much more frequent than bare boobs.

Savages statement, if untrue, are quite defamatory and dangerous. Next time, Savage fans will beat up some Norvegian looking kids (or Norvegian looking 60-ish ladies?) Or even worse, they will attack real Norvegians and get beaten up (my impression was that Norvegians are rather fit). In my opinion, the statement was 100 times more harmful, per listener, than a fleeting glimpse of a boob. So I would multiply 700k by hundred and divide by the ration of audience sizes. Errr, it would be ca. a dollar per listener.

[I started to review possible reason of "boob harm", and initially it looked bad, so I would not get any ratio. Most fans were probably familiar with that shape, and those unfamiliar were probably not damaged by the experience, except, except for those who were and that very moment ingesting beer and pretzels, and a surprise could be a chocking hazard).

Posted by piotr | December 14, 2007 6:05 PM

SLC :Re Crusty Dem

"Just in case Mr. Crusty Dem hasn't been following this blog, he should be aware that frequent commentor Mr. Hack is a convicted bank robber who was a guest of the federal government in the federal birdcage in Leavenworth, Kn. for 8 years. Mr. Hack has also previously advocated the assassination of police officers."

Entirely true - well, except for the part about being in Leavenworth for 8 years - it was actually 4 years. The other 4 were in other lower security institutions. However SLC forgets the part about my being in "The Hole" for two of those four years, and over three years total for all institutions.

Get your facts correct, SLC.

And don't forget - I also advocate the assassination of Zionists, neocons, in fact, all statists, scumbag corporate types, most criminals, most so-called "broadcast news journalists", all religious morons - especially in the priesthood of virtually all religions except Buddhism and Taoism and neo-pagans (who are mostly harmless), and a lot of people I just see on the street or on TV on any given day and probably most people I've ever heard of.

I exempt some hot babes, and rational, intelligent people (rational and intelligent don't always - or even usually - go together in the same person, so I have to specify both characteristics as a requirement). I ignore people who I don't know and don't give a shit about as long as they don't do something to get in my way.

And I don't mind saying so publicly.

If anybody doesn't like that - try this:

Fuck you.

Happy now?

I wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand my position on things.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | December 14, 2007 8:01 PM