Posted on 11/28/2005 5:03:33 PM PST by mastercylinder
Edited on 11/28/2005 5:07:49 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Al Franken and the other liberals are probably still wondering why they had such little luck in their efforts to start a talk-radio network to bash George Bush from the left. They didn't consider the obvious explanation. George Bush has his left flank nicely covered. It's on the right that he's weak.
That is the theory of Michael Savage. Savage is the most right-wing of the right-wing talkers on the national airwaves at the moment. He is based in San Francisco, but he can be heard in the New York area on WOR in the evenings. He is a welcome change from those Karl Rove clones Hush Bimbo and Sean Vanity.
"Hush Bimbo" and "Sean Vanity" are the names Savage has pinned on Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity of WABC. In doing so, he has sparked a war between the members of his "Savage Nation" (slogan: "Borders, language, culture") and the so-called "Bushbots," that sizable number of gullible Americans who can be convinced that whatever policy Bush adopts is a conservative policy.
"What makes Bush a conservative?" Savage asked when I got him on the phone the other day. "On the economy, Bush has got more governmental workers than anybody before him. He's ballooned the government."
As regards the so-called "war on terror," Savage points out that you can't win a war when you're afraid even to name the enemy.
"He's never mentioned Islamofascism," said Savage.
No, he hasn't. Even the French have been more willing to defend their borders, language and culture than Bush. He's a multiculturalist and a mushy one at that. Instead of reducing the reach of Islamic fundamentalism, Bush has managed in Iraq to get 1,700 Americans killed in a war that will create yet another Islamic republic. Just yesterday we learned that the new constitution in Iraq will incorporate sharia, Islamic law.
That's why we right-wing commentators believe the Iraq war has been the biggest blunder in America's military history. As for Bimbo and Vanity, if I may employ Savage's labels, they are simply too uneducated to realize that the Iraq war represents a failed liberal exercise in nation-building.
"There is no college in Rush. There is no college in Hannity," said Savage. "He's a high school dropout. It's like listening to an uneducated, unthinking man on the radio."
Savage has a Ph.D. from Berkeley in epidemiology, an extremely challenging field. That makes him a bit overqualified for the verbal pro-wrestling matches that make up talk radio. But it also makes him interesting.
The Bushbots don't think so. On their Web sites, they call Savage a bigot and a racist, two terms the employment of which generally indicate that the speaker is losing an argument. Savage is a hero on those Web sites that attack Bush's open-borders approach to immigration. "Rush Limbaugh is a direct link to his president, El Traitor, Senor Bush," wrote one blogger. "The invasion by illegals has been going on now for a long time."
"You are 100 percent correct," said another of Limbaugh and Hannity. "They are nothing but blind, rubber-stamping followers of El Presidente Bush."
All of this is a lot of fun if you don't take it seriously. I certainly don't. But I do find talk radio to be a good barometer of the nation's mood. And the nation is slowly figuring out that the Bush-neoconservative-Troskyite- internationalist view of foreign affairs has not worked out so swimmingly for the good old U.S. of A.
"Bush is melting down our borders and making us into a polyglot nation in which no one speaks the language," says Savage.
Savage hears a lot from people who say that any criticism of Bush is a mark of disloyalty to conservatism.
"I can't stand listening to people who want me to be a lapdog for Bush," he told me. "We're supposed to be watchdogs, not lapdogs."
As for the rest of the radio talkers, "They may as well work for the Republican Party. There's nothing interesting if you can predict what a man's going to say by just going to the GOP Web site."
He's certainly got that right. Listening to an endless rehash of Karl Rove's talking points, leavened by a few Teddy Kennedy-is-a-drunk jokes, is not very entertaining.
As for the Al Franken approach, how can a nation-building, internationalist multiculturalist get any traction by criticizing another nation-building, internationalist multiculturalist? John Kerry had that problem as well, you might have noticed.
When you attack the Bush-Rove spin from the right, however, you realize that the neocons' grand social experiment has been tried most visibly in Iraq and has failed most visibly there. People are starting to notice. Eventually even the Bushbots may get a clue.
Breaking news: Michael Savage is a KOOK.
As regards the so-called "war on terror," Savage points out that you can't win a war when you're afraid even to name the enemy.
"He's never mentioned Islamofascism," said Savage.
I have to agree.
me too
Or is a democrat.
"There is no college in Rush. He's a high school dropout. It's like listening to an uneducated, unthinking man on the radio."
Michael.... your envy is showing.
It goes far beyond Savage listeners.
Oooooo! THAT'S gonna leave a MARK!
And you are being very kind sir
Savage ping!
Pres. Bush mentioned Islamofascism in his recent speech.
Why?
Yes he has.
This has been posted a bunch of times since July. Yada yada...
Hyperbole is a bad habit, and makes a man untrustworthy and radical. What makes Rush great is that you can trust his judgment.
Savage is correct about the borders, as are Rush and Hannity. But Savage's nastiness and envy at others' success make him an honorary liberal, in my opinion.
Doesn't matter since this a retread article from earlier this year.
Gotta keep the far left/right reactionaries fed with red meat don't you know.
BTW all, savage(i.e michael wiener) is also an envirowhacko.
So it's still interesting.
"There is no college in Rush. There is no college in Hannity," said Savage. "He's a high school dropout. It's like listening to an uneducated, unthinking man on the radio."
Well. Aren't WE getting all hoity toity.
Well said, Michael Savage.
Most of those who criticize Michael Savage do so because they are just so darn embarrassed on what Bush has done, and the very accurate comments Savage makes about those Bush actions. The more embarrassed the "lapdogs" become, the more they criticize Savage.
Michael Savage tells it the way it is.
I know :)
Savage is totally in love with himself. He reeks of vanity, self-promotion and imagines himself an intellectual giant. I can't listen to his voice without wanting to take a shower.
You have my sympathies little lady.
Gee how much are you going to charge for that and how much does weiner(savage) get back as a kickback.
I stand corrected. It just took 4 years, but he did.
yes he does
"Some call this......"
He didn't own the remark. Savage is quite correct. It's a demure.
yes......Savage always has some very salient points but he sometimes goes so far overboard with his inane remarks that the message is lost in his vitriol....being in the Bay Area, I used to be a big fan...but he has become much too abrasive....too bad for a man that by all other accounts is a genius.......
Michael Savage is tolerable for about 15 minutes. He needs to take his Meds on a more regular basis instead of the herbal crap he takes.
SAVAGE!!!!!
While I agree with much of what he says, the guy is, plain and simple, an a$$hole. Major league.
Me three
LOL......
Michael Savage resonates.
He resonates by sticking his head up his butt and listening to the echo of his own voice.
Weiner Nation is off the coast of Antarctica.
Your link is for subscribers only.
I don't even listen to the guy. I'm just tired of desperate attempts of the bots to intimidate the rest of us into obedience. I grew up in a country where the party serves the people not the other way around.
Everytime my husband and I try to listen to Savage we get soooo turned off by his envy of Rush. It's not an intellectual disagreement, its just plain old ugly envy. That's all we hear when we listen to Savage.
We are scared to be proud for fear that we might be wrong, might be hateful, might be violent or racist - despite that we are none of those things.
Borders, language, and culture - OH MY!
Borders, language, and culture - OH MY!
Borders, language, and culture - OH MY!
... because he's a mealy-mouthed whiner whose annoying voice masks an inaptitude for sustained thought. Sorry -- I gave mikey his chance and came away disgusted.
thank you
Sure.
No, disdain for the rants of the messenger.
When the messenger attempts to become bigger than the message, the message is lost.
Even Stalin's broken watch was right twice a day.
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