You're absolutely correct. Based upon what I've heard in the ten-odd years I've been listening to his show, my opinion is that "Savage" is a character created by Dr. Wiener to present the ugly truths about our country in an entertaining way. Those who listen to the show carefully will detect a calm current of genuine wisdom beneath the ratings-grabbing foam.
What is a nation? A nation is a group of people who are united by a common culture and who usually live in proximity to one another. Culture, in turn, is a combination of cult (i.e. religion), customs, and language. Therefore, what defines "America" as a nation is its culture -- its borders, language, and Judeo-Christian religious tradition -- not its form of government (the State), its flag (its Symbol), or its constitution (the Law). These things are derived from the nation, but they do not define it.
The reason "Savage" is so cordially hated by many on FR and in the GOP is that he represents a genuinely nationalist point of view.
Nationalism -- the dedication to one's nation above all but God -- has been heresy in the GOP since the failure of the Goldwater campaign. To the New Republicans, nationalism is bunk. Libertarian in outlook, utilitarian in philosophy, the brave new GOP counts individual freedom, not the national commonweal, as their highest ideal. Freedom, freedom above all, the New Republicans cry, and never mind the good of the nation or the preservation of the nation. This idolatry of Individual Liberty is the new cult that stands at the center of the New GOP, and at odds with traditional conservatism. (The Democrats are no more nationalist than the Republicans; instead of deifying the Liberty and the Sovereign Individual, they deify the Law and Sovereign State.) To the average Republican of today, the nation is the enemy -- a hindrance to free trade, free expression, and free love. The ideal world is a world where might makes right, where markets take the place of nations, and all values are market values. (To the Democrat, the nation stands for chauvinism,intolerance, and theocracy; their ideal world is the ultimate bureaucracy -- a single, atheistic global superstate, where values are determined by "the Will of the People".)
As a nationalist and patriot, I oppose both the Republican dream of godless global mercantilization and the godless bureaucratic dreamworld of the Democrats. I support the preservation of the American nation -- our national borders, our English language, and our Judeo-Christian culture above all other worldly goods. The free market, civil rights, wealth, fame, fortune -- all have their place; but without her borders, her language, and her culture, the American nation ceases to exist. Oh, the American State might continue on, but once the borders become meaningless and he culture dies, the nation dies, no matter how many scurrying drones may inhabit the national anthill in Washington.
This is why I listen to "Savage". He's the only real conservative on the radio. He's the only one who still believes in the American nation. Sure, the Flatbush Avenue schtick gets tired at times, but behind the Borscht Belt comedy lies a truly American spirit -- the American Spirit that survived the Depression, that beat the Nazis and the Japanese, and that landed men on the Moon. That spirit is what keeps me coming back. That's what keeps his ratings high.
I have nothing against Limbaugh and Hannity. They do their job (shilling for the GOP) well. I have no opinion on Dr. Wiener as a man. He may have ugly skeletons in his closet; I don't know. He may be a cynical entrepreneur out to make a buck; I've seen it before. He could be a genius or a total nutcase -- I have no idea which. All I can do is judge what he says. And despite all the froth and vitriol, what he says is, more often than not, the truth.