You are right on. I seriously doubt most of the Savage critics on FR have spent much time actually listening to his show or reading his books.
Does Savage go over the top sometimes? Certainly. So do some other consevatives. How about Rush, Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter or Glenn Beck? I like all of them too.
I don't agree with Savage on all his positions, but I think he is right on most issues, especially the need to protect our border and preserve English as our national language. I don't agree with Savage about Jerry Brown, but I understand his position on Brown. He thinks Brown has moved to right philosophically and has become a moderate. Savage was impressed that Brown founded the Oakland Military Academy, which is a school designed give students from the inner city in Oakland a much more discplined learning envirnoment than they would find in the typical public school in Oakland. I too admire Brown for starting that school. Is that enough to make want to vote for him for AG? No. I will be voting in California elections for the first time on Nov. 7th and I will be voting for a straight Republican ticket , even the big RINO Arnold. Savage said it right when he said we live in an "imperfect world". I don't know that Arnold is all that far to the right of Brown these days. Now, if Savage endorsed Angelides then I would question his judgement.
Savage is a conservative who is a harsh critic of the Republicans at times and that is why a lot people on FR and in some other conservative circles don't like him. However, for all his criticism of Republicans he is far harsher when it comes to the Democrats. Savage excoriates liberals and Democrats on a daily basis. Anyone who suggests that Savage is somehow a liberal because he sometimes attacks Republicans is nuts. The Brown endorsement is a very rare exception for Savage. I don't think Savage has ever endorsed another Democrat for a major office. I know from listening to his show the past few weeks that there is NO WAY he wants to see Pelosi become speaker.
That's ABSOLUTE crap, and you know you're either being disingenuous with that, or ignorant... After days of being dismissive about his support of Brown, he finally found an issue he can point to, to save face... That's all it was... If that was the TRUE reason, he would have cited it when he was first interviewed, not days later.
Brown - the man whose legacy gave CA Rose Byrd and other judicial oxymorons - is running for Attorney General against a good + decent candidate. There is no rationale that would justify supporting Brown.
This is a bit like "supporting cleaner air and purer water and creating better jobs." What idiot would come out against it?
Many of the most vehement California Liberals I know are outspoken in their desire for English-only and their disdain for Mexicans (illegal or not!). They congratulate themselves for defying what they wrongly assume is my conservative stereotype of Liberals.
The reality is is that multi-lingual ballots and illegal immigrant pandering is a vote-getting tactic of Democrat (and sometimes Republican) politicians, not a popular movement supported by Liberals.
For Savage to choose issues such as preserving English as our national language, promoting American culture, and protecting our border as his signature causes, is hardly risking offense of Liberals.
I always figured Savage just to be misguided; I've tried listening to him many times, and continue to give him a chance now and then. While his anti-Republican diatribes and pessimism are bad, what's infinitely worse is his cry-baby martyr crap about how other conservatives ignore him because he dares to criticize the conservative status quo.
I'm beginning to think some of the folks here are right -- that it's not a case of being misguided, it's a case of being a saboteur.
NO WAY he wants to see Pelosi become speaker.
He graciously had her on his show one time (when she was pretending to be a conservative); she turned around and stabbed him something fierce.
For the life of me I will never understand why there is so much hatred on FR for Savage. I enjoy Levin, Rush, (to a lesser degree) Hannity, and others. But to other FReepers it seems you can like Levin OR Savage but not both. I just don't get it. Are these paid shills for WABC radio or Levin? WABC GM Phil Boyce once hinted as much to me in an email which I saved. I just don't get it.
These are ALL great Americans. But Savage seems to be alone in daring to tell Bush and the GOP when they are wrong. On Dubai, Rush was a stooge and sounded stupid and out of touch. On immigration it was Savage screaming alone for years until the Minutemen became fashionable, and then Levin, Hannity and Rush (in that order) began to harp on it as well.
Michael Reagan, John Gibson, Tony Blankley and Joseph Farah all stupidly called for Denny Hastert to resign within 24 hours after the Foley news broke. Are we to never ever listen to them again for the rest of their careers because of their idiotic position? I don't think so. I am not happy Savage gave money to Brown. But I am willing to overlook it because he is so right on nearly every single issue. Certainly he is more consistently "right-wing" than either Bush or Limbaugh.
I don't care whether he supports Bush or criticizes Bush. I don't care whether he's sincere or whether his so-called "conservatism" (I'd call him a demagogic populist myself, but whatever) is an act. I don't like him because he's an idiot. And he's a lazy idiot. He doesn't do his own research, apparently, and won't even read research others have done. He pontificates again and again on subjects without even having the most basic facts to hand. Time and again callers get the better of him, and he's too dumb to even know it.
He's a two shot: He discredits conservatism first because his positions are extreme and/or loopy, and second because he's too dumb and poorly informed to convincingly defend his positions even when he happens to be right.
If he's also a complete phony that only makes him marginally worse IM(notso)HO.