Posted on 06/21/2007 8:20:20 AM PDT by Roberts
Michael Savage vs. Brian Lamb.
Sounds like the unlikeliest of media showdowns, right?
Well, it's happening right now, it's bloody, and Lamb is winning.
First, some quick background. Talkers magazine recently awarded Savage -- a radio host whose talk show I enjoy -- a Freedom of Speech award. Savage did not pick up the award in person at a gathering in New York. Instead, he sent a speech on DVD. C-Span cameras were at the conference and covered parts of it but not the taped Savage speech.
How did Savage react? By selling a DVD of the speech on his website with these messages: "See the Speech that C-Span Banned!" and "See the Speech Too Hot for Left-Wing C-Span!" He even posted a list of C-Span phone numbers and e-mail addresses, including that of C-Span president and CEO Lamb.
And, like a mighty river, the Savage-driven anger is flowing into the network.
Rather than sit back and take it, Lamb decided to make the skewering public on the June 15 episode of "Washington Journal."
Lamb's weaponry was both brilliant and simple: the e-mails themselves. He quoted the outraged masses, sparing none of their vitriol.
Here's some of what Lamb read on air, according to closed captioning:
"Here's one from Col. Tom Haggerty. He says, 'The little man Lamb' -- me, he is talking about -- 'the dry, stone-faced little man.' Signed, Col. Tom Haggerty. This one from, let's see, Argulario, it says, 'Did you really turn off the free speech award when he was to talk? How dare you? Are you a Nazi and a Stalinist and probably a homosexual, and I don't appreciate your agenda.' This is from a fellow named Jim Lewis: 'As a taxpayer, I'm demanding that you air the freedom speech by Dr. Savage. I pay your salary, and you have no right censoring programs based on your political beliefs. When can I see the time slots and promos for airing of his speech. I will await your responding. I would hate to lead the effort of the removal of you people who have offended not only me but many other Americans.'"
And this one: "I am outraged at your cowardice. It is even an act of cowardice or something much more sinister. Perhaps you are a neo-Marxist, neo-Leninist. I do not expect a response from one that is, at best, a weakling and, at worst, an enemy of our republic."
Hardly a coward, Lamb did respond -- by calmly stating facts:
"We are not a taxpayer organization," said Lamb. "We have told our audience that many, many times. We get no federal funds, state funds, local funds. We get our money from you. You give us a nickel a month when you pay your bills, and that's how we operate here. And the decision to not carry the speech was made by our programming department, our vice president of programming, Terry Murphy, and the reason was that Mr. Savage does not appear in person. He sent a DVD of an 11-minute speech, and we have offered him, in lieu of that, an opportunity to cover a speech he might make -- the same speech, if he wants to -- if he gives it before an audience out there in the Bay Area where his program operates."
I wrote about Lamb's reaction on my blog, praising him for doing something few other media personalities would have had the nerve to do: quote venomous words about themselves. The posting generated a good number of comments. Notably, it produced an outpouring of support for Lamb from conservatives.
An example from popular blogger Don Surber: "Unbelievable. How do you criticize Brian Lamb? A more aptly named journalist there is not in America. To say there is a bias at C-Span is to turn the Right Movement back to the 1960s, when it was a bunch of tennis-shoe-wearing grannies in a tinfoil hat complaining about fluoridated water."
Another wrote, "Michael Savage is an embarrassment to conservatives. C-Span is a national treasure. Indeed, they do not cover every nutter's speech, but they do their best to cover a broad array of parts of the national discourse. How dare Savage set his listeners on Brian Lamb."
Savage could not be reached for comment.
Lamb said Wednesday that he continues to receive hate mail from Savage supporters and is considering doing another show about the fight this Friday.
"On almost every count, they're wrong. That's why I did this. ... To have every single one of them say 'you must be defunded' is totally devoid of fact," Lamb said. "I just want our audience to know what people are saying in their e-mails and their vitriol, and everyone who reads the blogs knows the vitriol."
Typical Savage.
Savage is a shameless self-promoter.
savage is an utter moron. C-Span does a good job of showing everything
Savagae many not technically be a lunatic, but he sure acts like one. I can listen to him for two or three minutes before he starts sounding like someone off their meds.
Good on Lamb for setting the record straight for Savages sycophants.
I agree. Savage could have been so much more than he has become.
I’ve tried to like Savage and listen to him—but it just doesn’t work for me. I sometimes think that guys like him hurt conservatives more than they help it.
TSN {{{{PING}}}}
“To say there is a bias at C-Span is to turn the Right Movement back to the 1960s, when it was a bunch of tennis-shoe-wearing grannies in a tinfoil hat complaining about fluoridated water.”
Unfortunately, it happens to be true. C-SPAN leanms strongly and sharply left, and Lamb is doing his best to hide it, but it’s obvious if you look at it for any length of time.
Mr. Lamb's definition of when is a tax not a tax.
Not sycophants, just people who think about issues and wanted to hear the speech.
And do you really believe that Savage was offered air time on C-SPAN? I don't, and I think to believe it is naive.
Can you list examples of when C-SPAN has directly lied?
C-Span does cover a lot of looney tunes and they are live. They have shown taped speeches before but usually by a President or some other national leader. As long as they are consistent there is no problem.
C-Span is an excellent resource and should be praised by Conservatives especially when the moonbats want to stop all speech they don’t agree with. C-Span will be a key to returning true Conservatives to power by showing the tinfoil hats in the Democrat Congress and their RINO enablers in the Senate.
As for Savage. He is an act. Surely a man with his degrees can’t believe the junk he spews in the name of conservatism. I can’t blame C-Span for not showing eleven minutes of Savage talking about Italian restaurants and his dog. Good for Brian Lamb.
Gee, those emailers sound like certain FDT supporters on FR!
I am as conservative as they come, and Brian Lamb has never offended me. In fact, I think he is that very rare commodity these days - a real gentleman! Savage can get ‘a bit manic’, and I think he owes Brian Lamb an apology.
Why woudl they offer him time? Seriously, what woudl that accomplish? The idea makes no sense.
Weiner on the other hand, I can’t quite stomach the fetid tripe that passes for reasoned opinions on his spew, er I mean show and I really have tried to listen...
Weenie boy is a crude joke with a liberal punchline he’s the only one laughing.
They didn’t show the speech, you were saying something about showing everything? I don’t listen to Savage, but something stinks about this whole thing. And what nickel am I giving these bastards when I pay my bill?
C-Span leans left, it is tax payer funded.
But Lamb is right about Savage.
One out of three ain’t bad, for C-Span.
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