A Savage Attack: Why Michael Savage is wrong about Autism & why Conservatives shouldn't support him.

National Review ^ | July 24, 2008 | John J. Pitney Jr.

[SeekAndFind]

Last week, radio talk-show host Michael Savage talked about autism:

I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, `Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.” I’m not an impartial observer here. My six-year-old son has high-functioning autism. He is exactly the kind of kid that Savage attacked.

Savage’s comments were wrong and harmful. Some autistic kids do learn to read and speak, which is why misinformed people may think that they are not “genuinely handicapped.” Yes, they are. Autism is a brain disorder that affects everything from social communication to physical coordination. Autistic people have multiple problems that make it hard for them to do things that the rest of us take for granted. It may take them years to learn how to toss a ball or nod their head.

And even when they can talk, they often have odd speech patterns that instantly mark them as autistic. Other kids taunt them with the very words that Savage used. If they respond verbally, their speech problems will draw even more taunting. If they respond with their fists, they run the risk that authorities will label them as “violent.”

Once in a while, parents take the approach that Savage recommends. It never works. Screaming insults at a handicapped kid is not child-rearing. It’s child abuse.

Conservatives need to speak out against Savage. Many news stories label him as “conservative” or “right-wing,” which may prompt some people to think that we agree with him. Savage has a long history of disgusting comments, which has led David Klinghoffer to speculate that his act is a giant liberal put-on, a “lefty’s cartoon mental picture of a ranting right-wing caveman.”

The liberal website Media Matters has spearheaded the backlash against Savage’s autism comments. Understandably, conservatives might be uneasy about siding with such an outfit. Savage has tried to exploit such feelings by casting his critics as PC leftists. But just because the folks at Media Matters oppose child abuse, it doesn’t follow that we conservatives should accept it just for the sake of disagreeing with them.

Besides, liberals do not have a corner on concern for autism. California’s 1969 Lanterman Act was a landmark in serving people with autism and other disabilities. Its sponsor was a Republican, as was the governor who signed it: Ronald Reagan. In 2006, President Bush signed the Combating Autism Act. Its author was Senator Rick Santorum (R., PA).

Savage has cited respectable commentators who suggest that many kids with the autistic label are merely late talkers. His defense fails on two counts. First, these commentators don’t speak in the hateful language that he has used. Second, although they make their argument in good faith, they get things backward.

When you first notice that your child has a speech delay — around his second birthday — autism is the last thing that you want to think about. Autism is devastating and frightening. It’s more comforting to think that your kid is just starting late and will catch up soon. Clutching the “late talker” security blanket, some parents wait months or years before admitting the possibility of autism.

At that point, they may indeed conclude that a formal diagnosis could be important in getting help. States and school districts often pay for the assessment. Every autism diagnosis means thousands of dollars for services that the federal government mandates but does not fully subsidize. With tight budgets, the authorities have no incentive to encourage overdiagnosis. Once in a while, a child may incorrectly get the autism label, but underdiagnosis is probably a much bigger problem.

We need more study of the causes and prevalence of autism. At the moment, though, the issue is Michael Savage’s attack. He has since claimed that he is a nice guy who wants help to go to those who truly need it. Nonsense. If he cared about autistic kids, he wouldn’t have spewed words such as “moron” and “idiot.”

And he shouldn’t claim to be a conservative. He has cheapened political discourse and hurt defenseless children. There’s nothing conservative about that.

—- John J. Pitney Jr. is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College.

[Checkers]

There are literally (4) four posters on the Weiner thread.

Four.

lol

The show’s been on for 80 minutes!

[lormand]

I just heard some really good gems from Weiner on my way home just now.

"I think I am devolving now"

Yeah, you think?

The best part was Weiner claiming that he is burnt out from talking about democRATs and Republicans and would rather talk about poodle poop. He then took a caller that talked about poodle poop.

Rewind to the time I first heard Weiner tear into Rush Limbaugh (Hush Bimbo) for sometimes talking about golf or other non-political topics. I had just started listening to "Savage" and thought he was one of us until that very moment. His hypocrisy is only evident if you happen to remember anything he said the day before.

I think the Weiner is no longer in LA. Weiner is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The four guys left on the thread must not be watching.

[Checkers]

The station that broadcasts Weiner in the Northwest delays him 3 hours in order to broadcast a local Conservative host.

Weiner’s radio commercials actually play up the fact that Weiner is tape-delayed on many stations.

Weird.

[Checkers]

4 posters

24 replies

3 1/2 hours

Weiner nation is dead:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061409/posts

[lormand]

My local station still plays Weiner live, but hey, this is Austin (Texas lil’ piece of Berkeley CA)

[Checkers]

Whose on before the Weiner?

Who follows Wiener?

[lormand]

Hannity before Weiner, local BS after the Weiner.

Weiner deserves the 2AM slot

[whatisthetruth]

Weiner nation is dead

Hey you clueless wonders, could be because Savage is off today, maybe, huh, maybe, huh, huh, maybe????????

[Checkers]

“Weiner deserves the 2AM slot”

George Noury and the remote viewers would beg to differ...

[Checkers]

“Hey you clueless wonders, could be because Savage is off today, maybe, huh, maybe, huh, huh, maybe????????”

Off, on, what's the diff?

Savage discussing dog poop...the show is dog poop.

Another fictional San Francisco resident “Dirty Harry” Callahan said it best(excuse the language):

“Listen, punk. To me you're nothin’ but dogshit, you understand? And a lot of things can happen to dogshit. It can be scraped up with a shovel off the ground. It can dry up and blow away in the wind. Or it can be stepped on and squashed. So take my advice and be careful where the dog shits ya!”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086383/quotes

The Savage Queen is dog$h!t.

[lormand]

Why didn't you post on Weiner Nation last night? Of course, I don't blame you for not doing so...Weiner is embarrassing.

"Hey you clueless wonders, could be because Savage is off today, maybe, huh, maybe, huh, huh, maybe???????? "

Pardon my mistake, I usually can't tell if Weiner is live anymore since he only likes to talk about poodle poop. You know, poodles have been pooping since the dog breed was first developed in Europe over 100 years ago.

Here is the wiki page on Poodles. Keep in mind, anything you read about poodles, there will be poop involved, sometimes unexpected :)

Oh yes, talking about poodle poop shores up Weiner's conservative credentials and his patented "borders language culture" arguments.

Tough looking dog, for tough talking talk show host, with tough sounding fake name

[lormand]

Oh, I almost forgot to mention another gem I heard from last night's taped show. It involves that socialist/marxist scheme called the minimum wage.

whatisthetruth, since the show was taped, I'm sure you have listed to it 10 times already. Did you hear this quote?

"Unless you have ever worked in a factory, don't talk about the minimum wage" - Weiner on his Weiner Nation Radio Show

Please defend Weiner and the minimum wage. Summon your World of Weiner Warcraft character, right click, and ATTACK!!!!

[lormand]

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

I listened to the Weiner show yesterday and I don't think it was taped. Weiner is rarely behind the mic, so he must have had lots of pressure from his dwindling list of sponsors.

I have a quiz for you guys in case you didn't hear the Weiner show yesterday. Weiner has a position on the Georgian/Russian conflict.

Weiner's position is...

a) Totally for freedom and the democratically elected sovereign government of Georgia
b) Pimping for Putin

Hint: He wasn't pretending to be a Conservative at that moment...

I trust that both of you can get this right....

[185JHP]

It worked for me. I don’t listen to him anymore.

[Rushgrrl]

I’ve been reading all this regarding Autism and seeing everyone’s arguing back and forth and I was just waiting for the “it’s our vaccines” shoe to drop and finally, it did. Over all these years that vaccines have been used, now it’s being attached to the accounts of autism?

Give me a break! These vaccines were put in place for a reason, and now all of these parents who blame it on the vaccines are NOT vaccinating their children and we’re seeing huge cases of diseases, long been banished from this country, rearing their ugly heads!! Polio, whooping cough, etc...and of course, there is SOMETHING that has changed, perhaps we should look at the connection of let’s see...the relative relationship of those parents who experimented with certain types of drugs in their past and it’s connection to the autism their kids are experiencing.

For some reason, there are myriads of variables here, and I find it interesting that the medical field is jumping all over this great idea that the vaccines are to blame! Of course, why vaccinate when you can possibly wring millions of dollars out of the insurance companies with the rise of all these long-banished illnesses! Yay - go autistm-parents! I think that maybe, just maybe, people ought to start looking at themselves as opposed to finding an external reason for these cases of autism. But hey, it’s always easier to place blame than to accept it for ourselves.

‘Course, it’s just an opinion, but I certainly expect to get laced up the nearest flagpole because I said it.

[Rushgrrl]

You know, when people post things like this, it amazes me that they’re taken seriously. Whenever anything is taken out of context, you’re going to have a vastly different meaning than if the entire text is covered, so that people can make an EDUCATED analysis, not basing an opinion on one statement made on a certain date.

I will say that I don’t always agree with Savage, but living in SF for over a year, I was able to experience some things. One of the things about his show that most people don’t know, especially those that say “I don’t listen to him but he’s not conservative”...he has three studios he has to operate out of, the locations kept secret because he’s come under serious fire from libs up there, death threats, etc. And for those of you who claim he’s a lib in con’s clothing, also untrue. He used to have a large group of friends that hung out in a bookstore in NorthBeach (Little Italy of SF, for those of you who don’t know where that is) and he’s been banned from there because of the arguments he would pose to the other locals (all extreme left libs). You go to that bookstore and you can find a huge array of every left-leaning thinkform available. He still will walk by there and taunt the owner, who is one of the original men he’d argue with. Amazing...instead of allowing Savage’s viewpoint, they banned him. Does that tell you anything?

That is just to give all of you haters out there something to chew on. Also, frankly, you know what - if you don’t like him? I suggest you merely turn the station, don’t listen to him and why even bother posting on a thread about him? He has freedom of speech and you have freedom of choice. So choose wisely.

Have a nice day.

[Checkers]

“You know, when people post things like this, it amazes me that they’re taken seriously. Whenever anything is taken out of context, you’re going to have a vastly different meaning than if the entire text is covered, so that people can make an EDUCATED analysis, not basing an opinion on one statement made on a certain date.”

Is there anything taken out of context on The List?

“Amazing...instead of allowing Savage’s viewpoint, they banned him. Does that tell you anything?”

The Bookstore banned him? Good for them.

[lormand]

Weiner has become Vladimir Putin's lapdog. I guess he jumped off of Jerry Moonbeam Brown's lap for the time being.

If you think we have hate in our hearts for Weiner, try listening to any of his monologues when he is talking about Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, Levin...etc.

"If I were Putin, I would have done the same"

- "Conservative" talk show host Mikhail Savage

[Checkers]

“If you think we have hate in our hearts for Weiner, try listening to any of his monologues when he is talking about Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly, Levin...etc.”

Rush has chunks of guys like Weiner in his stools.

[whatisthetruth]

You know, when people post things like this, it amazes me that they’re taken seriously.

Don't worry, Checkers has been posting this tripe for awhile now and only a few 'useful idiots' among us take it seriously.