| Michael Savage (commentator) |
Article Index for Michael |
Website Links For Michael |
Information AboutMichael Savage (commentator) |
|
Michael Savage is the '' ( 2003 ), '' The Enemy Within '' ( 2004 ), '' Liberalism Is A Mental Disorder '' ( 2005 ), and '' The Political Zoo '' ( 2006 ). His nationally syndicated radio show ''The Savage Nation'' reaches over eight million listeners on 377 stations throughout the United States , ranking third in nationwide ratings behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity . BIOGRAPHY AND EDUCATION Michael Savage was born Michael Alan Weiner in the in education and Sociology . He taught high school for several years in New York City. Following that, he earned two Master's degrees in Ethnobotany and Anthropology from the University Of Hawaii . He then received a Ph.D. in Health and Medical Science in 1978 from the University Of California, Berkeley . His thesis was titled ''Nutritional Ethnomedicine in Fiji ''. Savage spent many years researching Botany in the South Pacific , and has a background in Alternative Medicine . In the early 70s, Michael Savage had a very different persona. He has stated he considered himself a "that once-famous communist bookstore". Ferlinghetti views Weiner's reincarnation as Michael Savage as "total opportunism," the crowning achievement of someone who was "always looking to make a fast buck" and "always trying to think up new schemes to get famous" [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/03/05/savage/index1.html]. Another acquaintance of Michael Savage from this time includes poet, biographer, and now writer-in-residence at San Francisco's New College, Neeli Cherkovski. Cherkovski recalls that when he knew Michael Weiner, Weiner dreamed of becoming a stand-up comic in the mold of Lenny Bruce [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/03/05/savage/index1.html]. In the eighties, the conservative political views for which Michael Savage is known today became apparent. One of his former acquantainces, also reported to Salon.com that in the early eighties, Michael Savage became alienated from the North Beach scene, to the point of carrying a gun and screaming at former friends and acquaintances when he encountered them {Link without Title} . In 1996 he applied to be a dean at UC Berkeley's Graduate School Of Journalism . When he was not granted an interview due to lack of qualifications--less than four years of experience in radio, with a Ph.D. in epidemiology and nutrition science--Savage filed a discrimination lawsuit that was eventually dismissed. The position instead went to China scholar Orville Schell who, according to Weiner, also without a Ph.D. in journalism, was less qualified than himself. Russell Goldencloud Weiner , Savage's son, is the founder and CEO of Rockstar, INC. the manufacturer and marketer of Rockstar energy drink. RADIO serving in Iraq shows support for ''The Savage Nation''.]] Michael Savage began his radio career in 1993 on San Francisco's #1 news/talk radio station KGO, first doing fill in work for other hosts, then getting his own show on the weekend. Two years later he was given a weekday show on KGO's sister station KSFO where he shared airtime with a liberal talk show host. He chose his "nom de voix" in "the Tonga Islands in the 1960s. I stumbled upon the name of a {Link without Title} shipwreck who was locally infamous -Charles Savage. His exploits were legendary," he said. "So the name was bouncing around in my head." At the time, his slogan was "To the right of Rush , and to the left of God." On January 1 , 1995 he was given his own show during the drive-time hours. The show quickly became a local hit. In 1999 , he came to the attention of the Talk Radio Network. On January 17 , 2000 he started doing an additional two hours of radio which was broadcast nationally. For the next eight months, Savage would spend a total of five hours a day just talking. His national experiment was a success, and on September 21 , 2000 , he stopped doing separate shows, beginning a full three-hour national show. After one year, he was in 150 markets. By 2003 , he was in over 200 markets. In in San Francisco. Since that dispute, he speaks badly of KSFO and of "Vanity or Pretty Boy" Sean Hannity , whose show replaced his on the station. Savage also speaks pejoratively when referencing talk radio hosts or individuals with whom he disagrees (see List Of Michael Savage Neologisms ). (Hannity is affiliated with Citadel Communicatoins' ABC Radio Networks; as of the July 2003 deal with KNEW, Savage's show was picked up by Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks, as part of his KNEW deal, as KNEW is a Clear Channel Communications radio station. Since that time, Savage has jumped mostly to Clear Channel stations.) As of 2005 , Savage has between 8 million and 10 million listeners per week. This makes his show the third most widely listened to broadcast in the United States. Introduction and music The signature introduction to the Savage Nation is an announcer saying "Warning: ''The Michael Savage Show'' contains adult language, adult content, psychological nudity. Listener discretion is advised." The beginning of Metallica 's " Master Of Puppets " will come next, followed by Mötley Crüe 's "Looks that Kill", and Metallica's "The Shortest Straw" will finish off the introduction. For Bumper Music , Savage has used "Eye of the Beholder," "Frayed Ends of Sanity," "Holier Than Thou," "Jump in the Fire," "To Live is to Die," "Battery," "Blackened," "Sad But True," "Ain't My Bitch," "Fuel," and "The Shortest Straw" by Metallica ; and "Du Hast" and "Tier" by Rammstein . Other songs include "Smells like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana , "Big Gun" by AC/DC and "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against The Machine . Someone claiming to be Metallica's lead guitarist Kirk Hammett called in to Savage's show to say "We support what you're doing", but it is unlikely that it was actually Hammett as he expressed disgust for George Bush and Pat Buchanan in the 1992 documentary '' A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica '' and contributed $1,000 to the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 elections. {Link without Title} MSNBC Savage was hired by MSNBC to do a one-hour show starting March 8 , 2003 . On July 7 , a mere four months later, he was fired for making anti-gay remarks in response to a caller, later identified as Prank Call er " East Coast Bob ." Savage was doing an "Airline Horror Stories" piece, when Bob called in to his show to talk about undercover security guards smoking in the bathroom. His next words were "Half hour into the flight, I need to suggest that and die, you pig, how's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better to do than to put me down, you piece of garbage, you got nothing better to do today, go eat a Sausage and choke on it. Get Trichinosis . Now do we have another nice caller here who's busy because he didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today? Put another, put another Sodomite on....no more calls? I don't care about these bums, they mean nothing to me. They're all Sausages ." {Link without Title} Before the show was canceled, MSNBC was replaying his show during primetime hours Saturday night; many believe the show would have been canceled even without his comments, and that MSNBC was simply looking for an excuse to dump the program due to pressure from special interest groups. Others point out that MSNBC has had poor programming and ratings performance for a long time and that many talk shows of all different political stripes have come and gone quickly on the network. PERSONAL VIEWS AND CRITICISM Michael Savage's socio-political beliefs center around maintaining three aspects of the United States: "Borders, Language, and Culture". From these beliefs he founded "The Paul Revere Society". Savage asserts that America needs stronger immigration controls and borders to protect itself from rampant Illegal Immigration which he claims, undermines National Security and the Economy . In March 2006 he asserted, "Clinton opened the door to Mexico, but Bush has ''taken it off its hinges''!" He also advocates that the position of English as the official language of the United States should be reasserted. In '' The Enemy Within '', Savage compares earlier generations of immigrants to the United States who learned to speak English, with more recent immigrants, who he says are placated by the government because "they don't bother to learn English". With regard to culture, Savage asserts American culture has always centered around a strong family life and Judeo-Christian ethics. He considers that failure to maintain these three aspects will result in the Decline and "disintegration" of the United States, and often discusses these subjects on '' The Savage Nation ''. Savage claims that he Coined the phrase " Compassionate Conservative " in 1994 . The slogan later became a pillar of George W. Bush 's Election Campaign In 2000 . Savage also frequently accuses the national political parties of sharing identical philosophies and not having any real differences, and he uses the coined terms " Republicrat and Democan " to describe their members. Savage had claimed to have coined the term " Islamofascism ", although it was used in 1990 by Malise Ruthven . Critics such as , Homosexuality , Feminism and Immigration . Critics point out various controversial statements he has made, including calling for the licensing of journalists, and the arrest of liberal activists; proposing responding with force to violent Protest s. In April 2006 Savage, a Bronx-born Jew, called for the murder of 100 million muslims, saying ""intelligent people, wealthy people...are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, ‘Oh, there’s a billion of them’…. I said, ‘So, kill 100 million of them, then there’d be 900 million of them.’ I mean...would you rather us die than them?...Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you’re going to have to make that choice sooner rather than later.” {Link without Title} As Savage has also advocated the reintroduction of the Repeal ed Sedition Act , accusing mainstream media sources such as ABC , CBS and NBC of being "mouth pieces for the enemy." On the January 19 , 2006 broadcast of his radio show, he called for the Internment of roughly 380,000 American citizens for the length of the war on terrorism, comparing the action to measures taken by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War . He included Hillary Clinton , Howard Dean , Ted Kennedy and all non citizen Muslims in his list of those to arrest. In closing, he mentioned that we should not get ahead of ourselves (with regards to just imprisoning everyone) and that we should deal with such things when the time comes. This is an example of what fans say is Savage's sometimes satirical, over-the-top style of Hyperbole . On March 28 , 2006 , Savage encouraged his listeners to burn Mexican flags to counter protests of pro-illegal-immigration groups during which American flags were burned while Mexican flags were waved. Recently, Savage has been extremely critical of his fellow Conservative Talk Show hosts (particularly Rush Limbaugh , whom he has called "Hush Bimbo" and Sean Hannity "Pawn Vanity," for what he views as their blind support of the Republican Party and President George W. Bush. He has also attacked Bill O'Reilly (whom Savage has dubbed the " Lepre-con ") (also now "Loofa-Man" in reference to Bill O'Reilly's shortlived sexual harassment scandal), and William Bennett , as Hypocrites and "phony" conservatives for advocating Morality while living what he views as immoral lives. Savage constantly reminds his listeners that President Bush and most Neo-conservatives in government and elsewhere in talk radio are basically an outgrowth of the big-government, liberal Rockefeller-wing of the Republican Party, or "checked-pants, country club Republicans" as he calls them. Whereas, Savage presents himself as a voice for the Goldwater , traditional conservative movement, opposed to government largess and Globalism . Savage has also broken from the present conservative stereotype by showing strong support for the Environmental and Animal Rights movements, and describing any right-winger who opposes such movements as "ignorant" and "knee-jerk" conservatives. However, Savage's stated pro-environment position is somewhat unclear to people who aren't familiar with the arguments against the theory of global warming, since he is very critical of evidence often cited as support for Global Warming . Savage, although pro-animal rights, is verbally outspoken against PETA , an animal rights group due to their political ties and methods, not their philosophy. In July 2005 , Bernard Goldberg included Savage in his book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America as number 61. Goldberg cites Savage's tendency to be venomous and says "Savage's brand of over-the-top bile...puts him right in there with the angriest haters on the Left..." In March 2006, Savage verbally berated the Roman Catholic Church in America for essentially breaking Federal law by giving assistance to illegal immigrants (in response to statements by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, calling it "pastoral support"). He angrily denounced its leaders as "pigs" (referring to George Orwell's "Animal Farm") and "molestors" (in reference to the Roman Catholic Sex Abuse Cases ), and calling the Church "rotten from the top to the bottom". It should be noted, however, that he has defended and shown support for the Catholic Church regarding other issues on prievious occasions. On April 17, 2006, Michael Savage stated "...we're going to die as a nation. I swear to God that's what people are saying to me. And these are intelligent people, wealthy people. They are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, 'Oh, there's a billion of them.' I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them, then there'll be 900 million of them.' I mean, would you rather die -- would you rather us die than them? I mean, what is it going to take for you people to wake up? Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you're going to have to make that choice sooner rather than later". Later in the same show, Savage referred to the alleged Duke rape victim as a "drunken slut stripping whore." WRITINGS In topics under this name. More recently, Savage's books are political in nature and published by WND Books, a partnership between the conservative website WorldNetDaily and Thomas Nelson , a publisher of Christian books. In earning Savage, as noted above, a commentary show on MSNBC. The book directs attacks at " Media Bias ", the "dominating culture of 'she-ocracy'", Gays , and Liberals . Critics have faulted Savage for making a number of assertions in the book that he often fails to substantiate with facts or resources. Exacerbating this condition is the fact that the book itself has no index. The book is divided into two- to four-page sections, many of which are near-exact replicas of columns he published on the Conservative site NewsMax.com . In '' was released on April 12 , 2005 . Unlike ''The Savage Nation'', both of these books contained citations of nearly every assertion made. In January 2006 , Savage announced that he would be releasing a new book, '' The Political Zoo '', in mid- April . {Link without Title} The book will contain satirical profiles and cartoons of different people in politics as animals in the "Political Zoo" including one of Savage himself, who will be portrayed as the zookeeper. Savage has remarked that the book will be "easier to digest" than his previous political books. RELIGIOUS VIEWS Michael Savage states that he is a , Christianity , Hinduism , Buddhism , and Islam . He believes in Universal Reconciliation , which means everybody will eventually go to heaven. TRIVIA On his February 10 , 2006 show, he proclaimed that Wikipedia is "full of crap" and that most of the stuff written about him on this site is untrue. The subject was brought up because of a recent report that aides to politicians have been tweaking their bosses' bios to make them come across more favorably. RATINGS BIBLIOGRAPHY Books as Michael Weiner
Books as Michael Savage
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|