Michael Savage's long, strange trip (Salon hit piece alert!)

Salon ^ | March 5, 2003 | David Gilson

[Dont Mention the War]

It's so much fun watching the Saloonies get angrier and angrier as they realize Chapter 7 Day is coming.

[Drango]

Obligatory Salon stock chart...

[BADROTOFINGER]

It's so much fun watching the Saloonies get angrier and angrier as they realize Chapter 7 Day is coming.

And hopefully the gay doorknob licker will be there to lick the lights off when that day arrives.

Note: Some other FReeper came up with that, and it stuck, so I cant take credit for it...JFK

[GSWarrior]

No doubt the anti-abortion, anti-gay, pro-family Michael Savage....

Abortion, homosexuality good....Pro family bad....

[shadowman99]

Dear Salon,

It sucks to be you.

[anniegetyourgun]

I hate Salon....but Savage is such easy prey.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Sorry, but IMHO Savage does more damage to the conservative movement than good. His emotional rants are all over the place, hyperbolic, over-the-top, and inconsistent, he treats too many of his callers like trash, and too often shoots himself in the foot on TV. The goal is to persuade and win over people to conservatism, to debate rather than spew vile hate. Rush, Hannity, Prager, etc. seem to manage to find the balance between persuasion, effective ridicule, and logic. Unfortunately too often Savage comes across as the stereotypical out-of-control illogical hate-filled looney that the left is always claiming everyone on the right is actually. Yes, he may be a great way for conservatives to vent, but being a highly visible charicature of the Dem's misrepresentations of the right, he provides a confirmation of their lies and an excuse for the questioning former liberal to write off the right and ignore our message.

Its too bad, I wish he were an effective voice of conservatism. Unfortunately he is just another acounterproductive Pat Buchanan.

[B-Chan]

I listen to The Michael Savage Show occasionally. I first encountered him five or six years ago when I was working in Oakland -- the way he'd play bleating sheep noises over ABC News was priceless. It's great theater, and way better than most of the other big-name snoozeroo talk-show hosts out there.

That being said: the guy is a total clown. Anybody who takes Savage seriously is in real trouble, because a good bit of the stuff he rants about is truly nuts. (He's on the right track with the "borders, language, culture" thing, but his grounding in history and politics is too shallow a foundation upon which to base a political philosophy.)

I, too, often listen to the program in hopes of hearing him finally Lose It on the air. The guy is either seriously unbalanced or he's really got the shtick down. In my opinion, Michael Savage is the radio equivalent of the internet ranter WHO TIPES In ALL CAPS AND IS CONSTANTLY GOING ON ABOUT HOW SMART AND FAMES He IS AND WAKe UP YOU FOOLS WAKE UP THE END IS CUMING!!!!!!!!! -- entertaining, but tiresome and annoying in large doses.

[LuigiBasco]

Bye Bye Salon.

[Wolfie]

He's an entertainer who's found his "act". Nothing more. The tendency to assign any real value to any of these guys is strange, let alone breathlessly hanging on their every word.

[logician2u]

Interesting, isn't it, that Salon seems more interested in this neocon's life and times than that good old conservative publication, National Review.

What can we make of that?

[Portnoy]

I listen to Savage twice a week on a small station here in Michigan that just picked him up.

I'm all for good political talk radio, but listening to Savage...the nearest I can describe it is...its like watching a train wreck. You just can't draw your eyes aways from it.

Yet I still listen....

[KC_Conspirator]

The last straw apparently came in 1994, when publishers rejected Weiner's latest manuscript, "Immigrants and Epidemics," which contended that infectious diseases such as T.B. were being brought into the U.S. by Southeast Asian immigrants.

Because its true. Go to any hospital and you find the staff saying the exact same thing. I remember I heard this for the first time on the "Savage Nation" and my wife, who is a nurse, said "Thats the truth, although its un-PC to report it that way".

This hit piece is garbage.

[Libertina]

As a Michael Savage fan all I can say is I LIKE THIS ARTICLE! I like it because in spite of distortions and stupidity, I have learned more about Michael's interesting life. And I don't care if he aspired to more than one profession, or that he praises Christian values because he was born Jewish. Go Michael go! Kick some you-know-what on More Snotty Nonsense By chicks! (Oh I hope he doesn't have to give that one up since he works on their network! LOL) And if he's mercurial and hard to live with no problem, I'm not living with him... "just" listening... 3 hours a day form 4 to 7! ;)
General Savage BUMP

[Clemenza]

He swam naked with Allen Ginsberg

The image of Michael Savage swimming au natural with a Gay Paedophile is not one that should be discussed in mixed company. UGGH!

[SunStar]

Obsequious fans obliged him by calling him "Doctor Savage"...

Yeah, I'm sure it has nothing to do with his Phd.

[mrjeff]

I know the average FR type will disagree with me, but I found this article very interesting. I listen to a lot of talk radio, and I am simultaneously repulsed and fascinated by Savage. If the rap that right wing talk radio is "entertainment" sticks anywhere, it sticks on Savage. I thought Rush was a shameless self-promoter until I heard Savage. Having listened to him quite a bit, this article has the ring of truth about it.

[SunStar]

Unfortunately he is just another acounterproductive Pat Buchanan.

Without the anti-Semitism.

[canuck_conservative]

"WHO TIPES In ALL CAPS AND IS CONSTANTLY GOING ON ABOUT HOW SMART AND FAMES He IS AND WAKe UP YOU FOOLS WAKE UP THE END IS CUMING!!!!!!!!!"

A few typos there, I think, but don't make a HUGH deal about it, it's not that SERIES.

[Slyfox]

I bet that when Salon decided to place this article on their website, they knew that the only people who would read it would be us here at FR.