So both motorcycles are down this week – one needs a battery (will fix it today) and one needs new tires (on order), so I commuted to work in the car yesterday.
My current project is in Hollywood, about 30 miles from home, and there is, flatly, no good way to get there by car. So on the way home last night, I was highly interested in the traffic news, which took me to AM radio in search of traffic information and left me gobsmacked by my first exposure to major talk radio.
I haven’t sat and listened to Rush Limbaugh, or even Hugh Hewitt (who seems like a nice guy in person) before. And what I caught was the opening of the Michael Savage Show.
What a f**king poltroon. Every time I get irritated at something stupid a blogger says, I now have to remind myself that “at least Blogger X is smarter and saner than Michael Savage.”He made four points while I was listening:
1. He’s really smart and successful (and, I presume, good in bed).
2. Condi Rice is the worst Secretary of State in the modern era, and we should have brought in an Arabic-speaking male Middle East expert instead.
3. We should have launched a conventional strike on all the North Korean missile facilities before they launched this week. (Actually, his comment was “Why do we have all these great aircraft carriers if we’re not going to use them…”)
4. He’s got some minor health issues caused by the stress of his show, and he thought about quitting, but once he thought about the F-18 pilots on the carrier he just visited, he realized that they sacrifice, and so he has to sacrifice as well.
Here are my quick comments:
1. No, he’s not (smart). I can’t speak to his success, but he’s not as successful as Paris Hilton…and as to his prowess in bed, his tone reminded me of nothing so much as this.
2. I’ll skip over the notion that all the Arabic-speaking diplomats are typically Arabists – and thus have the pro-Arab biases typical of the class – and I’ll point out that Rice has actually done a brilliant job of dealing with reassembling the Western Alliance. And that as a conservative who is opposed to Islamism, he ought to be thrilled at the frisson of discomfort the Arab males must face when they sit across from a black woman who has the power to give or deny what they want.
3. He’s out of his fucking mind. We’d have handed the Chinese a huge diplomatic victory, accomplished very little – given the state of the Nork missile program, put Seoul at risk, and handed the Arab countries a great talking point on how unilateral and trigger-happy we are.
Wimps pick fights. Strong, smart people choose them. There’s no reason to go military with North Korea today, except to relieve the humanitarian crisis that the Gulag Nation represents. It will collapse sooner or later – and our goal should be to see that it collapses sooner.
And I love the “we own them, why not use them?” We own a bunch of ICBM’s too…and I don’t see why that wouldn’t apply as well, if your brain is as small as his is.
4. This is perfectly in keeping with the rampant ego we see in #1 – of course he’s sacrificing as much as the troops by collecting his half a million while fighting the brutal case of hemorrhoids or shingles or whatever brutal stress-induced disease he’s battling. I can’t imagine a more arrogant, thoughtless, brainless position to take. That’s like me saying that the cut in pay I took to work with Spirit of America was the moral equivalent of serving in Iraq. Hint: no it wasn’t and no, his suffering isn’t either.
Writing this, I just recalled who it is that he really reminded me of:
It’s a useful image to keep in mind for dealing with arrogant fools.
Savage was the Coulter of the irrational-sorta-right way before Coulter ranted her first rant. Sorry you had to put up with it. Surely silence of any variety, or just the background road noise, would have been better–and just as meaningful.
But hey! Didn’t you like the way he could rattle off “Red-diaper-doper-baby”? 🙁
I think Savage makes Coulter look like Roy Rogers. With Coulter you can at least convince yourself that she’s kidding or exagerating. Savage is a pompous windbag blowhard that says dangerous things.
What’s even more shocking is that he has two masters degrees (from University of Hawaii) and a PhD from UC Berkely. Just goes to show that even idiots can get edumacated.
At least his Ph.D. is in nutrition and not the social sciences or humantities. It’s unbelievable that Savage is on the air. I accidentally tune in on him a couple of times a week in LA and for a few moments it’s like listening to a mental train wreck. This week he is responding to the alleged murder of the 15 year old and her family by saying that the problem is that we haven’t killed enough of the “Sunni Iraqi scum” – that we should have carpet bombed the Sunni triangle with B52s a long time ago. It’s almost Freudian; he is the voice of the promordial sadistic ID and his devoted listeners typify the mass psychology of de-individuated mindlessness. I guess it sells something, but have the managers and owners of the stations that air Savage no shame?
At least his Ph.D. is in nutrition and not the social sciences or humantities. It’s unbelievable that Savage is on the air. I accidentally tune in on him a couple of times a week in LA and for a few moments it’s like listening to a mental train wreck. This week he is responding to the alleged murder of the 15 year old and her family by saying that the problem is that we haven’t killed enough of the “Sunni Iraqi scum” – that we should have carpet bombed the Sunni triangle with B52s a long time ago. It’s almost Freudian; he is the voice of the promordial sadistic ID, or ooze, and his devoted listeners typify the mass psychology of de-individuated mindlessness.
I’ve never heard of this guy but don’t assume he’s dumb. Where I live we have a local talk DJ like that but I happen to have a friend who knows him personally.
She says he is basically an actor-satirist whose personal opinions are very middle of the road; this is a role he plays on the radio. The more outrageous, the more listeners, the more money he makes.
So your guy may be like Liberace: crying all the way to the bank.
Why do you suppose he changed his name from Michael Weiner?
Why do you suppose he changed his name from Michael Weiner?
Because “the Weiner nation” sounds like the kind of show that only you would listen to.
😉
Savage is far from dumb, but he makes the mistake common to people with a Ph.D.: He assumes that comprehensive knowledge in a limited field makes him expert in all other fields, just as actors do. Outside his domain of epidemiology, he frequently makes egregious mistakes all the the more glaring for his certitude. But what the hell, he’s an entertainer, and a very successful one, at that. If you want qualified, tentative opinions, go to university.
He’s about the only thing on the radio as I’m driving home from the lab, so sometimes I tune in.
All-time favorite Savage quote was said shortly after the Pat Robertson comments “if he thinks were trying to kill him, maybe we should just get rid of him.”
“You know, Pat Robertson has previously said that 9/11 happened because we removed religion from our schools, that hurricanes devastated florida several years earlier because of disney’s weak stance against perverts and homosexuals, and that Hurricane Katrina was used by God to clean the filth and debauchery in New ORleans….. (pause)…. and I think most Americans would agree with those comments.”
I’m just curious about the varsity use of the word “frisson.” A frisson of displeasure?
Oh you poor soul.
Do yourself a favor, listen to either Larry Elder KABC 790 or John and Ken KFI 640. The latter are the better of the two major LA drive time evening shows. John and Ken are great because they hold no political alliances, and they rip people a new one when they deserve it, but not just to be entertaining. PR flaks (aka spokesholes) are routinely ground up by them and its fun to listen to.
Avoid 870 all together, its the also-rans in the talk world, plus those 20 watt stations they play on just won’t cut it in the hills (poor reception)
Ted Barlow beat you to this complaint by what, 4 years?
He’s out there to prove that the nutroots certainly don’t have a monopoly on aggressive stupidity. Also to scare the rest of us.
Ted Barlow also said, in what I think should be considered the definitive statement on Ann Coulter: “She isn’t a pundit, she’s a political insult comic.” If that’s how you approach her, she’s perfect for the role. But Savage is unfortunately not funny.
Yaehh,
I can see why you can’t take savage.
That’s because you are a liberal.
He is much too intelectual for you.
Dont’s stress yourself again…
Dan, I’m so conservative I think only hippies shop at Brooks Brothers, and I can’t take Savage.
“Wimps pick fights. Strong, smart people choose them.”
AL, could you elaborate a little on the difference between *picking* a fight and *choosing* to fight? In either case, there is a conscious choice by the individual/group/nation to seek combat.
Strong, smart nations seek combat when an enemy/rival is vulnerable and military victory will advance their strategic goals. Are you trying to say that _Wimp_ _nations_ are stupid nations that seek combat when their enemy/rival is _not_ vulnerable and military victory will _not_ advance their strategic goals?
Great post AL. I don’t know that a lot of conservatives hold Savage in high esteem any more than liberals. Like some of the commenters here noted, he’s trying to make money – tho I don’t think that should be an excuse to be a rabid punk. My brother-in-law was in town recently and called me to turn on the AM and catch Savage. I had to tell him in no uncertain terms that talk radio is not supposed to make me want to spit.
And I wouldn’t compare him to Ann Coulter, although I would agree with #13 Rob on Coulter. I like her for humor but Savage is a waste of time. But your post was funny. Made my day.
Good post. Except we don’t want the DPRK to collapse. Nor does China, Japan or especially South Korea. For starters, think what that would do to South Korea–the remants of the DPRK would swamp, not be absorbed by, the RoK. (The absorption of East Germany by West Germany was hard enough, and this would be much, much worse, with fewer supports in place.) And that’s presuming the regime, sensing collapse, doesn’t attempt to pre-empt it by lashing out. I hope DPRK/North Asia can be resolved reasonably well, but my gut feeling is that we’re all heading for a precipice, and unfortunately one gerrymandered by the 1994 Kedo agreement–put in place because it was deemed all too hard a problem then.
I once went to http://www.michaelsavage.com, and saw that on the front page, he has some gory image of an atrocity like a beheading, or the victims that Tookie shot in the head.
There is not even a warning to prepare you beforehand, such as “Warning : Extremely Graphic Content”. You just see the image without any chance of avoiding it.
I have never gone to that website since, even though I have listened to his show a few times.
Does he still have something gruesome there?
Poltroon is just about right; Savage does occasionally come up with an entertaining tag line; the first time I ever heard him, he was on a radio statin somewhere in small town central California and was saying “Baghdad Barbara Boxer”. I thought he had that one pegged, but he’s essentially just too unpleasant to listen to.
Poltroon is just about right; Savage does occasionally come up with an entertaining tag line; the first time I ever heard him, he was on a radio statin somewhere in small town central California and was saying “Baghdad Barbara Boxer”. I thought he had that one pegged, but he’s essentially just too unpleasant to listen to.
Yeah, I heard Dan Savage for a few minutes. What a maroon. It’s guys like him who make Ted Nugent and Jesse The Body and Hell, G. Gordon Liddy look like effing supermen.
=darwin
Hahaha, oops. Dan Savage is a gay, married adoptive father and sex advice columnist whose writing I rather enjoy. *Michael* Savage is the dingbat in question.
=darwin
KRLA 870 AM in L.A. used to split up Hugh Hewitt’s show around Savage’s, broadcasting 2 hrs of Hewitt live, then all of Savage, then the last hour of Hewitt on tape-delay. Fortunately the station got enough flak on that that they’ve been broadcasting Hewitt’s complete show uncut for the past year or so. Hewitt’s a Republican partisan and makes no bones about it, but generally he is listenable & not mean-spirited, unlike Savage who’s a little like the “Fred Phelps”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._Fred_Phelps of conservative talk radio in terms of style.
Savage is using a schtick I’ve heard a lot on sports talk stations: say something outrageous, then watch the calls roll in with people either wanting to tell you what an idiot you are or agreeing with you, the latter of which generate more calls with people wanting to say what idiots *those* callers are, etc. No callers = no listeners = no job for radio talk show hosts.
My family and I do not lean left on any given issue, though I occasionally lean libertian rather than right.
My girls like Anne Coulter, but I find her too abrasive (funny, but too abrasive).
My husband likes Rush, but I find him too much of a bore.
We none of us can stand to listen to Savage. We turn the radio off when he comes on. I’d rather hear fingernails on a chalkboard.
Savage, by and large, strikes me as suffering from a severe case of bipolar disorder. I’ve heard him go from a very calm and funny story from his childhood to literally screaming that Muslims will be taking over and slitting throats across America because of some slipup by George Bush.