Michael Savage: Straight talk, unfiltered

Michael Savage

Talk Radio Network’s Michael Savage is no stranger to controversy and headlines. However, his show and audience just keep on growing. Why? Because he says what’s in his heart—right or wrong in the eyes of his listeners. He’s beholden to nothing and no one. And he’s definitely not afraid of a fight—enough so that he will put his own money where his mouth is.

Savage is great, compelling radio and his show is indicative of the power of radio. Yes, Savage is an entertainer (he can be hilarious without even trying), but he’s also an author and a bit of an activist as well—in things he really believes in. Of course, his audience backs him up.

He earned his PhD from The University of California at Berkeley and is the author of four best-selling books—a radio record! Liberal San Franciscans lock ears to their radios when Savage is live because they love his educated opinions and machine-gun wit.

We caught up with Michael recently and asked for his take on a lot of things—including what makes his show so successful.

What's unique about The Savage Nation?

The Savage Nation is the only show in the country where you can get away from the inside the beltway claptrap that you hear everywhere. Everywhere you turn on the dial it's Obama this, McCain that. The cable networks refuse to talk about anything else because they're schilling for ad money from the candidates. Most radio shows blindly follow the lead of the cable networks, so the government media complex wins, the people lose, and we end up missing the real news. I'd rather talk about almost anything else - my dog, going to a restaurant, taking a walk – because these things ultimately have more political meaning than anything you'll hear on these other shows. A walk through San Francisco becomes a treatise on the dangers of liberalism, a restaurant story becomes a metaphor for frustration with the Republican party, and talking about my dog turns into a parable about dealing with terrorism. No one else engages the radio listener on this level.

What does your recent victory in the Chessani case say about the power of radio?

When I gave $25,000 of my own money to Lt. Col Chessani and my audience raised over $200,000, we knew we were fighting an uphill battle. The military had 65 agents working to prove that Chessani had been responsible for covering-up what Rep. John Murtha falsely labeled a "massacre". When the judge dismissed the case last month, it proved that talk radio has the power to change the outcome of critical political events. After all, it was The Savage Nation that was key in stopping the Dubai Ports deal, blocking the nomination of Harriet Meiers to the Supreme Court, and killing the Amnesty bill. Those who ignore talk radio do so at their own risk.

What are the three most pressing problems we face as Americans today?

We have the enemy without in the form of Iran and its Islamofacsist minions, the enemy within the form of rampant, insane liberalism destroying our culture, and a total lack of leadership that's willing to deal with the other two. Let's start with the enemy without. I've said time and again that the leader of Iran, Ahmadinejad, is the new Hitler. He's on the record denying the Holocaust and saying he wants to wipe Israel of the face of the earth. Yet Obama wants to sit down and talk with this despot and Bush and McCain refuse to do anything but issue warnings. If we don't take care of Iran, they will take care of us. As far as liberalism in the United States goes, all you need to do is look at the recent Supreme Court decision on child rape. What sane society would punish such vile psychopaths with anything less than death? Liberalism has ripped apart the mental and moral fabric of our nation and must be stopped. And as far as leadership goes, Bush has been a zero; McCain looks to be more of the same, and Obama is even worse. None of them have the guts to stand up to Iran, none of them have the guts to stand up to the ACLU, none of them have the guts to stand up to those who put the bottom line before the flag. The most important thing about our president is not their sex or race as the liberals insist. I would vote for a black woman for president if she would close the borders, destroy our enemies, and jail the traitors who are eating away at our nation from the inside.

What are your predictions for the Mideast? What are your fears?

Until we act decisively in the Middle East, Iran will grow stronger. As soon as we show them that we are willing to unleash our military might against them, they'll back down and our problems will be over. My fear is that no real leader will appear who is willing to do this.

What can radio do to regain some of what it has lost, especially with younger demos?

Americans, especially younger Americans, are sick of Beltway Blather from talk show hosts. Men and women in their twenties call my show all the time because I present political and social issues to them in a way that is real to them. This is what talk radio has to do. Young people today are breaking their backs to support the idiocy that a generation of their liberal elders are foisted upon them. They don't have the time or the interest for horserace politics of the sort most hosts engage in. They want someone who isn't afraid to tell the truth and someone who has lived and worked and struggled in the real world, not someone whose entire career has played out in an air conditioned studio in Manhattan. 

What commentary do you have on the state of America's news media?

The liberal media in this country is probably more responsible than any other group for our nation's cultural decline. For thirty years, they've been feeding us a steady diet of leftism that has transformed a once great nation into a country more concerned with Montezuma's Revenge than The Halls of Montezuma. The news media has convinced and entire generation that self-esteem is more important than national pride. Even the so-called "conservative" media outlets give us nothing but globalism and depravity. So we have a nation filled with metrosexual men, women of ill repute, and children that know more about how to put a condom on a cucumber than they do about the Constitution.

What books do you still have to write?

I'm currently editing a collection of stories from my life, many of which I've spoken  on the air about.  It will be finished later this year and be made available on my website.

--by Carl Marcucci

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Michael Savage on the No Spin Zone with Bill O'Reilly