Savage Stands by Autistic Remarks

[LynneSin]

Source: NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/business/media/22sava...

Savage Stands by Autistic Remarks
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By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: July 22, 2008
Michael Savage, the incendiary radio host who last week characterized nearly every autistic child as “a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out,” said in a telephone interview Monday morning that he stood by his remarks and had no intention of apologizing to those advocates and parents who have called for his firing over the matter.

Skip to next paragraph “My main point remains true,” Mr. Savage, whose radio audience ranks in size behind only those of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, said in an interview on Monday. “It is an overdiagnosed medical condition. In my readings, there is no definitive medical diagnosis for autism.”

On his program lastWednesday, Mr. Savage suggested that “99 percent of the cases” of autism were a result of lax parenting. He told his audience: “They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life.“ He added, “Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”

Asked Monday if he actually believed that 99 out every 100 cases of autism was misdiagnosed, Mr. Savage conceded that figure was “a little high.” “It was hyperbole,” he said.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/business/media/22sava...

---

You'd think by now the guy realized he made a mistake but no, he's standing by his assinine assumption.

[trumad]

1. Stunning that this guy has a public forum to spout this shit....

[atommom]

2. What. An. Idiot.

Why is he still employed? I'm sure there are better, smarter radio hosts looking for work.

[superconnected]

5. If you think he's an idiot look at his audience.

That's who keeps him employed.

And I agree he shouldn't be allowed to pollute the airwaves.

[jberryhill]

26. I'd be willing to bet that his audience....

...like any other sample of folks, includes a substantial number of parents of autistic children, or friends of parents with autistic children.

[Blaq Dem]

36. Someone needs to beat this guy with a rubber hose

He's so insensitive. It reminds me when Rush Limpballs mocked Michael J. Fox for having Parkinson's Disease.

[calimary]

43. Not for long.

[Mike Daniels]

17. Because he makes the stations that air his show a lot of money.

That's what it comes down to. Quite simply, the station is making more money keeping him on the air than they would by putting someone else on in his place.

[eek]

3. I wrote local staton and filed with FCC

FCC complaint was filed under (something like) Misleading Advertising.


here are my comments from that form:

<<WKIP practices misleading marketing and promotion by casting itself as "new" talk radio.
Mike Savage said that the autism is a fraud and the result of children being weak and acting like a girl. He said that the illness asthma is a money racket for minorites to get more welfare money.

This type of talk programming is not news.>>

http://www.fcc.gov /

.........................................

Here's what I sent to Station Mgmt, advertising etc for WKIP in Poughkeepsie. NY:

<<That Mike Savage is a real sweetheart.
If by "sweetheart", I meant "bigoted, hateful,fanner of the flames of human baseness."
His asthma and autism screed is bizarre . Suggesting that little boys should stop being "girly" is nasty and mean, with an underlying message of misogyny.

He is a bad man who uses his position: "man with microphone and nobody to question him" to "confirm" some of the worst recesses in our collective heart of darkness.
What's more , I think that he may not even believe all of what he says, rather, that he does so out of pure, cynical dollar-chasing.

That you carry his show is equally cynical.
Look, I have nothing against capitalism. I love to make money , but, to do so in such an immoral way is, well, immoral!

Oh - and one more thing: casting shows like Savage's as "News" Talk is just plain deceptive.>>

[barbtries]

13. i like your comments n/t

[last_texas_dem]

4. That piece of scum has the third highest radio audience in the nation?

You'd think basic human decency might cause enough people to react with disgust and tune him out, causing his sagging ratings to drive him off of radio. But then who on radio would speak for the talking assholes? They mustn't be underrepresented! (OK, Limbaugh and Hannity are already doing that job admirably. Oh well....)

[superconnected]

7. Alright, let's go back over this. Half of all people are under 100.

Guess who his audience is?

For every person who is 115 there is an 85 out there.

[KamaAina]

35. He may be number 3 in the ratings,

but he's full of Number 2!

[bdamomma]

6. this man should have his permit revoked

the hatred they spew should get their a$$es thrown in jail.

[superconnected]

8. His underlying problem is stupidity but yeah, he's a violent idiot.

[Wednesdays]

9. Savage should be put in a room with 100 autistic kids

and point out all the ones who are "faking it." Oh yeah, and then work his magic "cure" on them. Yeah, we'll see how well that works.

[AndyTiedye]

10. He Was Probably a Bully When He Was a Kid, Too

Like a certain pResident:

[Common Sense Party]

15. No, Weiner was probably bullied.

He's now working out his own psychological trauma in front of millions of listeners.

Have you ever heard the guy? He sounds like he is in the midst of a nervous breakdown.

[Captain Angry]

11. Look at all the free advertising he gets from the statement.

Who cares if he believes it or not? He's not important. Repeating it, creating the buzz, getting him invites onto other stations, etc. All it does is get his advertisers to pay him more as he increases the number of listeners.

If people would ignore him, he would try something else, and something else, until he realized that he's just not important and he is certainly not news.

[Kire]

40. I bet parents and caregivers who deal wth autistic kids everyday

probably know how to detach better than the general pubic, maybe we can all learn from them

similar to an al-anon type person

you think?

[barbtries]

12. what a pig

i hope he gets backlashed out of public life on this one.

[Common Sense Party]

14. Weiner. You and me in a locked room. Five minutes.

You can try to explain to me that my son is the result of bad parenting.

And I will open up a can of hyperbole on you that you'll never forget.

[Prophet 451]

19. Get in line

My kid brother is autistic. I was a semi-pro wrestler and there's some serious ass-kicking I've like to try out on Weiner for this one.

[Common Sense Party]

20. Maybe we can tag team.

[Truth4Justice]

45. He broadcasts(spews hate) from his home in Marin County, California, the coward. You will never get

..near him.

He was called down to the street many times when he was working at KSFO in San Francisco, by irate people whom he had upset with his madness.

He never once showed up, even after HE "talked the talk".

Savage is a coward and a bully, plain and simple.

[KamaAina]

16. And that's today's Dumb Headline!

It makes it sound like Savage Weiner himself was making remarks characteristic of a person with autism, e.g. "I'm an excellent driver".

What is this world coming to when even the Paper of Record(TM) puts out such a gaffe?

[PatGund]

And I stand by my remarks.....

....that Michael "Savage" Weiner is an asshole.

[City Lights]

18. Has the Talking Wiener diagnosed his listeners?

Clearly anyone who listens to the Wiener is not well.

[brentspeak]

21. If you ignore him, he will die off

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. I used to think that way about Limpballs...

The trouble is, we have to convince stupid people to ignore him.

[Truth4Justice]

44. No he wont. He has been broadcasting since 1993, first in SF Bay, then nationwide syndicated radio..

He was hated by most progressives and just plain normal sane people, which Savage is not, but we never could get him fired, no matter how many calls to his station manager.

[RamboLiberal]

22. WOR in NYC is being picketed by parents of autistic children

-----

A few dozen parents of austistic kids protested outside WOR Radio Monday afternoon, demanding Savage be fired.

They called it ironic that the loudmouth radio host would - known for his vicious indictments of immigrants, muslims, gays, Jews and non-whites - would go after innocents who often can't even talk.

Ed Moffitt, 75, proudly showed a picture of his 8-year-old grand-nephew, Bob.

"Bob can't speak. He never called Savage any names," Moffitt said.

"We are dying to hear him say 'Mommy' or 'Daddy.' And (Savage) says that he is just acting out?" said the boy's grandfather, retired NYPD officer Bob Moffitt. "It hurts me."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/07/21/2008-07-21_r...

[StClone]

28. Drag him out by the hair

Kicked, punched. Limbaugh borders on this type of stupidity and if lies were manure Hannity would have a corner on the fertilizer market. Oh but they make money for their stations. Crack too would accomplish this.

[whistle]

23. Michael Wiener is a total puke-head

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

24. Don't blame Savage, blame his audience

The fans of Savage are the reason that he's able to get away with this cold cruel crap. Save your anger for them, whoever they are, if you know any of them personally.

[humbled_opinion]

25. Conservative hate speech should be banned...n/t

[windoe]

27. Coulter, Limbaugh, Savage, O'Reilly are all RW attack dogs

and their sole purpose is to distract our focus off what needs to be done. They do not deserve a microphone.

1- they are the lunatic fringe, not us!!!
2- DON"T waste energy getting upset at them, they feed off it
3- They deserve ridicule, sarcasm and exposed as liars and frauds that they are


4- I apologize for PWI, posting while influenced by 2 glasses of really good port. Cheers.

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

30. The first amendment protects idiots too...n/t

[Jefferson23]

32. The Fairness Doctrine needs to be brought back, imo.

As far as I know it was never found unconstitutional by SCOTUS, it was repealed by Reagan, then you had the emergence of Rush, Hannity and Savage. Let them go to Sirius radio and have to pay for spreading unchallenged falsehoods.

[Jefferson23]

31. Scary thing is that there are millions that love this guy Savage.

If there is a hell, this guy will rot in it one day.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

39. The Savage fans are equally guilty

Though I guess you can blame him a lot for exploiting anger and bigotry for personal gain.

I'm almost at the point where I'm considering starting a Far Right Blacklist of individuals who are actively promoting an extreme right agenda. Not the audiences, mind you, but those "men behind the curtains" who are orchestrating this whole shebang.

[TroglodyteScholar]

33. Misleading headline

It should read, "Weiner Stands by Autistic Remarks"

[MattP]

34. DU this poll on whether they should fire him or not

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-ussav07...

[galledgoblin]

37. asshole... I support him continuing to mouth off though

it'll get him off the air sooner.

[IndianaGreen]

38. To call Savage a Neanderthal would be a smear to all Neanderthals

Savage and his audience are inbreds that reject science and reason.

[New Dawn]

41. Sign this petition calling for his firing

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/fire-michael-quotautis...

[opihimoimoi]

42. Latest threads indicate he has been fired....fyi

[LeftHander]

46. Southern talk radio network dropped him...

See LBN...The head off a talk radio network in Mississippi said that is it for his show.

Too many people know or have a child with autism. THis guy showed that anything he says or said is tainted with stupidity.

[B3Nut]

47. Good. Let him continue to show the world

what an utterly pathetic and wretched little man he is acting like, and how utterly reprehensible the RW attack-dog agenda is, and how completely empty their rhetoric is. Think about it...this is all they have? Can they get any more pathetic than that?

He has every right under the First Amendment to display to the world how completely and execrably moronic he is being, and by extension the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of his audience, as much as I detest what he has to say.

One of my favorite quotes is from Voltaire, who famously uttered "I despise what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

However, I will excercise my right to opine that the Savage Wiener is the one being a putz, to borrow his phraseology. Quit being a pitiful hateful asshole and grow some empathy, bub.