Savage said Rice was "pushed up the ladder ... because of social engineering"

On the February 7 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage claimed that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "was chosen by George Bush as part of an affirmative action program in order to make his Cabinet look like America" and called her "a schoolmarm who has been pushed up the ladder all of her life because of social engineering." Savage also stated that President Bush's secretary of state "should have been a man because he would have more respect in the Middle East than does a woman to begin with."

Later in the same program, after reading the headline of an Associated Press article -- "Israeli dig at holy site stirs anger of Muslims" -- Savage said: "What doesn't upset a Muslim? Tell me what doesn't upset a Muslim somewhere in the world. They have nothing to do but throw bombs and cut people's throats."

The Savage Nation reaches more than 8 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it the third most-listened-to talk radio show in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.

From the February 7 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: How can a schoolmarm like Condoleezza Rice conceptually deal with the complex problems of this world? She was appointed to the chancellorship at Stanford because of affirmative action. She was chosen by George Bush as part of an affirmative action program in order to make his Cabinet look like America. I mean, do we have to mince words for the rest of our life? She's over her head. She's way over her head. Now, you could have picked an African-American person, if you want to call people of color that, but it wouldn't have been Condoleezza Rice. It should have been a man, it should have been a man who speaks Arabic, it should have been a man because he would have more respect in the Middle East than does a woman to begin with. It has nothing to do with race, it has to do with the fact that she is a schoolmarm who has been pushed up the ladder all of her life because of social engineering.

[...]

SAVAGE: "Israeli dig in holy land upsets Muslims." What doesn't upset a Muslim? Tell me what doesn't upset a Muslim somewhere in the world. They have nothing to do but throw bombs and cut people's throats.

—M.B.B.