Savage on Obama: "Now we have an unknown stealth candidate who went to a madrassas in Indonesia and, in fact, was a Muslim"

Summary: On his radio show, Michael Savage falsely asserted that Sen. Barack Obama was a Muslim and attended a madrassa, stating: "Now we have an unknown stealth candidate who went to a madrassas in Indonesia and, in fact, was a Muslim."

On the April 3 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage falsely asserted that Sen. Barack Obama was a Muslim and attended a madrassa, stating: "Look who we inherited in this country, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Hussein Obama, in one generation. A war hero to -- a war hero who commanded the Allied operations against Nazi Germany was running for the presidency then. Now we have an unknown stealth candidate who went to a madrassas in Indonesia and, in fact, was a Muslim despite what Straw Hair will tell you on "Softball." Yes, check it out."

In fact, Obama is not a Muslim. The Obama campaign website states that Obama "has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ." As Media Matters for America documented, the false allegation that Obama was educated in a madrassa has been debunked by CNN, the Associated Press, and the Chicago Tribune. On January 23, 2007, CNN reported that "[a]llegations that Sen. Barack Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a 'madrassa' are not accurate." The AP reported on January 24, 2007, that the elementary school Obama attended as a child in Jakarta, Indonesia, was "a public and secular institution that has been open to students of all faiths since before the White House hopeful attended in the late 1960s."

Numerous media figures, including Savage, have repeated the false rumor that Obama attended a madrassa as a child. Savage has frequently attacked Obama, on one occasion referring to him as "Barack Madrassas Obama" and on another occasion as "Saddam Hussein -- I mean, Barack Hussein Obama." In the past, Savage has said of Obama, "We have a right to know if he's a so-called friendly Muslim or one who aspires to more radical teachings" and on another occasion asserted that Obama was "hand-picked by some very powerful forces ... to drag this country into a hell that it has not seen since the Civil War of the middle of the 19th century."

Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, says that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches more than 8 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it one of the most listened-to talk radio shows in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.

From the April 3 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: Could you play "A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation)"? Because the flowers are in bloom out here. It's my favorite time of the year. I suffer, like, from allergies, but the blooms are gorgeous, the apple -- the apple tree. They are -- pink.

["A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation)" plays]

SAVAGE: Doesn't it bring back beautiful feelings, compared to the filth that they play now? They're simple. Who would put on a white sportscoat today? He'd get his head stomped. Look who we inherited in this country, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Hussein Obama, in one generation. A war hero to -- a war hero who commanded the Allied operations against Nazi Germany was running for the presidency then. Now we have an unknown stealth candidate who went to a madrassas in Indonesia and, in fact, was a Muslim despite what Straw Hair will tell you on Softball. Yes, check it out.

—T.Z.