Savage: "I'd hang every lawyer who went down to Guantánamo"
Summary: While discussing the case of two students on trial on charges that they provided material aid to terrorists, Michael Savage told a caller, "If I ran this country, I'd hang the lawyer. I would try her for aiding and abetting terrorism -- I'd hang her and I'd hang every lawyer who went down to Guantánamo to defend those murderers."
While discussing the case of two University of South Florida students on trial on charges that they provided material aid to terrorists, radio host Michael Savage told a caller, "If I ran this country, I'd hang the lawyer. I would try her for aiding and abetting terrorism -- I'd hang her and I'd hang every lawyer who went down to Guantánamo to defend those murderers." Earlier in the June 18 program, Savage said of the defendants and their attorney, whom he called "a shyster lawyer, a girl lawyer": "I would execute them and I'd execute the lawyer. How's that? I'd execute any lawyer who would do this to this country in a time like this -- I'd hang her. I'd hang her. I'd hang her for aiding and abetting terrorism. Don't tell me they're entitled to a rational defense, I'm so sick of this -- I could rip my desk and it's made of iron. I feel like Superman right now, I could take my hands and break my desk, that's how enraged I am today, I'm choked up with anger."
As Media Matters for America has noted, on the March 31 broadcast of his program, Savage advocated putting "left-wing lawyers" in Abu Ghraib, stating: "Cops are getting knocked off all over the country because of the rules of engagement, written primarily by the scummiest class in America, the vermin of vermin, which are the left-wing lawyers who should be put in Abu Ghraib with hoods over their head, as far as I'm concerned." He then said: "If I had the power by executive order, I would round up every member of the ACLU and of the National Lawyers Guild, and I'd put them in a prison in Guantánamo and I'd throw the key away. Or I would reopen Devil's Island and I'd put everyone in the ACLU into -- onto Devil's Island." He added, "But, you see, I fantasize. That's one of my flaws is I live in a fantasy land that can never be."
Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, claims that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches at least 8.25 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 June 18 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: Now, I want to ask you something. They find two Egyptians with pipe bombs, they get a lawyer, a shyster lawyer, a girl lawyer, who says that they were only fireworks and then she says nobody was actually harmed from the video they made on how to blow people up and kill them. I'm asking you, should they be -- I got to stop right here, because if it was up to me, I would execute them and I'd execute the lawyer. How's that? I'd execute any lawyer who would do this to this country in a time like this -- I'd hang her. I'd hang her. I'd hang her for aiding and abetting terrorism. Don't tell me they're entitled to a rational defense, I'm so sick of this -- I could rip my desk and it's made of iron. I feel like Superman right now, I could take my hands and break my desk, that's how enraged I am today, I'm choked up with anger.
[...]
SAVAGE: Sacramento, Phyllis, you're on the Savage Nation.
CALLER: Hi, hi, Michael. Listen, I guess Mohamed -- Mohamed there and Ahmed wanted to celebrate Fourth of July.
SAVAGE: Yeah, that's why they had a pipe bomb and their lawyer said they were firecrackers. I tell you, I'd hang the lawyer. If I ran this country, I'd hang the lawyer. I would try her for aiding and abetting terrorism -- I'd hang her and I'd hang every lawyer who went down to Guantánamo to defend those murderers. Two hundred rats ran out of New York and Boston to defend these people that would hang them and spit in their face. These guys hate Jews, they would kill Jews and half of the lawyers were Jews. Explain this to me.
CALLER: Michael, you --
SAVAGE: You want to let it all hang out? Why do Jewish liberal lawyers run to Guantánamo to defend Muslims who hate them? Can you explain that to me?
CALLER: No, my father was one of those guys. But I yeah --
SAVAGE: Well, it's the same as the Jewish lawyers and the ACLU who defended the Nazis who wanted to march in Skokie, Illinois. And you ask the Jewish lawyers, "Why would you defend Nazis who want to march in Skokie, Illinois?" And their answer is, "Because I believe in freedom." That's not why they did it, because I learned that one of them, one of the lead attorneys, did it for fame and nothing but fame. He used that as a mockery of the law itself, he made believe that that's what he believed in. He saw it as a good opportunity to get on the world stage and to be recognized. Most of it was done for money, do you understand that, Phyllis?
CALLER: Sure. Yeah, but what I'm calling about is that I want to encourage you, you are my brother in rage. We love you. I want to encourage you to continue, please.
SAVAGE: Yeah, Mohamed was a civil engineering graduate student who came to the University of South Florida -- "Jihad U" -- in January of '07 on a student visa. I guess the homosexual university provost wanted some diversity in the university so they brought them in from around the world. You know how university fellows are, they like diversity in their midst. Megahed is a permanent U.S. resident who lives in Tampa with his family.
—Z.A.
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