Savage on America: "We're probably 50 leagues below the degeneracy that brought about Hitler"

During the November 24 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage said of the United States: "[S]ocially, we're far worse -- more degenerate than Weimar Germany. At least in Weimar Germany, men couldn't marry men and women couldn't marry women. So we're probably 10 leagues below the degeneracy that brought about Hitler. We're probably 50 leagues below the degeneracy that brought about Hitler. We are the sickest, most disgusting country on the earth, and we are psycholo -- psychotically -- we are psychotic as a nation."

Savage made the remarks while discussing reports that the U.S. government -- which he described as "this group of cretins from Yale and Harvard" -- has pledged more than $7 trillion in an attempt to resolve the financial and credit crises. The financial bailouts led Savage to conclude, "It's Weimar Germany all over again. It doesn't look like that, but it's liable to become like that." Following his references to the "degeneracy" that "brought about Hitler" and his claims that America is "the sickest, most disgusting country on the earth" and "psychotic as a nation," Savage continued:

It's a psychotic nation when the attorney general of the state of California, when the senator from the state of California named Dianne Feinstein, when the governor from the state of California who posed as a strongman gets up there and says that homosexuals have a right to marry that's equal to a man and a woman, they're insane. They are fundamentally insane.

Media Matters for America has documented several instances in which Savage has made similar comments:

• In September, Savage asserted of the Folsom Street Fair, a leather-themed adult-entertainment event in San Francisco: "This country today is far beyond the excesses of the Weimar Republic that led to Adolf Hitler. God forbid that should ever happen here. But the German people, who were not all Nazis prior to Hitler's arrival on the scene, were shocked by the degenerates of Berlin. They were sickened by the perverts, sickened by the artistes, they were sickened by the leather fetishists, they were sickened by the degeneracy, and they couldn't handle it." Savage added that the people who participated in the Folsom Street Fair were "doing what they do because they're sick, they're mentally ill. Every last person there is a mentally ill person, in my opinion."

• Savage also previously drew connections between same-sex marriage and the financial crisis, saying on his October 1 show, "[Y]ou may say, 'Why should we care about homosexuals trying to destroy families through the mock marriage that they perform in order to mock God, the church, the family, children, the fetus, the DNA of the human species? Why should we care about it while we have a financial meltdown?' Because the spiritual side of the downturn on Wall Street is directly related to the moral downturn in the United States of America." Savage went on to assert, "[T]he government has no right to force people to accept homosexual marriage. It is why the West is dying. It is why we're melting down as a nation."

• In late October, Savage said of Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage, "[T]here's a ballot initiative on homosexual marriage that is more important than you could imagine. It's called Proposition 8, and you must vote 'yes' if you're sane. If you're insane, hate the family, hate man and woman, hate your mother and father, hate the Bible, hate the church, and hate the synagogue, of course you're in favor of 'no' on Proposition 8." The next day on his program, Savage stated: "[T]he people who don't have families don't understand that, as difficult as family life is, life is impossible without it. They don't understand that. They don't understand what the family unit is. It's the strongest bond on Earth, which is why homosexual marriage is such a threat to civilization itself."

Savage formerly hosted a television program on MSNBC but was fired after he described a caller as a "sodomite" and told him to "get AIDS and die." Savage has also repeatedly referred to "the homosexual mafia," claimed that "the homosexual dance of death" is a "seminal issue of our time," compared gays to "drug addicts," and repeatedly called gay parenting "child abuse."

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 November 24 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: When I woke up this morning and I read that the government, whoever they are -- that means this group of cretins from Yale and Harvard -- agreed to bail out their friends from Yale and Harvard to the tune of $7.1 trillion, I started running around the house saying, "It's Weimar Germany all over again." It's Weimar Germany all over again. It doesn't look like that, but it's liable to become like that.

What do I mean by Weimar Germany? Well, socially, we're far worse -- more degenerate than Weimar Germany. At least in Weimar Germany, men couldn't marry men and women couldn't marry women. So we're probably 10 leagues below the degeneracy that brought about Hitler. We're probably 50 leagues below the degeneracy that brought about Hitler. We are the sickest, most disgusting country on the earth, and we are psycholo -- psychotically -- we are psychotic as a nation.

It's a psychotic nation when the attorney general of the state of California, when the senator from the state of California named Dianne Feinstein, when the governor from the state of California who posed as a strongman gets up there and says that homosexuals have a right to marry that's equal to a man and a woman, they're insane. They are fundamentally insane.