Savage now says he was joking about autism
SUMMARY: Asked about his 2008 statement that "I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out," Michael Savage said it was "said in jest."
On the May 7 edition of CNN's American Morning, co-host Kiran Chetry asked radio host Michael Savage about his July 16, 2008, statement that "I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out." Savage then said to Chetry: "That's an absurd statement that was said in jest. They understand that." After Media Matters for America highlighted his comments, which generated extensive criticism, Savage claimed that the comments were "take[n] out of context," a claim Media Matters rebutted.
On the July 16, 2008, broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Savage claimed that autism is "[a] fraud, a racket." Savage went on to say, "I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.' " Savage had previously described autism as a "phony disease."
From the May 7 edition of CNN's American Morning:
CHETRY: Why don't you clear up some of the misconceptions? I want to ask you about your views on some of the following things. What are your views on homosexuality, for example?
SAVAGE: My religious training teaches me that it's something to shun, and when a society starts to embrace homosexuality and other behaviors, where does the society end up?
CHETRY: And what do you say to people who say, you know, "I was born this way? I didn't ask to, you know, be attracted to one sex or the other and I shouldn't be treated differently?"
SAVAGE: Well, you could be born many different ways -- it doesn't mean this is a -- it doesn't mean that a person has to follow their urges. I mean, there are many urges that people have, and if a society starts to engage homosexuality on an equal footing with heterosexuality, you end up with no society. Where is the reproduction supposed to come from? Have we lost all sense of father, mother, and family?
CHETRY: You once said about autism --
SAVAGE [audio clip]: You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is.
SAVAGE: That's an absurd statement that was said in jest. They understand that. First of all, I come from a family where I had a handicapped brother, which I don't want to go into. And I have given money, I have supported people, I protected the defenseless all my life. There's no one in the media who's done more for the defenseless than Michael Savage, particularly children.
CHETRY: What are your views about immigrants and illegal immigration?
SAVAGE: Illegal immigration? It's in keeping with 80 percent of the American people. They want it stopped, and they want it stopped now.
HEY MIKE! SUE ME TOO!
No disrespect to second wives, I wish polygammy was legal, I'd be the first in line.
" I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."
so Savage is quite clearly an adulterer....
The "out of context" defense only works if there is another context in which your comments would be benign. Unfortunately, this is never true of people like Savage, Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck.
Just when he said about wheres the reproduction going to come from?, don't really understand his point, I find the thought of it funny though, husbands leaping off their wives and saying "sorry hun, I'm gonna try homosexuality while its legal"
Oh and more seriously, thats such a bad excuse, it probably makes things worse than just admitting any fault and accepting his criticism over it. He'd probably have an easier time just apologisinhg and people would probably, eventually come close to forgiving him.
Does that mean I can use racial epithets and then say:
I was just kidding.
Does that mean I can tell people to shoot protesters or commies or radicals and then say:
I was just kidding.
Does that mean I can call our New President a communist and then say:
I was just kidding.
I do not get this. Why do others--not MM of course--let this stuff evaporate into the ethos?
I take autism seriously, but I do believe you still joke about it. But there's a way to do it, and that's in a way that shows respect to all those people invovled: www.myspace.com/on_the_spectrum
I don't think my strip will every have Mister Savage's audience, but he'll never have any real legitimacy. And I get to keep my soul.
Strange, but that doesn't quite sound like "just kidding" to me.
Caught with the sewage spewing out of his mouth, then says, "I was only joking."
Yeah, me too. Didn't Savage advocate closing the U.S. / Mexican border? If the U.K.'s refusal to allow entry to Savage constitutes the silencing of dissent for you, exactly what does his advocacy of the closure of an entire border represent?
Funny, I didn't catch you at the protests over the "Free Speech Zones (!?)" set up to stifle dissent at the political conventions last year. Were you there?
Oh, and by the way, there have always been "governments trying to stifle dissent." That's why we have a First Amendment, to try to avoid that. It's one of the things that makes us unique.
Why? Is he falling down again?
I guess all boobs deserve support.
And THAT'S Victoria's Secret.
Is this English?
So, no, you keep your garbage away from my kids.
What kind of statement is that? He brings it up but he doesn't want to talk about it?
Dr. Johnson said patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. For these blowhard talk show mouthpieces, claiming it was just a joke is the last refuge of a complete idiot. Ole BlunderRush is the past master of this particular dark art.
In other words, were he to go speak somewhere in London, the response by extremists could be violence against their own citizens and Michael Savage as well.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=226609&title=battle-of-the-banned
The link icon doesn't seem to be working. Sorry.