Following the announcement that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his May 20 show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing “Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes” with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, “It's not a tumor.” Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song “California Über Alles” after stating: “The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please.”

After reading from the lyrics of “California Über Alles,” Savage said, “No gloating today, no laughter, all serious. You don't joke about a man's cancer. I do it, but I won't do it today; it's something I will not do.” At one point in the program, he told a caller, “You know I'm playing the Dead Kennedys not to mock Ted Kennedy. It's just appropriate, that's all.”

Later in the program, Savage aired a clip of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) offering a tribute to Kennedy on the Senate floor before describing Byrd as “a senile senator” and “a walking psycho.” Savage went on to assert, “For years now, Byrd has been blubbering on the floor of the Senate. For years, I mean, to be honest, Kennedy didn't seem sane to me.” He continued, “Forget about the drunk stories and all that -- anybody can drink. The guy sounded like he was off for years, I'm sorry.”

Savage subsequently aired a clip of Kennedy singing “Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes” before he asserted, “This is running America. No wonder [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's racing ahead with a nuclear weapon. He's afraid of these old men? He's afraid of these men who don't know what they're talking about? They don't know what they're talking about. No wonder Al Gore can receive a prize -- a Nobel Prize for something that doesn't exist. No wonder. Nobody knows what's going on.” Savage added, “Either they're senile, or they're bought out, or they're corrupt, or they're crazy, or they're on medication. And we the people are sitting here saying, 'The king has no clothes,' and the king says, 'Off with your head.' Play 'California Über Alles' by the Dead Kennedys for me. I'm not going to get too worked up right now -- lunch is coming up for me anyway.”

In February, discussing the death of Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), the only member of Congress to have survived the Holocaust, Savage stated, “You're not supposed to talk badly about the dead. I generally wouldn't do it. But in the case of Tom Lantos, I'll make an exception. I think he was one of the most -- he was a scoundrel. And I'll tell you why I detested Tom Lantos. The man survived the Holocaust of World War II and used it as a weapon the rest of his life.”

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 8.25 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 May 20 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

[begin audio clip]

[Ted Kennedy singing “Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes”]

VARIOUS REPORTERS: Our breaking news this afternoon: Ted Kennedy ... Tumor in the left lobe of his brain ... Malignant brain tumor ... This is a malignant brain tumor ... Let me, let me pick your brain -- on probably the area you know best ... He's showing great energy --

SCHWARZENEGGER: It's not a tumor.

KENNEDY: Mucho mas gracias a todos. Estoy muy contento estar aqui en Los Angeles con ustedes.

SCHWARZENEGGER: It's not a tumor, at all.

REPORTER: His mental faculties are obviously not impaired in any fashion.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Brain tumor.

VARIOUS REPORTERS: Often don't spread very quickly ... Seizure ... A malignant brain tumor.

SCHWARZENEGGER: It's not a tumor.

VARIOUS REPORTERS: Malignant brain tumor ... Breaking news today that Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering from a malignant brain tumor.

[Kennedy singing “Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes”]

[end audio clip]

SAVAGE: All right, guys, you know, this is not funny. You know, it's sad that Kennedy was showing signs for years. I knew it when he almost stumbled in the Senate gallery once and Dianne Feinstein [D-CA] had to finish a sentence for him. Remember that? I -- it was frightening. It was right out of The Manchurian Candidate -- he lost himself in the middle.

The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please.

[music clip of the Dead Kennedys' “California Über Alles”]

SAVAGE [speaking over music clip]: “Big bro on white horse is near. The hippies won't come back, you say, mellow out or you will pay. Now it is 1984. California, California.”

It is The Savage Nation. No gloating today, no laughter, all serious. You don't joke about a man's cancer. I do it, but I won't do it today; it's something I will not do. That song, by the way, by the Dead Kennedys is called “California Über Alles,” dates from 1979, and the words are amazing. Just start it again; I want to read you some of the words after we bring them up to speed.

[“California Über Alles” plays]

SAVAGE: OK, now, let me explain. The lyrics are “California Über Alles” by the Dead Kennedys from 1979 -- all right, turn off the music.

“I am Governor Jerry Brown,” it says. “My aura smiles and never frowns. Soon I will be president, Carter power will soon go away. I will be führer one day. I will command all of you, your kids will meditate in school. Your kids will meditate in school.” Then they go into the chorus, California Über Alles, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Über Alles, California.

Now listen to the lyrics: “Zen fascists will control you” -- ooh. “100 percent natural, you will jog for the master race and always wear the happy face. Close your eyes, can't happen here, big bro on white horse is near. The hippies won't come back, you say, mellow out or you will pay, mellow out or you will pay.”

Chorus: “Now it is 1984, knock-knock at your front door. It's the suede denim secret police, they have come for your uncool niece. Come quietly to the camp, you'd look nice as a drawstring lamp. Don't you worry, it's only a shower, for your clothes here is a pretty flower. Die on organic poison gas, serpent's eggs already hatched. You will croak, you little clown, when you mess with President Brown, when you mess with President Brown.” Play the refrain all over again. It's The Savage Nation and -- that's it, play it, already, play California --

[“California Über Alles” plays]

SAVAGE: Boom, boom. Bah. Bing. Sad, very sad day. Very sad day. No more Jalisco songs, nothing. No more discordant hectoring from the Senate floor. Very sad. Want to hear the stories to go with this?

All right, then. I mean, I don't know. I'd rather listen to the Dead Kennedys all day than tell you the following story. McCain courts left-wing bloggers. That's right.

[...]

SAVAGE: Play “California Über Alles” by the Dead Kennedys, dedicated to the one I love. “I am governor.”

[“California Über Alles” plays]

I'm sorry. I like it. I'm having fun today. I'm not celebrating. I feel good. I've always liked punk rock music. I consider The Savage Nation sort of the punkers of the -- the punk rock of talk radio.

When you think of -- turn it off already, I said -- read my mind. When I think turn it off, it should go off without my even saying it. You're supposed to be inside my brain already.

“California Über” -- you know, when you think about it -- here they are. The lyrics are very funny. They're saying, “I'm Governor Jerry Brown. Soon I'll be president; I'll be führer one day.” Now, he was a left-winger, Jerry Brown [current attorney general of California], and here they're saying he'll be führer, and you're gonna have to jog for the master race. Zen fascists will control you. Mellow out or you'll pay. Listen to this: “It's the suede denim secret police, they've come for your uncool niece.”

So he's, like, saying, the Zen left wing is going to become the fascists, and like I'm saying to you on The Savage Nation for the last 15 years, I carved out the independent arena here on talk radio. I warned you I'm not a Republican. I've told you I'm not a Democrat. I've told you I'm not a liberal. I told you I'm not a Republican. I told you I'm not a liberal. I told you I'm not a liberal. I told you I'm not a liberal. I told you I'm not a Republican. I told you I'm not a Republican.

So in essence, that leaves me here for you. I'll be The Savage Nation for the rest of my life, irrespective of what John McCain's bartender thinks.

Phone number 1-800-449-8255. MichaelSavage.com is the website. Let's go to the first caller of the day, Rick in Las Vegas, welcome to the program. What's on your mind?

CALLER: Michael, you're the man. I'm a corrections officer over here in Las Vegas, and I've been listening to you for about 15 years, and I always knew you were a closet punk rocker. Keep it up, man. DKs all the way.

SAVAGE: Oh, God. I was terrified when you said, “I knew you were a closet.” I said, “Oh, God, I have to cut this one off.”

CALLER: [laughs] No.

SAVAGE: [laughs] Oh, man. I was ready on that cough-drop press. I would've cut myself off. No, I was all ready. So you're a corrections officer, and you listen to punk music in your headphones?

CALLER: Oh, no, not at work. I'm just saying, I've been -- you know, I've been into punk rock since I was -- in 1980. And, you know, I'm from L.A. originally, but I've been listening to you for a long time. Like I said, this is the third time I've talked to you. You're my hero.

SAVAGE: You know I'm playing the Dead Kennedys not to mock Ted Kennedy. It's just appropriate, that's all.

CALLER: It was perfect, it was perfect. You're the man.

SAVAGE: All right. You understand it. You see, the straight people can't get it. People who are too straight don't understand anything. They don't understand sarcasm, they don't understand satire, they don't understand humor. They have no idea what's going on around them. But I do. So my job is to do what I do.

There are other stories out there. McCain courts left-wing bloggers.

[...]

SAVAGE: That's the country we live in. The same series of federal courts that are so out of touch with reality now says to us that money discriminates against the blind. Where will it end, ladies and gentlemen? It will end with us playing, before this break, “California Über Alles” by the Dead Kennedys. That's where it will end.

[“California Über Alles” plays]

SAVAGE: It will end, my friends, with the suede denim secret police, coming to your home for your uncool niece.

For your clothes, there'll be a pretty flower. Dying on organic poison gas, when you mess with the good liberals.

It doesn't get better than this. Nobody could do this in radio. Nobody could do this in radio. Nobody could do this in radio.

Seventy thousand feet. Nobody could do this in radio. Eighty-five thousand feet. Altitude, altitude, altitude. Watch your ceiling, watch your ceiling. Ninety thousand feet. Watch your altitude. Beep, beep, beep. Altitude: 98,000 feet. Watch your altitude, watch your altitude. Warning lights are going off. Watch your altitude. A hundred thousand feet. Beep, beep, beep. Airframe designed only for 99,000 feet. Watch your altitude, watch your altitude, watch your altitude.

I'll be back. Be here. You know where.

[...]

SAVAGE: Now, if you think that the America that you once loved is dying, I won't argue with you. And if you think that we have a bunch of senile old coots running Congress, what I'm about to play for you will confirm your worst fears. Here is the whack job, ex-Ku Klux Klan member Robert Byrd, Democrat, reacting to the Ted Kennedy brain tumor report today. Listen to clip 11. It's not made up. Listen.

BYRD [audio clip]: Ted. Ted. My dear friend, I love you and I miss you. And Erma, Erma, Erma, my darling wife, Erma, would want to say thank God for you, Ted. Thank God for you.

SAVAGE: I'm asking you, would a sane nation permit a senile senator to hold his seat? You gently send in orderlies in white coats, and they gently remove the old man, and they put him in a chair -- strap him in -- in the Senate retirement home, and wheel him over next to a curtain facing a nice outdoor window, and three times a day they feed it. And that's the end of it. This man has a vote? This man can decide whether or not Iran is a threat? This man can decide whether or not global warming is real? This man can decide anything? Listen to this. This is a sitting senator, you fools. Listen to clip 11.

BYRD [audio clip]: My dear friend, I love you and I miss you. And Erma --

SAVAGE: Oh, my God. Get him off. Get this old -- get him off my show. This is unbelievable to me. Now, you want -- you try to understand why the country's in the shape it's in. They've got literally a walking psycho there. And we've known it for years by the things he does. For years now, Byrd has been blubbering on the floor of the Senate. For years, I mean, to be honest, Kennedy didn't seem sane to me. Forget about the drunk stories and all that -- anybody can drink. The guy sounded like he was off for years, I'm sorry. When he would give that -- he gave a speech about a year ago, I forget the topic. He could not finish the speech, Kennedy couldn't. Feinstein had to come from the side and speak to him like from the wings, like the queen of diamonds. And he's, “Oh, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.” And then this Jalisco song -- play Jalisco for a minute. Play Jalisco.

KENNEDY [singing]: Jalisco, Jalisco, Jalisco.

SAVAGE: Or Jalisco, excuse me.

KENNEDY [singing]: Tu tienes tu novia. Me Guadalajara.

SAVAGE: Come on. OK, you get the picture? This is running America. No wonder Ahmadinejad's racing ahead with a nuclear weapon. He's afraid of these old men? He's afraid of these men who don't know what they're talking about? They don't know what they're talking about. No wonder Al Gore can receive a prize -- a Nobel Prize for something that doesn't exist. No wonder. Nobody knows what's going on. Either they're senile, or they're bought out, or they're corrupt, or they're crazy, or they're on medication. And we the people are sitting here saying, “The king has no clothes,” and the king says, “Off with your head.” Play “California Über Alles” by the Dead Kennedys for me. I'm not going to get too worked up right now -- lunch is coming up for me anyway.

[“California Über Alles” plays]

Greg Johnson is an intern at Media Matters for America.

A tip from reader E.S. contributed to this item. Thanks, and keep them coming.