On the May 9 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, while reading from a May 9 National Review article on the six Muslim men arrested for plotting an attack on the Fort Dix military base, Michael Savage called Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) a “rotten, stinking, verminous congressman.” Then, purporting to address Hinchey, Savage said: “By the time I get through with you, if you should call me to Congress, I'll have you in prison, because you're in cahoots with Al Qaeda. You are enabling Al Qaeda,” adding, “You are a threat to our national security, as are all the other left-wingers who have signed that edict against -- that fatwa against Michael Savage, and [conservative radio host] Rush Limbaugh, and the others who want to disseminate the truth."
As Media Matters for America has noted, on the May 2 broadcast of his show, Savage attacked Hinchey and other sponsors of the Media Ownership Reform Act (MORA) for seeking “the final solution for conservatives on talk radio.” He also asserted that MORA “would declare Michael Savage, [Fox News host] Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and [Fox News host] Bill O'Reilly 'Threats to National Security,' and remove us from the radio," adding that this “is the exact rhetoric that Hitler used in his march to take over Germany.” During the May 2 show, Savage also referred to Hinchey as “the chief National Socialist, or Nazi,” and called co-sponsors of the act “the Nazis of today.”
In fact, MORA would merely require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to once again enforce its “fairness doctrine,” which the commission stopped enforcing in 1987. As paraphrased by the Supreme Court when it upheld the doctrine in 1969, it “require[d] that discussion of public issues be presented on broadcast stations, and that each side of those issues must be given fair coverage.” The 2005 version of Hinchey's MORA -- H.R. 3302 (109th Congress) -- would mandate that the FCC reinstate that rule as it existed before its 1987 demise.
The Savage Nation reaches more than 8 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it the third-most-listened-to talk radio show in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.
From the May 9 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: You know, there was an interesting article today in the National Review by Andrew McCarthy -- and I'm not going to read you the whole story -- but he goes into the ideology that was disseminated by Osama bin Laden. And here's what he said: “There's a ruling to kill the Americans and their allies.”
And listen to this now: Osama bin Laden said it is an individual duty for every Muslim, who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it. I'm quoting him now. “This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God.” And I'm quoting what Osama bin Laden told every Muslim on the earth, quote: “And fight the pagans altogether as they fight you altogether. And fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression. The direction is to every Muslim.” But he says that it's not him saying it. Bin Laden is not saying it. He says he's only the medium transmitting the message of Allah. You see what I'm saying to you?
So, he gives out a command, and here's what the Blind Sheikh Rahman -- Sheikh Abdel Rahman -- a Quranic scholar, who does have the required status to put out such edicts, he said the following -- this is from a sheikh, quoting their own scriptures, from the National Review -- I'm very clear on what I'm giving you. Get it right. And if you're going to attack me, you're attacking the National Review and you're attacking the truth. But you better listen to what the blind sheikh wrote to every Muslim.
And I want, especially to that rotten, stinking, verminous congressman in Woodstock, New York, who wants to bring Michael Savage to Congress, to pay attention. You're calling me a threat to national security, Sir? By the time I get through with you, if you should call me to Congress, I'll have you in prison, because you're in cahoots with Al Qaeda.
You are enabling Al Qaeda. You are a threat to our national security, as are all the other left-wingers who have signed that edict against -- that fatwa against Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh, and the others who want to disseminate the truth. You are the threat to national security! You should be in an orange jumpsuit -- trying to take away my right to free speech.
Here's what the blind sheikh in 1996 said: “Muslims everywhere should dismember their nation, tear them apart, ruin their economy, provoke their corporations.” Did you hear that? “Provoke their corporations” -- that's with a little help from their friends from the ACLU.
“Destroy their embassies, attacks their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, and kill them on land, at sea, and in the air. Kill them wherever you find them.” I didn't write that. That's what the blind sheikh said in 1996 of Americans. “Provoke their corporations” -- so that would be lawsuits against airlines by the flying sheikhs, wouldn't it? The flying imams? Ahh! And the footbath thing could be from Osama bin Laden. But don't tell that to the leprechaun.com. He had one of these phony, holier-than-thou headscarf wearers who turned him into putty last night.