On the May 11 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage denounced Rep. Robert Wexler's (D-FL) questioning of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales during a May 10 congressional hearing about the firing of nine federal prosecutors, saying, “The last time I saw a politician scream at someone like that was in Nazi Germany in the kangaroo court trial against people who conspired to kill Hitler.” Describing Wexler as a “schmuck” and a “moron,” Savage went on to say the congressman “has more hatred for Gonzales than he does for Osama bin Laden and the Islamists.”
Referring to the investigation of the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 as a “fake case,” Savage also called Wexler a “low-life skunk” for “ripping into poor old Attorney General Gonzales.”
During the hearing, Wexler repeatedly asked Gonzales to tell the House Judiciary Committee who had provided Gonzales with a list of U.S. federal prosecutors recommended for termination, including former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. According to a transcript of the hearing posted on Salon.com, when Gonzales claimed not to know who had compiled the list, Wexler asked, “It's a national secret, isn't it?”
As Media Matters for America has documented, Savage has a history of linking Democratic politicians and Nazis. On the April 23 broadcast of The Savage Nation, Savage described as “Hitler dialogue” a speech made by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) in opposition to the April 18 Supreme Court ruling upholding the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003. On the May 2 broadcast of his show, Savage called Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) a “Nazi” and accused him of seeking “the final solution for conservatives on talk radio” by supporting the proposed Media Ownership Reform Act.
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 11 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: You know why we're being outwitted by the Islamists? Because we have nitwits running the country.
CALLER: But don't you feel --
SAVAGE: We have nitwits who have no wits. All they have is power, no wits.
CALLER: So, you feel --
SAVAGE: What can we do about it? I don't know. Maybe you can write your congressman. Ha ha ha ha! Who are you going to write? Who's that idiot down in Florida, that moron who attacked our poor attorney general yesterday? That schmuck, Wexler. Did you see Wexler go at him?
CALLER: Yeah.
SAVAGE: That low-life skunk, that schnorrer, Wexler, ripping into poor old Attorney General Gonzales on a non-case? That Wexler's the biggest schmuck. What was he, an ambulance chaser in Brooklyn before he went to Florida there and got the old-age vote?
CALLER: I would just like to encourage you, Michael. I seem like you seem a little down --
SAVAGE: No, no. Call Wexler up. He's a brave man. He's very brave to attack Gonzales. See if he'll go and investigate [unintelligible]. Big old Wexler, that lousy phony. Another liberal fraud from Brooklyn.
Wexler. See him ripping into Gonzales. A fake case if I ever saw one. Screaming at him. The last time I saw a politician scream at someone like that was in Nazi Germany in the kangaroo court trial against people who conspired to kill Hitler. Wexler really went crazy: “Oh, the tough guy.” He has more hatred for Gonzales than he does for Osama bin Laden and the Islamists.
Michael Maio is an intern at Media Matters for America.