During the October 8 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage invited callers to discuss what they “fear the most if [Sen. Barack] Obama wins” the presidential election. After airing a clip of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Savage said: “I fear that Obama will stir up a race war. You want to ask me what I fear? I think Obama will empower the racists in this country and stir up a race war in order to seize absolute power.” Savage later said: “I want you to call this show and tell me what you fear about Barack Hussein Obama as president.”
As Media Matters for America has documented, Savage declared on the June 13, 2006, broadcast of his program that if Sen. Hillary Clinton ran for president, it would “stir up a race war, a civil war in the country to get that hag, that harridan elected.” Savage added that a Clinton presidential campaign would provoke “race riots” and “will be one long hate crime against white people.”
From the October 8 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: What do you fear the most if Obama wins is the question. I think it's a very fair question. Kentucky, Sean, what do you fear about an Obama victory?
CALLER 1: Well, I'll tell you. I'm very fearful and absolutely disgusted because, you know, Obama, he spends 20 years in this lunatic racist church, and people just think that -- you know, I mean, how can you sit there for 20 years listening to that guy and not hold some of his beliefs? It's not credible. It's just not credible.
SAVAGE: Well, because the media made it sound as though it was an anomaly and anyone who pointed out Reverend Wright was a racist -- but we all know that that's false. In other words, Reverend Wright is the soul of Barack Hussein Obama. You know that and I know that. And on that note, I think we should play Reverend Wright so you remember who he really is. This is the inner Obama as let out of the box. Listen carefully.
WRIGHT [audio clip]: The government gives them the drugs, pills, bigger prisons, passes a “three strike” law, and then wants us to sing, “God Bless America.” No, no, no. Not “God Bless America,” “God [beep] America.” That's in the Bible. For killing innocent people -- God [beep] America -- for treating us citizens as less than human.
SAVAGE: I fear that Obama will stir up a race war. You want to ask me what I fear? I think Obama will empower the racists in this country and stir up a race war in order to seize absolute power. I believe that's what he will do. It will not be as overt as you may think, but it'll be a subtle race war on every level imaginable.
And what you just heard is the inner Obama. Because I wouldn't sit in a synagogue, a church, or any house of worship if the rabbi or the minister was that inflammatorily hateful. I would have gone in and walked out. You sit there for 20 years, he marries you? You baptized -- I think he christened the children, and then he says he has no idea why he was there? Is he joking? He sounds just like the corporate executives who say that they feel heartbroken about what happened to their company. I don't believe a word he says. I believe that's the real Obama, and I believe that's what we're gonna see if he wins.
And this -- the shame of it all is, is the shmoo on the other side, the shmoo John McCain. Every time he gets up, he congratulates Obama for doing so well. He should get up there and point fingers, and say, “Look, you want us to forget Reverend Wright but you sat there for 20 years. How can you stand there and tell me that you didn't approve of him? He married” -- no, but McCain won't do it.
McCain is a nice guy. McCain likes Obama more than he does Michael Savage. McCain is part of the system. Obama is the system candidate. He's an organization man. He can as much think his way out of the box as I can become a man thinking inside the box. I can't think like men inside the box. He can't think like men outside the box. And so, therefore, the twain shall never meet.
San Diego, Jillian -- welcome to The Savage Nation.
CALLER 2: I absolutely agree with you as far as the race war goes. I think the greatest thing that concerns me about Obama is his resentment toward this country. I feel that him and his wife feel that they have fought very hard against whites, and that everything that they have, they are entitled to versus being thankful and feeling privileged for living in this country, and what this country has provided in terms of opportunities.
SAVAGE: Correct. And affirmative action helped both of them, there's no question about it.
CALLER 2: And I --
SAVAGE: And of course, that was because of social engineering on the left side.
CALLER 2: I feel that he is, like you said, going to give a voice to all those people who feel resentment toward whites, essentially. And -- and it's going to be --
SAVAGE: Oh no, I want everyone to strip off all of their social constraints right now on this show. And I want them to get down to the core fear that they have for Obama. I want to hear it on this show, and I thank you. And you can call me at 1-800-449-8255. Don't hold anything back.
I mean, I don't want you to go over the top with language that I can't run. I want you to call this show and tell me what you fear about Barack Hussein Obama as president.