On the June 23 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing first lady Laura Bush's World Refugee Day speech, Michael Savage asserted: “We're getting refugees now who have never used a telephone, a toothbrush, or toilet paper. You're telling me they're going to assimilate? They will never assimilate. They come here and they bring their destitute ways to this country, and they never assimilate.” He continued: “And then their children become gang-bangers. It is a disaster. Did you hear what I just said? A disaster.” He added: “And Laura Bush is talking about political refugees as though it's 1955.” Savage then aired a clip of Laura Bush stating, “Many American families came to this country to escape repressive regimes,” which Savage interrupted to say: “Let's stop right there. Yes, Laura that is true, but they had used toilet paper and toothbrushes and they knew how to survive in this country. They took a job or they worked. They didn't come and sit and have 16 children and eat beetle nuts. They're living in a crazed world. We're living in an insanity.”

As Media Matters for America has noted, when five San Francisco students held a hunger strike in July 2007 in support of the DREAM Act -- a bill that would have provided a pathway to citizenship and other benefits for certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before the age of 16 -- Savage said: "I would say, let them fast until they starve to death, then that solves the problem. Because then we won't have a problem about giving them green cards because they're illegal aliens; they don't belong here to begin with." In April 2006, Savage stated, “If you take to the streets with the vermin who are trying to dictate to us how we should run America, even though they're not even entitled to vote or be here, you're going to be thrown out of office. The people will throw you out of office. There are not enough of them to re-elect you. You will be out of a job. You will not have a living. You will be hunting for a job. Maybe, you'll be picking the vegetables.” After Media Matters highlighted his comments, Savage denied that he had referred to illegal immigrants as “vermin,” but rather “the leadership behind them,” whom Savage described as “the communist Marxist bloc of International ANSWER [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism]."

Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, claims that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches at least 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 June 23 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: Now, but Bush put the stake into the heart of the conservative movement by posing as a conservative. He was the enemy within. There's no question in my mind he destroyed the entire conservative movement. Take a look at what his wife, Laura, now is promoting -- and I told you that the last six months would make the first seven and a half years look like child's play of what those two are going to do to this country. Just this weekend, Laura Bush boasted about the number of refugees we've taken into America, as though she has unlimited check-writing qualities, that she could just write a check, her and him, for any amount of refugees, that there's no one in America who cares about what they're doing. Listen to clip three now. Three.

LAURA BUSH [audio clip]: The United States contributes more assistance to refugee populations than any other government. This year we'll spend nearly $1.2 billion to facilidate -- facilitate refugee resettlement and to provide food, shelter and supplies to those who fled their homes in search of safety. I'm pleased to announce that this morning, President Bush approved a $32.8 million emergency funding to support unexpected and urgent needs, including food, and for refugees and conflict victims in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Western Hemisphere.

SAVAGE: Isn't that nice that the two Bushes live in the 1950s in their own mind? Here's Laura and whatever his first name is -- George -- walking around, holding hands as though it's 1955 and Dwight D. Eisenhower is sending care packages to the poor of Africa and Asia. What she doesn't understand is that there are more poor in America now than there were when they took office, and that there are people lining up for aid in the areas stricken by the floods, and that we have seen a rise in future prices for corn of 100 percent. And I say that's nothing compared to what's coming next year, that if the government does not step in and stop rampant, out-of-control speculation on basic staples, you're not going to be able to afford a loaf of bread, you're going to need a wheelbarrow to buy a loaf of bread as they did in Weimar Germany, and that's because of the catastrophic policies of this insane administration that we have right now. Where did they have the audacity to take in refugees and to say that they wrote a check over the weekend for $38 million in emergency funding to support urgent emergency need -- what do you mean emergency refugee needs for refugees? We have refugees in Iowa, for god's sakes.

And moreover, let me tell you something. I am an immigrant son, but when my grandfather came here, he could read and write. And he had a business that he opened with his money -- the first monies he got, he opened his own business. He knew how to use toilet paper; he had used a toothbrush. We're getting refugees now who have never used a telephone, a toothbrush, or toilet paper. You're telling me they're going to assimilate? They will never assimilate. They come here and they bring their destitute ways to this country, and they never assimilate. And then their children become gang-bangers. It is a disaster. Did you hear what I just said? A disaster. And Laura Bush is talking about political refugees as though it's 1955. It's pretty amazing to me that she is as out of touch as her husband is. But she said there's more work to be done. Listen to clip four.

LAURA BUSH [audio clip]: Many American families came to this country to escape repressive regimes -

SAVAGE: Let's stop right there. Yes, Laura that is true, but they had used toilet paper and toothbrushes and they knew how to survive in this country. They took a job or they worked. They didn't come and sit and have 16 children and eat beetle nuts. They're living in a crazed world. We're living in an insanity.

Zachary Aronow is an intern at Media Matters for America.