FEATURE: Jeffrey Silberman on how Savage baits Jewish liberals

Neal Shapiro
President, NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112-0002

Erik Sorenson
President and General Manager, MSNBC
1 MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, NJ 07094-3500

Re: Michael Savage’s pattern of baiting Jewish celebrities and Jewish politicians

Gentlemen,

Since announcing MSNBC's decision to hire Michael Savage, MSNBC undoubtedly has received hundreds of e-mails appealing to its corporate conscience. That it does not have one is clear enough by its decision to hire Savage in the first place. You are, however, businessmen; accordingly, you would do well to consider the following in your determination whether Savage is more a public relations liability than an economic asset.

I refer to MSNBC's statement that "the addition of Michael Savage to the MSNBC lineup was made with the full awareness of his reputation for controversy and confrontation. We respect the right of those who wish to protest. However, we also strongly defend his new show as a legitimate attempt to expand the marketplace of ideas. By bringing our viewers a wide range of strong, opinionated voices, MSNBC underscores its commitment to ensuring that its perspective programming promotes no one single point of view. We encourage debate and we would neither expect, nor want, our audience to agree with everything on our channel." MSNBC has "full awareness of his reputation for controversy and confrontation." And yet Cathy Renna of GLAAD reports in the press "we are also troubled by MSNBC's response when we approached them with our concerns. Despite being presented with evidence of Savage's mean-spirited and divisive ramblings, MSNBC officials have urged us simply to 'watch the show' and claims that it should not be 'associated with' comments made by Savage up until now." In addition, I read where Steve Rendall of FAIR is likewise disturbed by the message from MSNBC that "they can't be held responsible for what he has said in the past.... Isn't that why they hired [Mr. Savage]? It is what he said in the past that is getting him in the door."

In light of these remarks, I have to conclude that MSNBC had no prior knowledge of any of the following racial and ethnic slurs at the time it engaged Michael Savage:

1. Commenting on Dustin Hoffman's recent Grammy appearance, Savage wondered if Hoffman had matzah in his mouth as he spoke. Later, Savage wondered if it was not corned-beef.
2. Savage insinuated that Richard Gere is Jewish by wondering if it was true that he hailed from "Brooklyn" and had an "Uncle Hymie."
3. Senator Schumer is called "Shyster Schumer" (pronounced "Schoomah" by Savage).
4. Savage has referred to Wolf Blitzer as "Wolf Blitz-BERG." While I do not have a sound clip of this particular slur, clip #1 exhibits the same sort of Jew-baiting as Savage puts a Jewish face on the ACLU by referring to an imaginary ACLU attorney called "Mark Nobody-BERG."
5. Savage invariably refers to the New York Times as "Pinch Sulzberger’s New York Times."
6. Savage refers to Madeleine Albright as Madame "Brisket Baker" who "koshered" the leader of North Korea upon her visit there, and the despot threw a "Bar Mitzvah" in her honor. Albright has Jewish ancestry as you may know. Clip #2 demonstrates that Savage is well aware of the racial connotation of his remark, for he acknowledges, "You don't like it, shove it. You want to call me an anti-something, go ahead, I don't give a damn...."
7. Commenting upon Joe Lieberman's presidential nomination, Savage stated that he had thrown his "bagel into the ring" and would "kosher" Hillary Clinton on a 2004 ticket. Savage played Klezmer music in the background as he broadcast Lieberman's presidential candidacy announcement on his show. Clip #3 presents an offended caller who Savage attacks as a "stone-hearted Nazi."
8. On October 1, 2002, if memory serves, Savage pronounced that the Senate should place horns on Senator Arlen Specter or words to that effect. This despicable slur preceded my daily recording of Savage's broadcasts. MSNBC should demand a copy of this broadcast in order to determine whether my contemporaneous notes are completely accurate.
9. On November 5, 2002, if memory serves, Savage claimed that the mysterious death of Jewish Defense League leader, Irv Rubin, was not being questioned by Los Angeles Jews because it might affect the "money-lending in the back of the synagogue" or words to that effect. I regret that I do not have a recording of that slur, but clip #4 demonstrates the same sort of negative stereotyping by Savage. MSNBC should demand a copy of this broadcast in order to determine if my contemporaneous notes are completely accurate.
10. During a tirade against Jerry Springer, Savage referred to his "hooked-nose." Clip #5. Is there a more vicious racial slur than a remark about a Jew's "hooked-nose?" It is ugly; it is racist, and you know damn well it crosses the line.

I am not unmindful that Savage is Jewish. However, Savage goes to great lengths to keep his audience ignorant of that fact. On three separate occasions, Savage omitted references to his given name, Weiner, and his Jewish ethnicity from a nearly verbatim over-the-air reading of print articles about him, which reported these facts. I have sound clips to substantiate these omissions in case Savage denies it. Moreover, notice Savage's peculiar response when confronted with an allegation of anti-Semitism during an appearance on "Hannity and Colmes":

COLMES: I have a concern about some things I have read about you and have heard tapes of you say-
SAVAGE: Good-
COLMES: referring to Madeleine Albright as "Madame Brisket," talking about Joe Lieberman "throwing his bagel into the ring"-
SAVAGE: yes-
COLMES: referring to ACLU attorney, the mythical, "Mark Nobody-berg." There are some people who might infer anti-Semitism from those comments. Can you put that in a context that makes sense?
SAVAGE: Yes, I'd be very happy to. There's no greater supporter of Israel and the Jewish people than the man you are looking at, number 1. And number 2, I am proud to tell you that both I and my children would have qualified for admission to Auschwitz.
COLMES: Well, I understand what you are saying, but can you understand why some people might be upset by those statements?
SAVAGE: They should be upset- they should be upset that people of Jewish backgrounds don't seem to get it. They still back liberal causes when liberalism threatens their survival-
COLMES: But those phrases people can read into that something that seems a little ugly.
SAVAGE: My job is to wake people up. Harken, awake. My job is to make them understand that sticking to tailfins 1959 may cause us the end of America, as we know it. The Jewish people have been targeted. These people must be in the vanguard, not in the posterior of the movement to save the Jewish people.

I am indifferent to the fact that Savage is Jewish because his racial slurs may have an anti-Semitic EFFECT upon those who are unaware of that fact due in no small part to his attempts to conceal it. But "he's an entertainer," so says Jack Swanson, operations director at KSFO (Savage’s home station), "people want to be entertained." Can Savage's racial insinuations be dismissed as entertainment? Listen, for instance, to clip #6 in which Savage mocks with an ethnic inflection the Jewish-sounding names of the civil rights lawyers. I detect no humor in his voice- none at all. I hear outright scorn. Whatever his motivation, Savage's ethnic and racial baiting of Jewish lawyers, Jewish celebrities, and Jewish politicians is utterly indefensible in this or ANY context.

Admittedly, Savage does not have a bone to pick with all Jews- just the liberal ones. (See, e.g., http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?=2000/6/5/183729). He underscores repeatedly his contempt for liberal Jews undermining the noble efforts of our conservative Christian President who would "save" them from Al Queda terrorists:

"For some reason the Islamo-faschists have said that we are going to kill all the Jews on the planet- not just Israelis- not just Zionists- not just Israelis living in the West Bank but Jews worldwide have now been targeted by the Islamo-faschist movement. Yet the Hollywood liberals many of whom- I MUST TELL YOU- are originally of the JEWISH faith or of JEWISH descent still don't get it. They're still trying to stop this good Christian President who would save them. This proves beyond a reasonable doubt that they are functionally insane." (12-10-02 broadcast)

"By the evidence that I see I believe these people are functionally insane. I'll repeat why over and over again until you finally get it. This is not dissent. When a GOODLY portion of the liberals in Hollywood are of JEWISH descent- I HAVE TO SAY IT as painful and sensitive as it is- and you've got an Islamo-faschist movement saying we are going to kill Jews everywhere, and you have a good, honest Christian conservative President who has the guts to risk his political career to fight against this tide of evil, they should be backing him, but because they're so vehemently anti-Republican, they are blinded to their own survival. And so therefore I say they are functionally insane.... And I speak directly from the heart and mind; I am warning you that you are feeding the enemies that would cast you into an oven of hell. How dare you do that. How dare you speak against a man who would defend you, a man who would save you from the Islamo-faschists. Look deeply into what you are doing, I would say to each and every one of you, and you will find that you are not fighting for you own survival; you are, in fact, fighting against your own survival. Therefore, you may be functionally insane which would explain the orgiastic sex that you can't control, which would explain the addiction to drugs, which would explain the self-destructive behavior despite all the benefits that fate has afforded you; you are functionally insane...." (12-10-02 broadcast)

"and here my little friends, is the subject that breaks my heart that I HAVE TO TELL you. So many liberals in that list of 100 shameful actors and actresses are of the JEWISH faith or of JEWISH parentage or of JEWISH descent. SO MANY of them. SO MANY of them. Al Queda says we'll kill Jews worldwide; Al Queda says we'll kill Christians worldwide and yet marching with the Hollywood morons are people of JEWISH descent. It proves beyond a reasonable doubt to me that they are functionally insane, caring not a whit about their survival or the survival of their country." (12-11-02 broadcast)

This exchange occurred between Savage and a telephone caller, Kathy:

SAVAGE: "Kathy in New York City, you're up on the Savage Nation. Topic please."
KATHY: "Let's throw the atomic bomb in Iraq and that's it. We're getting fed-up with this anti-Semitism that's in New York. They're bringing on the anti-war people having signs in Arabic, siding with the enemy and also blaming Israel and the United States, of course, democracies for this war."
SAVAGE: "Kathy, how many of the protestors were Jewish, do you think?"
KATHY: "Uh, probably a lot."
SAVAGE: "So their liberalism trumps their ethnicity, their liberalism trumps their, uh, familiarity with their own people who are in a sea of hatred, and so you understand why I say that liberalism is a mental disorder –
KATHY: Well, they're self-hating Jews. Where was the –
SAVAGE: No, no, I don't go there. No, no, they may not be self-hating Jews at all. They just may be socialists or anarchists or communists as were, and let's not be mistaken about it nor brush it under the rug- we all know that Trotsky, we all know that Lenin- uh, not Lenin- but Trotsky and Marx also had come from Jewish backgrounds. They eschewed their own religion, and they chose instead Bolshevism and Marxism, and we know what a disaster that was. It's history repeating itself again, Kathy. The fact of the matter is that the Bible wrote about this. The Old Testament warned us against APOSTATE JEWS. The Bible warned us against these people. If you read all of the Prophets of the Bible, who do you think they were talking about? Those who worship the Sun gods; those who, uh, did weird things with sorority sisters. What do you think the Bible was telling us about? The very same crowd that the Bible warned us about are back in the streets saying 'Give peace a chance.' " (2-17-03 broadcast)

Why would Savage be so reckless as to biblically scapegoat "apostate Jews" before a predominantly Christian audience? Al Queda has threatened not only Jews but all infidels including Christians, yet, for reasons of his own, Savage singles out Jews for vilification. Were his finger pointing confined to a synagogue, I would not question his motivation, but when he points the finger at Jews- liberal or otherwise- in the presence of Christians, I DO question it. Consider clip #7 in which Savage makes the reprehensible accusation that liberal Jews "have more hatred for Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell than they do for Osama Bin Laden." Inadvertently or not, Savage is fanning long smoldering anti-Semitic prejudices. Apparently, the Anti-Defamation League has sent letters to Savage expressing the same concern. Savage's response? The ADL can "flush them." Clip #8. It behooves MSNBC to inquire just what was the nature of those complaints.

Savage should know better than to mix religion with politics- a volatile mix as history proves. Instead of assiduously dispelling any notion that ethnicity plays a part in his gripe against liberal Jews, Savage reinforces it by infusing a religious and racial undertone to his self-defined political stereotype he calls the "Red Diaper Doper Baby":

"Today you have a whole legion of mentally ill RED DIAPER DOPER BABIES in the courts, in academia, and in Hollywood. So what's an RDDB? Savage defined it. Red diaper baby well-defined before I came along. Kids growing up in communist-Marxist households where Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin and the others were glorified. Sent to communist schools such as a little red schoolhouse, sent to camps in the Poconos to be good little commie brats. Well-known RDB. But then came the sixties, marijuana was introduced into the commie brain. And that did it. That was the final trigger that destroyed any semblance of balance..... If you see a women with buck teeth who used to be head of the ACLU's legal department who was put onto the Supreme Court, that's an RDDB." (12-11-02 broadcast)

"Yeah, I know the whole liberal racket. I know it very well. Which is: I'm offended; you offend me; you insulted me; I'm offended; I'm a victim; you offend me; you can't put me on the defensive because you offend me. You offend me by your anti-Americanism; you offend me by your anti-Christianity; you offend me by your anti-Americanism; you offend me by your anti-family-ism. I can go down the list. So I know the racket. They all learned it from the NYU BOYS, the RED DIAPER DOPER BABIES taught them the racket...." (12-23-02 broadcast)

"Do you remember what happened in the 2000 election when the Democrats sent busloads of New York lawyers to steal the election for Al Gore? Remember what happened? Do you remember the scenes of the young men in white shirts and ties mainly Cubans. Do you remember them running into that office and pounding on the glass? Do you remember how they scared them to death, and all of the CURLY-HAIRED BOYS FROM NYU hid under the desks when they were trying to cook the votes and steal the ballots?" (12-24-02 broadcast)

"I watched them in Florida; they pulled out the big guns and believe me they beat the BOYS FROM NYU into a pulp. They flew down busloads full of NYU RED DIAPER DOPER BABY lawyers to get Goreleoni to win. But then the Republicans called out the high-powered W.A.S.Py lawyers- guys I haven't seen for years- you know they look like they were on dollar bills- let me put it to you that way. They guys they called out looked like they could pose for dollar bills; you know, 50's 100's- the W.A.S.P. establishment, and I love these guys; I mean they built a great country; it's a great nation. I don't like little GUYS FROM NYU WITH BIG GLASSES. I don't want them on my 50 dollar bill." (12-10-02 broadcast)

Be advised that I have, in recent days, provided these sound clips and others like them to GLAAD, FAIR, the American Jewish Committee, and the Anti-Defamation League. In addition, I have contacted the offices of Senator Schumer, Senator Lieberman, and Mr. Jerry Springer to apprise them of the racial slurs being made against them. I will continue to disseminate these sound clips to every news organization or group that demonstrates a news gathering interest in reporting about Michael Savage's gratuitous ethnic and racial baiting of Jewish celebrities and Jewish politicians.

I am hereby putting MSNBC on notice that I have many additional sound clips in which Savage baits Jews by his gratuitous remarks about how they look, what they eat, how they talk, where they live, or how they were raised. The ones attached hereto are merely the tip of the iceberg. I do not expect you to take my word for it, nor would I want you to. I would be happy to provide MSNBC all of them in order to fulfill its obligation of due diligence. Do not insult my intelligence, however, by replying "we encourage debate and we would neither expect, nor want, our audience to agree with everything on our channel." My complaint goes well beyond "one man's opinion" as Savage would have it. When Savage's unmistakable pattern of Jew-baiting is ultimately disclosed, there will be no plausible deniability on the part of MSNBC that it had no prior knowledge.

Sincerely yours,

Jeffrey Silberman