On the July 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage reacted to news that Chief Justice John Roberts had suffered a seizure that day by raising the possibility that "his health was in some way tampered with by the Democrats." Savage said, "Something's wrong with this picture," after noting that Roberts' seizure occurred just three days after Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said he would seek in general to reject any future Supreme Court nomination made by President Bush.
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Savage asked, "Am I to believe there's no connection between Charles Schumer on Friday saying he would never appoint, or never, excuse me, approve another Bush appointment to the court, to any court? And then the chief justice suffers a so-called seizure two days later? You're telling me there's no possibility of a conspiracy by the Democrats to have caused this seizure in some manner?" He added: "Tell me it's not possible, and I'll tell you you're a liar."
Of course what Schumer actually said was, “... we should not confirm any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court except in extraordinary circumstances.” Let’s play along with Mikey here for a moment and say it is possible to cause a seizure in another person; maybe the Chief Justice was shown the London Olympics logo. Regardless, I’d say losing the Chief Justice to a serious health issue would qualify as an “extraordinary circumstance.” Using Savage’s “logic” (which I realize is an oxymoron), one could just as easily argue that the Republicans were responsible through some medical foul-play.
I mean does Michael Savage really expect us to believe that John Roberts has a vacation home in Port Clyde, Maine -- 120 miles from the Bush vacation compound in Kennebunkport, which is in the same state! The Republicans had motive and opportunity ... what else do we need?
See how easy that is?
It’s tempting to write off tin-foil “haters” like Michael Savage as just another right wing crackpot. But we live in an era where corporate media outlets like CNN are bending over backwards to mainstream the craziest of wingnuts. Don’t forget: Savage had a regular gig on MSNBC until his hate speech got the better of him.
A few months ago I watched a marvelous old movie called A Face In The Crowd. It starred Andy Griffith as “Lonesome” Rhodes, a populist media hero who's not exactly as he appears to be. It’s an excellent film that offers a few cautionary lessons for today’s media stars.
