Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com
Friday, April 26, 2002

A weird group of Portland organizations calling itself Coalition Against Hate Radio is trying to force KXL radio to dump the nationally known and admired conservative talk show host, heard on 350 radio stations across the nation.

"The content is an unbroken stream of hate and chauvinism directed against women, people of color, liberals, immigrants and in particular people of Middle Eastern heritage and people of the Muslim faith," ranted one Tom Nelson, spokesman for so-called Coalition Against Hate Radio, in a tirade showing his disdain for Savage's right to speak his mind as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

"We condemn this message of hate ..."

Mona Goode, another mouthpiece for the would-be censors, claimed: "The message that KXL is sending to communities of color, immigrants, and in particular to all people of Middle Eastern ancestry and to Muslims, is that you are not wanted in this country, that you have no value and that you should not expect any respect here.

"That is a message that we must actively and vocally oppose," Goode told the Associated Press.

Members of the group said they will ask corporate advertisers to withhold their support from KXL until the station drops Savage.

"We're going to engage with the corporations that advertise on the radio station and appeal to their sense of corporate responsibility," Goode said.

"In a sense, Michael Savage has done us a favor. He's kind of united the coalition in and of himself," she said.

According to AP, the coalition consists of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Interfaith Councils of Greater Seattle and Greater Portland, Islamic Societies of Southwest Washington and Portland, the Multnomah County Democratic Party, Muslim Educational Trust, Oregon Friends of the Middle East, Jews for Global Justice, and, incredibly, the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Centro Cultural and several other churches and groups.

Democrat Senator Zapped

Anyone wondering what prompted this utterly false attack on a dedicated American might take notice of the fact that one of the groups in the coalition is the Multnomah County Democratic Party - Sen. Ron Wyden's party.

In his March 8 column Savage identified Wyden as one of two U.S. senators who trying to block the use of photo IDs for voters. "None other than Chuck 'Upchuck' Schumer in New York ... and Ron Wyden of Oregon," who he charged "is trying to block fixing the voting system. Now, you have to ask yourself why. Why would Wyden widen cheating on votes?

"Why would a radical liberal like Ron Wyden - who is tied to Enron's auditor - Arthur Andersen, by the way - widen cheating on votes?"

Is it merely a coincidence that just a few weeks later this newborn coalition went after Savage for saying things the record clearly proves he doesn't say?

Church Involvement

NewsMax.com attempted to confirm the participation of the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in the coalition and to ascertain if the archdiocese approved of this left-wing assault on free speech, but the archdiocese's communications director, Bud Bunce, failed to return our calls.

If the archdiocese does approve of the coalition's attack on Savage, it is going after a man who has vigorously defended the Catholic Church.

During his April 12 show, which featured William Donahue, the head of the Catholic League, Savage said: "You know, William Donahue, I listen to you, I hear the passion that exists. I'm not Catholic, but I have many good Catholic friends and I know that they're very religious people. They're very good fathers, they're very good husbands, they're very good people. Some of them are wonderful, they're war heroes, these are wonderful men.

"And," he continued, "I have said on my show that the strength of the Catholic Church is being seen now, not its weakness. Because it is airing - however it came about, it is airing - this enormous black eye, this problem, however you want to put it, and it will expunge itself of these perverts, these deviants. The church and its fundamental message will come back stronger as a result."

Donahue said it was "a pleasure to be on with the guy who's the best in the business."

On March 27th, Savage said this to his huge radio audience: "So the Catholics are under assault. What are you going to do now that the Catholics are under assault? Join the fray? Don't you understand who's after them? Don't you know where this is coming from?

"The same forces of evil, the anti-family pagan forces that brought down Germany and brought in Hitler are liable to bring worse to this country if we don't stand up to them."

Savage, whose column is carried on NewsMax.com and in NewsMax magazine, deserves better treatment from the Catholic Church, which should recognize its defenders and avoid joining in a witch hunt by left-wing fascists trying to drive him off the air.

Listeners in Portland appear to have better sense than the anti-free-speech forces of bigotry in the coalition.

According to Tim McNamara, KXL general manager, he received a mere seven letters of complaint about Savage's show, and noted that five of them were identically worded. By contrast, he told the AP, he got "hundreds" of letters supporting the station's decision to air the show.

"I have absolutely zero advertiser resistance," he added.

McNamara told the AP that he offered Savage's critics airtime on his station, but they declined.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Catholic Scandal

DNC

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