Jon E. Dougherty, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Apr. 29, 2004

But the effect is clear and powerful.

Savage has not only caught fire nationwide from the epicenter of his San Francisco Bay Area home station KNEW, he has sent shock waves through the liberal media establishment.

Once ignored, they have to pay attention to him now.

With two New York Times best selling books, his latest “The Enemy Within,” Savage has demonstrated his influence is much broader than his syndicated radio with Talk Radio Network.

Though many liberals can't figure out why, Savage says he thinks he has the answer to his remarkable success: It's because he's "different" than other conservatives.

"If you turn on other conservative talk, all you hear is 'Bush great, Kerry bad. Republicans wonderful, Democrats evil,'" he told NewsMax. "How much of that can you listen to?“

Though definitely a conservative (he first coined the term “compassionate conservatism”), Savage says he believes the reason why he is so popular – and has had the fastest growing show in talk radio history – is because he doesn't "carry the water for Republicans" or anyone else.

"I'm a registered Independent," says Savage, who also has a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.

For Savage, independent means there are no sacred cows in the cultural, societal and political wars. Independent means taking on third rail issues that even many conservatives avoid.

Savage summarizes the “big three” issues on his radar screen like a mantra: culture, language, borders. “I'm very straightforward, blunt, brazen, in-your-face. People need that. They can't take the nuanced, gray-zone anymore," Savage says.

And his show is about to get even more popular. Listeners Want Their Savage!

As NewsMax reported, it will be moving to an hour earlier on New York City's powerhouse talk station WOR – putting it right smack in the middle of New York’s drive time at 6PM.

The reason: a demanding audience who complained to station management that they wanted to hear more of Savage and not have his show pre-empted by basketball games.

"In the end, they pulled the basketball coverage and moved my show up an hour," he said, adding of the anticipated boost in listenership: "There's probably more people stuck [in traffic] between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. [EDT] than there are in the entire Midwest radio audience."

As Frank Sinatra said, “If you can do it New York, you can do it anywhere….” Savage has proven Ol’ Blue Eyes dictum.

The success of his two latest books, "The Savage Nation" – named after his radio program – and "The Enemy Within," both published by WND/Thomas Nelson, were driven by his loyal radio audience.

"Let's not fool ourselves here," he said. "The success is directly related to the radio audience. There was no promotion on the major networks . . . that's a given."

However, he adds, "my books have stayed on the bestseller lists much longer than some, which would indicate that [people] are actually buying the book to read it, and then are talking about it with their friends."

He says while many such "radio books" are devoid of substantive content – "fluff with a cover" – he notes, "My books are really written." That's due to his extensive background as a writer, before his days as a radio star.

Regarding recent controversies involving other radio personalities, like Howard Stern, Savage said he didn't feel the First Amendment was under assault.

Howard Stern for the Asylum

"Howard Stern belongs [in a] state hospital," he said, with a laugh. "In my day, he'd be in the mountains making obscene figures with balloons."

Turning serious, Savage continued: "Clamping down on obscenity and vile imagery is much different than curtailing political speech. There's been no effort to [do the latter], nor do I anticipate any such attempt. Censoring eight or nine words is much different than censoring political thought."

He said he doesn't need to use vulgarity to keep his audiences listening. "We don't have to resort to the level of rap music."

Still commenting on his successful talk style, Savage told NewsMax people need to be told what's really happening in the world because "we're at war and [they're] frightened."

"They know who the enemy is, and yet the government refuses to acknowledge that we even have a real enemy," he said. "They [describe the threat] as some nefarious, vague terrorism threat. It's not simply a face of terrorism; I put a face on it."

He also says Americans face "tremendous domestic enemies" as well, "namely the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild," to name a few.

And on the coming election?

He said he believes if balloting were held today, "Kerry would win."

"I think people are getting ready to vote for anyone but [President] Bush," he said.

"I'm not recommending that, mind you, but this war on terror is so out of control, and the people are so nervous about the mounting death toll as well as the restrictions on our military and their ability to kill terrorists . . . that they're liable to choose anyone but him."

To turn public opinion around, Savage says "Bush must come forward much more forcefully, he must explain why we are in Iraq, he must send reinforcements to our troops and take their handcuffs off so they can get their job done."

He said he gets e-mail constantly from soldiers in Iraq who say they "have the same rules of engagement as our state troopers do here in America. They're being asked to fight a [politically correct] war. They're getting killed as a result."

Make a Deal with the Devil

Savage has an unconventional solution to the problem of mounting rebellion in Iraq: "Put Saddam on a short leash and put him back in charge."

He says under Saddam Hussein, the country's opposing political factions were kept under control for 30 years. "He used methods we would never use, but maybe we need to use him as a puppet. Make a deal with the devil," Savage said. "He knew how to control [the warring factions]."

Crazy? Savage doesn't think so.

"Didn't we just read this week that U.S. administrators in Iraq are going to put Ba’athists back in power, who the U.S. originally said couldn't be in the provisional government? They're bringing back some of the ‘good’ bad guys? Why not bring back the baddest of the bad guys?" he said.

"We need to devastate those doing the uprising with a blow the Arab world will never forget," Savage added.

And Mike Savage is at again – making a case for a different, better America the world will never forget.

Editor's note: