Michael Savage: last of the French-Bashers?
Editorials February 12th, 2008
Über-conservative commentator, Michael Savage was reported to have gone on another anti-French tirade on his show, aired Friday February 8th. He revisited one of his favourite theories, according to which Jerry Lewis’s status in France is due to a form of closet Anti-Semitism. Michael Savage believes the French do not admire Jerry Lewis nor Woody Allen, but hold them in deep contempt, as “schlemiels”. During this Friday show, he also declared France “culturally worthless”, probably an echo to Time magazine’s recent article on the supposed death of French Culture.
Being unable to locate a podcast, or transcript of the show, at this time we cannot give our readers any more details that were reported to us. However, Michael Savage has been known to go on vicious anti-French tirades in the past as mentioned on this site and elsewhere.
Putting aside for a minute the fiction Jerry Lewis is popular in France, a myth well exposed by SuperFrenchie, this tirade begs the question: why is Savage revisiting his old material from his MSNBC years? Could it be from the mounting pressure from several activist groups currently organizing an advertising boycott campaign? For instance, CAIR - the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has managed to get ITT Technical Institute, Chattem Inc, Union Bank of California, Intuit and GEICO Insurance to pull their advertising from Michael Savage’s show.
Is Michael Savage, the last of the French-Bashers?
Sources:
Michael Savage and CAIR: ThinkProgress.com – PR NewsWire
Jerry Lewis Myth: SuperFrenchie.com
Time Magazine: Death of French Culture
Schlemiels: Yiddish, a simpleton, a simple - a person lacking intelligence or common sense.
Thank you to R.S.
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February 12th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
No one in France under 40 has ever heard of Jerry Lewis. It’s one of the strangest anti-French stereotypes our american friends keep circulating.
It is true that in the 70’s Jerry Lewis got famous in France for a while but so what ? Jerry’s Lewis fame in France in the 70’s pales in comparison to Bruce Willis or De Niro’s fame today in France.
And it’s not like Jerry Lewis owes his career to the French or anything.
His success is due entirely to an american audience who paid to see his movies and made him of one of Hollywood’s most successful actor of his time.
Besides, it’s not like the man has become a pariah in his own country. He enjoys quite a fandom still in the US. He recently made a cameo on the simpsons.
As for Woody Allen, yes he is loved in France. Not because he’s a “schlemiels”, whatever that is, but because we enjoy his movies and the fact that he speaks French quite fluently. The fact that he is shunned by Hollywood’s big studios and the conservatives adds to his appeal as well.
We couldn’t care less about his jewishness.
Savage should know that Jewish citizens are among France’s most beloved personalities.
Those accusations of French anti-semitism coming from the US are frankly getting tiresome. Especially when based on ridiculous premises.
And if conservatibes think we’re so worthless, why is it that they can’t stop talking about us ?
February 13th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I do not think he the last of the french bashers, you’ve still plenty of them, and the guy I consider as true francophobe, the self styled King of the Medias : Howard “I hate the French” Stern. After all, he had said he hate us BEFORE all that anti-french hysteria in 2003. He even mocks the new francophobes, he denounce it as political oportunism.
Apart that, Savage is dumb fool who despise the whole planet, who is also a racist bigot, an homophobe, and so on. So my heart is not broken. Those “attacks” are so stupid, overused, that it makes me even laugh.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Scoopeo followup
http://www.scoopeo.com/insolite/-les-francais-aiment-jerry-lewis-et-woody-allen-car-ils-sont-antisemites-michael-savage
February 17th, 2008 at 4:36 am
Then, why don’t we bash america ?
February 17th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Ganesh2 - Responding by America Bashing would be playing their game. Many Anti-French conservatives believe that French Bashing is partly justified because of Anti-Americanism in France. The only solution is patient education, one basher at a time.
February 17th, 2008 at 6:07 am
it looks like some people try to divide the world between anti-jewish and anti-muslim :-(
February 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
(…) Michael Savage. Looser
February 17th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Michael Savage? who’s this guy anyway? :)
I’m french and i’m really jealous of the usa. You’ve got stephen colbert and jon stewart! We have.. errr… no one really worth watching tv*! :)
* sorry for my english, our foreign language education sucks too.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Dr. Michael Savage’s Savage Nation is the most interesting talk show in America. If you like well-educated, patriotic, honest, and sometimes brilliantly funny commentary and satire, you will enjoy the Savage Nation.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Michael Savage is an attention getting, name calling, demagogue. He epitomises the methods and themes of right wing though in the USA, and is symptomatic of what is wrong today with political discourse and talk radio.
For more info
Media Matters
http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/tags/michael_savage
SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Savage
February 21st, 2008 at 11:54 am
Savage at times comments on France in negative terms, however to be fair, once in a while he does have positive things to say about our country. With that said, I listen to the show everyday, and laugh a lot, not with him but at him. He is pompous, arrogant, and self centered, that’s what makes the show so great. But what’s also funny is his failed attempt at humor; it’s like watching a bad sitcom, it’s so bad, it’s good.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 am
Same here, I often listen the savage nation, but not on a daily basis because it’s kind of exhausting! I too laugh a lot at the guy, he even sounds parodic sometimes, but I know he’s actually not. He is the incarnation of the extreme things that free speech allows: definitely not something I could have imagined before moving from france to us.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Michael Savage’s real last name is Weiner. Not to belabor the rhyme with “whiner”, but his agenda confounds those of a neocon, a zionist and a bi-polar mind. His being intellectually lazy, France is an easy target.
This all comes together when you know that his family’s company, Rockstar Inc. (not to be confused with the videogame designer, btw), deals in fizz-caffeine drinks promoted via pseudoporn and has slutted itself to Coca-Cola for distribution.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
CNN’s resident curmudgeon, Jack Cafferty, apparently found a ‘funny’ viewer comment to end his on-air nightly pontificating:
“Q: France’s foreign minister says “the magic is over” for the U.S. Is he right?”
“Mark, Berwyn PA March 13th, 2008 1:54 pm ET
No. And there is no ‘magic’ to what this country is all about, and what this country stands for, and what this country has proven since the dawn of the US. The US has faced difficult situations before, both economically and foreign-policy wise, and we survived and became better for the challenge. This time is no different. The French would just love to see us fall, but they should not hold their collective breathes. And by the way, who listens to the French anyway? Seriously?”
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/13/can-the-us-repair-its-tarnished-image-abroad/#comments
Well, apparently Congress and Boeing are interested in listening to Airbus. And a quip by the French Foreign Minister made the national news in the States today, so there’s another case of ’somebody’ listening to the French.
From where I sit ‘down here’, French-bashing is FAR from over.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Just a footnote : http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/07/michael-savage-allen-ginsberg.php
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
#15
That really shows you what kind of people we’re dealing with.