Savage repeatedly called Obama an "Afro-Leninist"

Summary: On his radio show, Michael Savage stated of a picture of Sen. Barack Obama: "It is actually a halo Photoshopped around Obama's head. The arrogant one, the one with big ears, the man who has accomplished nothing, the Afro-Leninist -- Obama, that is." Later, referring to Sen. John McCain, Savage stated: "[H]e continues to appease and appeal to those who will never vote for him. This is ... the classic behavior of the country-club, checked-pants Republican that is fundamentally finished. And maybe it's time for them to be finished. But then again, what do we have as an option? An Afro-Leninist who's achieved nothing?"

On the June 6 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, The Savage Nation, host Michael Savage repeatedly referred to Sen. Barack Obama as an "Afro-Leninist." Savage stated: "If the other side had one decent candidate, one real conservative, he would win 70-30. But because we have a retread, a Bush III, it's going to be very doubtful as to whether or not we can avoid outright Marxism and Afro-Leninism running this country." Later in the broadcast, referring to a picture of Obama that Savage had placed on his website, he stated, "It is actually a halo Photoshopped around Obama's head. The arrogant one, the one with big ears, the man who has accomplished nothing, the Afro-Leninist -- Obama, that is." A short while later, referring to Sen. John McCain's purported refusal to, among other things, "go on any ... conservative talk show," Savage stated: "Instead, he continues to appease and appeal to those who will never vote for him. This is ... the classic behavior of the country-club, checked-pants Republican that is fundamentally finished. And maybe it's time for them to be finished. But then again, what do we have as an option? An Afro-Leninist who's achieved nothing?"

Savage has previously called Obama an "Afro-Leninist." On his April 14 broadcast, Savage asserted that Obama is "a Marxist in his heart," adding, "He's an Afro-Leninist, and I know he's dangerous." Savage has also asserted that Obama is "an unknown stealth candidate who went to a madrassas in Indonesia"; has said of Obama, "I think he was hand-picked by some very powerful forces both within and outside the United States of America to drag this country into a hell that it has not seen since the Civil War of the middle of the 19th century"; and has stated: "[W]e, the American people, being at war with radical Islam have a -- have a need to know just exactly what kind of Muslim he was exposed to, what kind of Muslim he is, what kind of Muslim teachings he's -- he's friendly to. We have a right to know if he's a so-called friendly Muslim or one who aspires to more radical teachings."

Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, claims that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches at least 8.25 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it one of the most listened-to talk radio shows in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.

From the June 6 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: Obama is the most narcissistic candidate in the history of the presidency. Who is he? He's done nothing. What, has he cured polio and cancer while I was sleeping last night? The guy's done nothing.

In 2016, he says, I'll be wrapping up my second term as president. It's astounding to me. If the other side had one decent candidate, one real conservative, he would win 70-30. But because we have a retread, a Bush III, it's going to be very doubtful as to whether or not we can avoid outright Marxism and Afro-Leninism running this country. You understand that, or don't you?

[...]

SAVAGE: Let's start with a picture I found of the great one, that is the great pretender, Obama. And I puzzled over this for three days, but we put it up on MichaelSavage.com. Reuters, which, as you well know, is the most whack-job of all of the media, has actually been publishing a picture of Obama with a halo around his head. And we put it up on MichaelSavage.com under the headline "Crazy media shows Obama with halo."

I thought I was seeing things, but this has been up for days. It is actually a halo Photoshopped around Obama's head. The arrogant one, the one with big ears, the man who has accomplished nothing, the Afro-Leninist -- Obama, that is. And so we put it up for you. We've never seen propaganda like this. I have never seen propaganda like this for a candidate in my life.

The media is a hundred percent the reason behind this invented candidate's ascent, and that's all I can tell you. We're in real trouble because on the other side of the aisle, we have a retread who has fundamentally given the middle finger to the conservative voter, who is -- that's the only audience that can get him elected, is the conservative audience. And he said he doesn't even care about them.

He has said that, this moron. He said he doesn't care about the conservative audience. He won't go on -- forget about my show. He won't go on any talk -- conservative talk show. Instead, he continues to appease and appeal to those who will never vote for him. This is cons-- this is -- excuse me -- the classic behavior of the country-club, checked-pants Republican that is fundamentally finished.

And maybe it's time for them to be finished. But then again, what do we have as an option? An Afro-Leninist who's achieved nothing? So there it is. We're trapped. We the people really are stuck. I don't know what the choices are, and I don't want to talk about it. I don't really want to talk about it.

—J.R.K.

Jordan R. Kujala is an intern at Media Matters for America.