Yesterday, Media Matters posted a clip from radio shock jock Michael Savage’s February 26th show in which he railed on Middle Eastern and Muslim immigrants. During his tirade, Savage accused former President Bill Clinton of “flooding” the nation with hateful Muslims who came to the U.S. to either leach off the system or bring the country back a couple centuries:
SAVAGE: The reason you see more of them now is because Bill Clinton flooded America with Middle Easterners, mostly of the throwback variety. Not the modern Muslim, not the Muslim who wants to come here and advance society. But the Muslim who wants to come here and either live off the society or take us backwards two hundred years. That’s part of their diversity training. They don’t want the country to be too advanced, you get it?
CALLER: Right, and they come into our country and say, you bow down to me. You accept me, I don’t have to accept you.
SAVAGE: I see the eyes behind those slits. I see hate and murder in most of their eyes, should I level with you?CALLER: They’re not nice, they’re not cordial.
SAVAGE: Whatever happened to when in Rome, do as the Romans do? I guess it didn’t make it Saudi Arabia.
Listen:
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Savage is well-known for his crude, anti-Muslim rhetoric. In the past, he’s advocated for the deportation of all Muslims, stating that they should “take your religion and shove it up your behind.” Savage’s views might be explained by his fundamental belief that refugees can’t assimilate and that all Muslims are inherently radical. However, in some places, it’s Savage himself who is perceived as a violent threat. Last year, the United Kingdom added Savage to the list of Muslim extremists and Russian gang members who are barred from entering the country due to their reputations for fostering extremism and hatred.
Meanwhile, during his presidency, Clinton pointed out that extremism certainly doesn’t define Islam and that Muslim immigrants have made significant contributions to the nation:
We welcome Islam in America. It enriches our country with Islam’s teachings of self-discipline, compassion, and commitment to family. It deepens America’s respect for Muslims here at home and around the world. Today, Muslim Americans are a cornerstone of our American community. They enrich our political and cultural life; they provide leadership in every field of human endeavor, from business to medicine, to scholarship.
The 9/11 attacks did not diminish these contributions nor did they stop President Obama from reiterating that “the contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country.”