The targeting of Michael Savage....
Newly-released documents indicate he was barred from the UK just for 'balance'...
Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has suffered a major setback in her legal battle with American 'shock jock' Michael Savage after her officials were accused of banning him from the country on racial grounds.
Emails written by Home Office officials privately acknowledged the ban on Mr Savage would provide 'balance' to a list dominated by Muslims - and linked the decision to Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
The officials admitted their action could look 'duplicitous' and cited his 'homophobia' as a reason the move would receive public support.
The Right-wing radio presenter, whose hardline views on Islam, rape and autism have caused outrage in the US but whose show, The Savage Nation, has eight million listeners, was identified in May by Ms Smith as one of 16 people barred due to their political views.
Mr Savage, who had not even applied for entry to Britain, claimed his name had been 'plucked out of a hat' because he was 'controversial and white'. He has since served a £100,000 libel writ on Ms Smith, who announced his ban on television.
Now, correspondence released under Freedom of Information legislation suggests the banning of Mr Savage, whose real name is Michael Weiner, was based on a party political calculation made at the highest level of Government.
One message, sent by an unidentified Home Office official on November 27 last year, said that 'with Weiner, I can understand that disclosure of the decision would help provide a balance of types of exclusion cases'.
The documents include a draft recommendation, marked 'Restricted', saying: 'We will want to ensure that the names disclosed reflect the broad range of cases and are not all Islamic extremists.'
posted by GayandRight @ 2:53 PM
4 Comments:
Michael Savage is a really interesting character!
And, rightly so, is fighting back after finding out that his name is on some list with murderers and terrorists.
He has had interviews with radio hosts from Britain, and the greater majority of callers came to his support.
Savage's goal is to find out who, in the United States, went to Smith with take-outs of his radio show, with the intent to ruin his reputation.
I wish him well in finding that out, having a formal apology issued, and some consequences dealt out, in his country, to those who have maligned him.
What a great person for you to support. He's always been nothing but loving and understanding towards homosexuals.
Savage closet case
And as Savage would have predicted, no doubt, up pops the take-outs from Wikipedia of all places.
I have no wish to do battle with people who attack the man, or say he is calling for harm to come to someone, terrorists aside.
If you had listened to his show for any length of time, you might come to realize how singularly rare he is for a talk show host.
He cannot be pinned. He is too complex. People today hate complex. They want simple, predictable, porridge.
Savage will never be porridge.
I think he is one of a kind, and the August 3rd edition of the New Yorker, has even that liberal reporter realizing there is something very appealing about the man called Michael Savage.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_sanneh
I could have left this alone. I have battled before. It is not in me today, or this moonth even.
There is so much more to become exorcized about these days.
I have come to respect the owner of this blog. I find his take on things often, most often, very matched with mine.
That is good enough for me. I hope it would be good enough for him.
"What a great person for you to support. He's always been nothing but loving and understanding towards homosexuals."
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."
The British thought police in action.
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