Man, the right-wing radio hatemongers really hate it when their words are put up for critical review. Michael Savage was so incensed at the Council on American-Islamic Relations putting up on its website a four-minute sound clip of the radio host ranting about Muslims and the Quran (and then commenting on it) that he filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the organization. But guess what?
The damn activist judge hearing the case decided that not only did the posting of the clip fall with the fair use doctrine, but also added that “To comment on [Savage’s] statements without reference or citation to them would not only render [CAIR’s] criticism less reliable, but be unfair to [Savage].”
The judge also noted that the associated racketeering charge against CAIR was probably filed in an attempt to harass the organization. From the CAIR website:
Judge Illston termed Savage’s complaint “lengthy” and “redundant” and noted that he may have brought the racketeering allegations in an attempt “to harass the defendant.” She also ruled that some of Savage’s allegations did not comply with the basic structural form of a lawsuit as outlined in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
SNAP! CAIR twists the knife. “Hey Savage, not only was your lawsuit frivilous and vindictive, but next time you want to file a lawsuit, why don’t you find someone who knows how to write the whole thing up?”
A spokesman for Talk Radio Network (which syndicates Savage’s show) confirmed that Savage lost a few advertisers over the comments and the CAIR situation, while Savage claimed he lost $1 million in the whole ordeal.
Of course, that was all before he called autism a “fraud — a racket,” earlier this month and said:
…in 99 percent of the cases [autism] is a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out … They don’t have a father around to tell them don’t act like a moron, you’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up, act like a man, don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.
Well gee, Michael. If you really feel that way, and if your father really told you “act like a man and stop crying,” as you said he did on your show, shouldn’t you be able to suck up any criticism? You know, just take it like a man? I mean, instead of crying to the courts about it?
Meanwhile, those comments on autism have caused him to lose even more advertisers. Hoping perhaps to stop the bleeding, Talk Radio Network once again came to Savage’s defense, noting “The network is satisfied that he did not mean any disrespect to autistic children or their families, but was, instead, reiterating his longstanding concerns on public health issues.”
Oh man. No disrespect, but your kid’s an idiot who should just be told not to act like a moron.