Plumbing a new depth of absurdity: Savage now demanding to know if Obama ever worked odd jobs

[alp227]

This is a video of the first hour of yesterday's "Savage Nation". I peeked at a segment yesterday; in the video that segment is from 9:50 to 13:30, and afterwards I went back to the PBS NewsHour.

To open both the opening and second segments, Savage played a soundbite of Obama's July 13 speech at Roanoke, Va. with only "if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there." Full remarks are here; Savage ommitted the full context of his remarks. Here's what Obama said after Savage's deceptive sound bite:

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

In both instances after playing that sound bite, Michael Savage challenged listeners to prove that Obama ever worked an odd job to support himself such as busboy, lawn mower, or gas pumper as a teenager or college student. (Savage said he's worked many odd jobs when he was growing up.) Really? Now we're going to plumb that deep into the lives of potential presidential candidates, where they were working as high schoolers? Do most bosses at other jobs even care? Savage's point was the typical "Obama is out of touch with the business world" and that Obama is a phony elitist. (Because I'm sure that Romney is totally NOT elitist, amirite?) At 12:00, Savage complained that Obama attracted white liberal voters by pretending to be an oppressed black man ( ????).

I examined the opening segment that I missed. Savage read from this WorldNetDaily puff piece reporting how Savage said Obama was the most evil president. In that article Savage went off comparing Obama to Pol Pot and Hitler because Obama's rhetoric was like a gateway drug to tyranny.

And at 4:40 and 7:40, Savage called on Romney to start attacking Obama as clueless about capitalism. Savage predicted that Obama might win the election by 10-15% if Romney keeps playing the "nice guy".

Have any of the progressive talkers or MSNBC pundits taken on the Obama building business statement? I know that Thom Hartmann has discussed how the Commons...that is, functions of government such as the judicial system or infrastructure...actually provide the basic environment for capitalism, and think he may bring up this topic today or tomorrow. They may be able to flip this soundbite from Obama's shark-jumping moment to a constructive, thinking moment for many Americans who were offended that the President dared stray from the Ayn Rand Bible of Free Markets. Unless they do so, this misleading soundbite played on "The Savage Nation", other RW talk shows, Fox News, and viral videos will be played on blast and without any challenge all the way 'til November. (Romney might as well be preparing an ad with the out-of-context "you didn't build that" statement already.)

UPDATE: See this Media Matters article on how NBC bought hook, line, and sinker in the Fox News framing of the president's comments.

And if you have a youtube account, please vote "dislike".

[kestrel91316]

1. I suppose this guy considers Mittens a "nice guy" because he has managed to refrain from calling

that uppity n----r in the White House an uppity n----r.

Wow. Bully for him. He deserves a medal for his restraint, I suppose.

[Politicalboi]

2. Another self loather spouts shit

This closeted crazy man needs to be put away in a rubber room where no one can hear him talk.

[arbusto_baboso]

3. Savage is a loathsome waste of human flesh.

Of course, I frequently have my doubts about his humanity, so....

[LiberalFighter]

4. From a guy that doesn't have a real job.

[alp227]

5. So "talk radio host" isn't a real job?

Then, Thom Hartmann didn't have a real job due to his similar background (but different ideology) with Savage: as a talk radio host and before that an herbal/alt-med entrepreneur and consultant.

Speaking of Thom, a caller to his show brought up the Obama "on your own" issue based on watching O'Reilly's show.

[ChazII]

6. Savage is scum. n/t

[Arkana]

7. Yassuh, Marse Savage! He be a shoeshine boy

AND he be in a minstrel show!

Jesus christ, the racism these guys casually toss out every day is just sickening. I wonder if any of them ever listen to the crap they spew.