If you were to guess which city has the most conservative syndicated talk radio show in the nation, which would it be? Wichita? Salt Lake City? Houston? Try San Francisco.

Yes, from our very own Fog City comes none other than one Dr. Michael Weiner, alias Michael Savage, the host of “The Savage Nation.” Maybe you remember him from his brief stint on MSNBC, before he was fired for telling a heckler to “Get AIDS and die.” Others probably remember him for declaring liberalism to be “a mental disorder.” Savage: a master of the understated.

Savage recently reappeared in local headlines after San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors condemned his radio program as “hate speech” towards illegal aliens. With Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh battling their own problems, maybe this was inevitable, but something seemed fishy to me. As if drawn from the juiciest pulp of a Dashiell Hammett novel, another strange tale is unfolding in the City by the Bay.

The problem stems from a retort on Savage’s July 5 broadcast to a group of students who announced they were fasting in support of changing the city’s immigration policy. This is classic neocon bait. Like a superhero donning his magic tights, our good friend transforms in a flash from mild-mannered natural health writer Dr. Wiener (no snickering) into the macho, rough-and-tough MIKE SAVAGE. “I would say, let them fast and starve to death,” he crows, “Then that solves the problem.” Pow! Now that’s savage!

What followed in August was a proposal from Gerardo Sandoval, the head of the city’s board of Supervisors. The board would hold a committee hearing on whether to condemn Savage’s behavior as “hate speech.”

Now it’s October, and the board has spoken: Condemn him.

Herr doctor remains confident about the whole situation. “This is a dry run against free speech in America by the Islamists and the illegal aliens who are now becoming one and the same,” he snarls. The fire in his botanist belly stirs: “Lady Liberty has been hog tied… She is being raped by illegal aliens. She is being raped by the landlords who are using the illegal aliens.” Savage!

Much of this story is questionable at best. Here’s what I’m thinking: “The Savage Nation” has aired for what, 13 years? Where has San Francisco been? Is this the same San Francisco whose current mayor declared a “sanctuary city?” Why have Sandoval and the other board members waited until now? Would condemnation still plague Savage if illegal immigration hadn’t become a hot-button topic last year? In fact, if the board of supervisors were really that confident in Savage exhibiting, “The kind of hysterical behavior we saw in Nazi Germany 60 years ago,” as Sandoval has stated, then I’d like to know why the board couldn’t condemn him unanimously.

As it stands, Sandoval gripes, “I really for the life of me cannot understand why there is not more media outrage to what Michael Savage said.” Indeed, Mr. Sandoval. The only media outlet I saw reporting this story last week is World Net Daily – a notoriously conservative news site with which Savage has a book publishing partnership.

I’m not going to claim any answers, but I will note that it doesn’t seem very clear to me what was really done to Savage. What is a condemnation exactly? Something like a really stern finger wave? Bad, bad Savage! Maybe if this has actually cost him his job, other people might have paid more attention. I know liberals often get tagged as being pussies, but sheesh.

The politics behind the city’s grudge with Michael Savage are strange, needless to say. Then again, Savage is a strange man. Perhaps it’s not so mystifying why he lives there after all.

Hard to keep a Wiener from a bunch of pussies, I guess.

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