Bartholomew's Notes

Joseph Farah in WorldNetDaily, April:

My friend Michael Savage is [suing the Council on American-Islamic Relations] and I commend him for it. But I know the sacrifice he is making by getting down into the gutter with these people. I would urge you to contribute to his legal defense fund so he can pursue his lawsuit against CAIR for as long as it takes to win.

The San Francisco Chronicle, August:

Conservative talk show host Michael Savage has changed his mind and is reluctantly dropping his lawsuit against an Islamic rights group that launched an advertisers’ boycott after he attacked Islam and the Quran on the air, his lawyer said Thursday…In an unusual court filing, attorney Daniel Horowitz, who had earlier promised a new suit that would pass legal muster, said Thursday that Savage has a legitimate case but has decided not to pursue it.

We look forward to learning how much exactly Savage raised from all his supporters, and how exactly the money was spent.

The lawsuit has received considerable media attention. The idea was, of course, doomed from the beginning: CAIR used clips of Savage’s vulgar radio rants against Muslims to urge an advertiser boycott, and Savage claimed copyright infringement. That had to fail under fair-usage provisions – as was demonstrated years ago in a case concerning Jerry Falwell’s use of materials copyrighted to Larry Flynt. Realising this, Savage opportunistically added a “racketeering” claim to his lawsuit, which allowed him to grandstand as someone opposing terrorist-supporters. The lawsuit was tossed in March, and again a few days ago, at which point WND‘s Aaron Klein predictably rumbled darkly about how the judge had been “nominated to her position by President Bill Clinton”.

Klein also quoted Savage, who was then in bullish mood:

“I’m going to open up this case. I’m going to sue CAIR. I’m bringing a lawsuit back against them. It’s going to cost me a fortune,” Savage said. “And when Judge Illston rejects it again, which she will do because she’s a minion of the Bill Clinton crowd, I’m going to take it over her head and I’m going to go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where again I’m going to hit a stonewall. And then I’m going to take it to the Supreme Court until eventually I force CAIR to describe who their funding sources are…First they came for Michel Savage, and you didn’t raise your voice and you laughed. Then they came after Abercrombie and Fitch, and you didn’t raise your voice because you weren’t in the retail business. Tomorrow they’ll come after you and your business.”

You wouldn’t think that it was Savage who had gone to court to try to stop CAIR from criticising him, rather than the other way round – and  Aaron Klein is hardly going to put the record straight (nor Farah, with his “defense fund” nonsense). Klein added:

The top radio host urged listeners to make online donations at his website to help fund his lawsuit.

Presumably these will now be returned.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Horowitz insists that

Savage can prove the Islamic organization engaged in a conspiracy that harmed him financially

The “proof” being that when people heard what Savage had to say, they found him to be repellent. Some “conspiracy” – Savage has managed to put most people off without CAIR’s assistance.

Horowitz also gives us a reason for the sudden change of heart. Apparently he

said he feared his client would be in danger if he continued the case. The attorney said he has no evidence that CAIR commits violent acts but alleged that the Islamic group is out to silence Savage and conducts campaigns that may stir up violence by others.

So Savage is suddenly too scared to continue? Come off it. But such an excuse must disgust what’s left of Savage’s core audience of bigots – even those who didn’t hand over cash for a case he was going to take all the way to the Supreme Court. And surely this must be a huge embarrassment for Joseph Farah, who urged his readers to contribute?

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