Dobbs and the Birthers Movement: The Stuff Cranks Are Made Of

Today CNN is just realizing how embarrassing it is to have Lou Dobbs associated with your name. Dobbs, who has latched onto the whole "birthers" movement like a dog in heat, will simply not let go of the debunked rumor that Obama was not born in the United States and, according to Section II Article 1 of the Constitution, is thus ineligible to be president. While Dobbs states that the only reason he brings up the birthers movement is to be fair (he states that he believes Obama was born in Hawaii), it's like giving equal airtime to the person who says 2+2=5, because it would not be fair to simply say they're "wrong."

Nevermind that Obama has produced his birth certificate. Nevermind that Lou Dobbs is your high-profile spokesperson. When he's not calling black politicians cotton-pickers, he's trying to prove that they were born in Africa. I was originally going to write this post about what I'm sick of hearing in the news (Michael Jackson's kids/estate, anytime Gates or Crowley uses the restroom, Jon and Kate's relationship), but People.com still exists, so why give these topics more publicity?

Instead I wanted to discuss a cable news network Howard Beale wannabe. While this blog makes a good point about what we should shed light upon, and what we should simply ignore and allow the public ridicule to overtake, my argument is that if we do ignore something like Dobbs' embarrassing "reporting" about Obama's birthplace, it might reach more mainstream markets like, I don't know, CNN or something (oops). Seriously, it's fine if we see folks like Hannity or Beck or Dobbs as the jesters they are; there to make a buck while entertaining folks. It's when we start taking them seriously that we run into trouble.



A lot of folks are saying just ignore Dobbs, which I am wont to do. I've seen his show a few times, but getting through an entire episode is torturous. As Dobbs' ratings continue to drop, CNN might have no choice but to dump him (notice they'll allow him to be a national laughing-stock on company time, but cut into ratings and ad revenue and you get the ax). But the fact that the birthers movement has even made it to a semi-reputable news agency like CNN speaks volumes; no more is it relegated to the Daily Show or Colbert Report or Fox News to be laughed at; it's now "news." In honor of Dobbs, tomorrow's post will be baseless claims that I don't personally believe, but I feel need to be given sufficient airtime, such as the revelation that Dobbs was actually born in Antarctica and illegally entered the United States on the back of a polar bear. Peace.

Photo - Lou Dobbs (Media Bistro)

Lou Dobbs Shows His True Colors

Lou Dobbs (Mediabistro)

For those of you lucky enough to have never seen or heard of Lou Dobbs, I commend you. Unfortunately I have seen and heard the things Lou Dobbs says on a regular basis, and his xenophobia is hard to take sometimes. It's common knowledge that Dobbs (who makes millions a year and, previous to his "transformation" into a sensationalist news reporter was an oft-ignored business reporter) fights for the middle class of America and sees globalization as the worst thing in the world (besides illegal immigrants). For example, Dobbs has said that he resents holidays that do not strictly celebrate America and that people who are attached to their homeland in some way (such as Irish folks who celebrate St. Paddy's Day) are splitting America up because they don't celebrate America's commonalities. It's interesting to hear this from Dobbs because he is married to a Mexican-American named Debi Lee Segura de Dobbs. Of course, her last name is from a very old tradition in Spanish speaking countries that involves tracking lineage through last names. Using Dobbs' logic, his own wife is one of the Americans in this country who are attached to their homeland and not spending all of their time celebrating America's commonalities. I'd also be interested to know if the Dobbs household does anything for traditional Mexican holidays such as El Dia del Muerto (which, under Dobbs' logic, would be un-American).

Dobbs also has a history of using inflated numbers when it comes to scaring his viewers into believing that illegal immigration is the product of the devil himself. For instance, he once had a correspondent on his show who said that there were 7,000 cases of leprosy, attributing the large rise in leprosy cases (which turned out to be a false report in the first place) to our "open" borders. Dobbs also has said that illegal aliens make up 1/3 of our federal prison system - another incorrect "fact."

But it is not Dobbs' lack of fact-checking or his xenophobic stance on illegal immigration that spurned this post. It is his recent comments concerning race, particularly Condaleeza Rice's statement that America has a "birth defect" in its history (slavery) and this makes it difficult to discuss race honestly and frankly. She says that the legacy of slavery and its repercussions still reverberate today (which, in my opinion, they do). When Dobbs heard this, he lost it. The irony of his tirade is that his comments prove Rice's point. When he is about to call black politicians who argue what Rice has said "cotton pickers" he is embodying what is wrong with America today and its history:



Now I'm not going to argue about what he said. He clearly said "cotton" and then puckered his mouth up to start with a "p". The only combination I can think of with the word "cotton" and a word starting with the letter "p" is "cotton picker," which, of course, is a derogatory name aimed at black people due to the institution of slavery that this country (indeed, the Constitution) condoned and allowed to thrive.

What is even more interesting is the fact that CNN tried to clean up the transcript of Wolf Blitzer's show that night (another CNN anchor who has made dumb statements in the past). The word "cotton" was nowhere to be found in the transcript, which can be read here. From what I can understand neither Dobbs nor CNN has made a statement regarding his comments. I'll be interested to see how this works out, but my guess is that Dobbs will not be punished or anything like that. His sensationalism that he calls "The Lou Dobbs Show" brings in ratings and money talks, even more than Dobbs does.