It’s Time to Call Lou Dobbs What He Is

The Southern Poverty Law Center has sent a letter to CNN requesting he be removed from the airwaves for “…trading in falsehoods and racist conspiracy theories, questioning President Obama's American citizenship.”

I’m surprised it’s taken this long. The evidence has been building for some time that his views on race fall somewhere between David Dukes and Darryl Gates. A number of incidents big and small show that Dobbs can only be called a “populist” if you exclude a good proportion of the population, which apparently Dobbs has no trouble doing.

First the small:

There was his “Cotton” gaffe while discussing remarks by Condoleezza Rice.



There was this public appearance where he declared that racism wasn’t real only to have a member of the audience jump up and prove him wrong.



In these incidents Dobbs pushes the typical racially insensitive whitewash (pun intended) of our history. Basically he claims that because everything is hunky dory now, the past doesn’t matter. Except everything isn’t hunk dory. Those nooses in Jena didn’t hang themselves and that guy in the Barnes & Noble is not just overly enthusiastic.

The bigger incidents are much more sinister. Before the Birthers there was Dobbs’ infamous report on the immigration debate a few years ago. Media Matters eviscerated a Dobbs segment where he quoted the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group with roots in the pro-segregationist White Citizen’s Council. That same segment also featured a map of Aztlan, the parts of the US that fringe conspiracy theorists claim Mexico wants to retake militarily. His correspondent even referred to an official visit by the Mexican President as a “military excursion.” Hmmm. Giving air time to fringe conspiracy nuts and right wing whackos. Sounds familiar.

That’s why Dobbs’ embrace of the Birther movement should come as no surprise. What is a surprise is that CNN continues to stand by him. They offered a half assed apology for the Aztlan piece. They haven’t canned his butt for continuing to flog the Birthers in his radio show. What does he have to do to get fired? What will it take for CNN to pull his “respected journalist” card? How many more nut jobs does Dobbs have to give credibility to?