The Problem With Lou Dobbs

If you have come here from Aztlan let me inform you that I do not subscribe to Aztlan's ideas or beliefs.  In point of fact - I find them reprehensible.  This article is intended as a dissection of Lou Dobbs's opinions on Immigration.  To label it anything else is just plain wrong.

Where to begin?  You see – I don’t really know what to make of the man.  On the one hand, his daily harangues against illegal immigration have escalated to the point of absurdity.  And it’s always exclusively ‘Mexican’ illegal immigration.  You rarely hear him talk about the huge number of Polish or Irish immigrants who enter America sans invitation.  Nor do you hear him rail against the paucity of INS agents along the much larger border with Canada.  No – he really seems to have a jones for Hispanics, and that levels a charge of bigotry that would seem to have some basis in fact.  He even advocated INS agents infiltrating the immigration marches and rally’s that swept through our country last week.  That’s so Richard Nixon!  I mean – please!  So – I think I have him pegged - then he turns around and, quite rightly in my opinion, points out our enormous trade deficit (most especially with China – and I’ll get to that in a moment), excoriates Bush on his ham-handed handling of the nations economy (and just about everything else) and stands up for the ever pressured, now dwindling middle class.  It’s as if he’s two completely different people – one who would seem at home attending a meeting of the John Birch society; and another who understands how fucking hard it is out here to make ends meet and is on our side.  So what’s the truth?  Who is Lou Dobbs, really?

I watched his show last night.  He fairly quivered with righteous fury at having the ‘racist’ label hurled at him.  I’ve heard him tack this direction before.  Mention partiality or bigotry of any kind and he fair fly’s to the moon – his jaws clicking in frustration; intent on defending his besmirched ‘honor’.  But is that charge true?  Here’s where that wicket gets mighty sticky.  He’s concerned about how easily transversed our borders are. Check.  He thinks we need more agents to patrol said borders. Check.  He blames Vincente Fox for not lifting a finger to stem the tide of Mexican citizens heading north in search of a better life for them and their families. Check.  Now we get into murky territory.  Lou Dobbs endorses the vigilante ‘Minutemen’ group.  He often has their founder on his show promoting the Minutemen and saluting the ‘job’ they are doing.  Now – Jim Gilchrist, the Minutemen’s founder has been definitively linked to white supremacist groups.  I found that out by using Google and my finger.  So I don’t buy that Dobbs would be unfamiliar with this tidbit; and if he was he should have grilled the man on it.  I knew the Minutemen were bigots the moment I saw several of their number flying the Stars & Bars.  I’m sorry – but the battle flag of the Civil War south only stands for one thing – and everyone who has half a brain knows it.  So why give these people a platform if you don’t agree with EVERYTHING they stand for?

Yet – Dobbs seems really sincere in his support for working class America.  It was from him I learned that the last textile manufacturing plant in the US had closed – a dreadful circumstance.  He constantly harps on the porous nature of our port facilities, and brings up the inequities that have arisen from our burgeoning debt and out of control and ever rising trade deficit.  Which brings me around to China.  Lou seems China obsessed.  Yes, our deficit with China is greater than that of any other trading partner; but they are not isolated in this.  Canada is also a problem.  So is Mexico and Japan; but Lou harps on China as if they alone stood between American workers and the middle class lifestyle that is the backbone of both our democracy and economy. Could it be the Chinese people themselves he dislikes with an almost mock ferocity?  Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to that question; and because I don’t, I have to question the mans motives.  I have learned over time and with a great deal of experience to beware those who sound ‘reasonable’ while stating edgy opinions.  Often that ‘reason’ is merely a cover for the snake oil they are trying to slip in under the radar.  I always hold off, tempering my good opinion with at least a modicum of good sense while playing the ‘wait and see’ game.  Well – I’ve waited, and I’ve seen, and I’m afraid that Mr. Dobbs harbors some deep-seated dislikes of certain ethnicities.  What makes this all the more sad is his much appreciated support of and for everyday Americans.  I agree with him on many things – but his unquestioning support for the obviously racist Minutemen renders the rest of his opinions suspect.

Now how can someone be reasonable and believable on the one hand; and a stone cold bigot on the other?  It is possible.  Just look around at your family, your friends, your neighbors.  You know someone like this – we all do.  I used to try and pick this question apart.  It puzzled me to no end; how someone ‘nice’ could also be racist.  The two just seemed antithetical.  But they’re not.  I know and have known people in my life who cared about the environment, donated time and funds to local charitable causes, decried cruelty to any living creature and yet would turn around and use the word ‘nigger’ to my face.  A man whom I called friend recently emailed me a terrible, racist, anti-Hispanic joke that just about took my breath away.  It was his Cinco de Mayo ‘gift’.  And he knew better.  He knows me.  He is well aware of my views on the subject.  And he did it anyway; essentially ending any possibility of a meaningful relationship between us.  And he didn’t think he was being a bigot, by the way.  He didn’t see that it was bad or wrong.  He actually thought it was funny and was taken aback by my fury.  This man is not some knuckle-dragging, sheet wearing Nazi fanatic.  He’s quite ordinary.  Quite normal.  Much like Lou Dobbs.  So I’m betting Mr. Dobbs doesn’t see it either; this connection between what he promotes and being a bigot.  I’m sure were he to read this essay he would take great umbrage.  But that doesn’t change the facts.  I’m sorry for you, Lou.  Your good idea; namely protecting our borders and controlling immigration - is getting lost in the attached undercurrent of ethnic separatism.  You have gotten in the way of your own message.

Comments

[Sherrilynne Starkie]

Lou is all about the ratings. He picks his position on issues based on how many eyeballs it will pull his way. The very fact that we are discussing him on your blog is a victory in his eyes. Don't judge him too harshly, he's a product of his environment.

[DivaJood]

Dobbs is a conundrum. People are very complex, with internal conflicts that make us imperfect.

TFLS, you comment about your friend who sent the anti-hispanic joke probably thought it was funny; it was probably sent in all innocence, and he didn't realize that it was offensive. People are complex, and often thoughtless. Without thought.

I'm well aware of certain knee-jerk prejudices I have, and I also know the source of those prejudices. Rather than act on my knee-jerk reactions, I try to pause when agitated. I'm imperfect. It is not easy.

But back to Dobbs. I think there are any number of people who present conflicting sides of themselves -- and many of the points he makes about our insecure boarders and ports are absolutely valid. I think he also takes it to the extreme with biggoted statements about Hispanics; but I think he appeals to the fears of Bush supporters when he does this.

It's tough to agree with someone who can be hateful. It's tough to hate someone who can be so populist and correct.

As for your friend, it's tough to throw the baby out with the bathwater because of one mistake.

[Debby]

I would dearly love to be able to blame it all on multiple personalities. No matter how hard I try I will never be able to get past the fact that he is associated with white suprmacists and that he is a racially motivated bigot.

[Vickie]

Lou would like for us to believe he has many personalities but it boils down to one thing. That one thing is the the bottom line and what is best for me...He is all about what can I do for myself and will turn on anyone in a minute to better himself.

[Mike]

You so casually slip in the thought that these undocumented Mexican immigrants come here "looking" (should be 'seeking') for a "better life." By gathering in the thousands and organizing a national boycott, the immigrants have told America, "We are here, and we are DEMANDING a better life!"

[Peacechick Mary]

Lou is definitely a racist pig! The Minutemen are mostly middle class and all white. Guess the boys in the white sheets are having a tough time "putting food on their family". I can not watch Lou Dobbs as he represents most of what is sick about our country.

[Mike]

The Minutemen ARE NOT ARRESTING ILLEGAL BORDER-CROSSERS. They sit calmly in lawn chairs with binoculars and never try to enforce the laws themselves. Once illegals are spotted they simply notify the proper authorities as to the wherabouts of the illegal immigrant.

vig·i·lan·te   

n.

1. One who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands.


2. A member of a vigilance committee.

Vigilante is the incorrect term. With this definition, how could you possibly describe the Minutemen as vigilantes? It must be one of two reasons: 1. That you are misinformed. 2. That you are trying to misinform.

If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed - Adolf Hitler

[sumo]

I can't watch him anymore either. You covered what I have been thinking...and I still think his heart is in the right place...it's tilted sometimes...and again he may not realize how he comes across. I'd like to think he is innocent of bias...don't know why...maybe because he is the champion of the middle class.

[sb_gypsy]

He may be imperfect, he may be a bigot, I don't know him. I've read his opinion pieces on the web for years, and was so grateful for *someone* who was willing to speak for the middle class, to point out just how destructive Nafta, Gatt and -what is it now? Lafta or Safta - are.

If you spend alot of time in the southwest, the illegal immigrant problem is so big down there, and 99.9% of it is south americans. Here in the northeast that does not seem to be the case. I don't know where Dobbs is located, but if he's in Hollywood, I could see why he pounds that nail.

[Peter of Lone Tree]

He knows if he doesn't "watch it", he'll get sent the same direction as Aaron Brown:

"Cooper to replace Brown on CNN's 'NewsNight'"

http://tinyurl.com/cvy6v

[WAT]

It bothers me that Dobbs and all these anti-illegal people are so blatantly racist and deny it!

Their words are loaded with nothing but venom. I can understand being against illegal immigration but across the board, not just against Mexicans, which you are correct in noticing--so many of these people are racist pigs period.

[Floyd]

My family migrated here many, many years ago, from Ireland and England, however they did migrate over here, on Lou Dobbs I see him as you do, one way, then another, but what it boils down to is the ratings and he chases them where they might lead him.

[wally]

lmao thank gawd for your blog. I thought i was only one that saw that loser for what he is. did you know he drove a dot com called space.com to an early grave. how can you not make a site called space.com not work? I thinka senorita turned the old fat fuck down and hes pissed.

[sttropezbutler]

It's called entertainment for a reason.

STB

[Kevin Wolf]

I don't watch any of these idiots.

I see no contradiction with his obvious racism and his apparent position as a champion of the middle class. The racism feeds into the other because he can make the claim about jobs lost to illegals.

That he also covers broader stories re the negative impact of economic policy on the middle class is not anything special either. He's pandering to his audience, for one.

I'm willing to bet that if pressed on any of these issues - how to correct policy to benefit more people - he'd end up siding with the powers that be who are decimating the middle class.

That's because the alternative would be to embrace "liberal" policies and Lou ain't no liberal.

[michele]

Lou is a fool,but you are
not a racist just because
you're against illegal
immigration.

[Terry Stevenson]

I feel like I've found the "Is Lou Dobbs nuts?" support group. I'm glad it was not just me wondering what's up with this guy. Whomever said "he is a conundrum" hit it on the head. I am Canadian and man, oh man, you've got some problems down there. We feel for you. We will wait patiently for the America we once knew. Your country needs an intervention and only the citizens can do that. Call your elected officials and DEMAND that they start working together to fix everything that is so wrong.

[worldexplorer]

Lou Dobbs is just a typical Confederate White Racist. He is nothing but a KKK member in undercover.

He just simply remind me the Paul Joseph Goebbels who was born on October 29, 1897 and went to hell on May 1, 1945, who was Adolph Hitler's Propaganda Minister.
Now yet we have our Lou Dobbs, who is the Propaganda Minister for Caucasian News Network (CNN) and his boss is a White Supremacist Neo Nazi KKK supporter Mr. Jonathan Klein
CNN President Phone: (404) 827-1500.

Fellow Americans It is the time for us to be United and stick together for what this Nation All about. Lou Dobbs and his bosses are just simply trying to make this country a pure White like Nazi Germany. They want to make this country to be ruled by pure whites and whites only and all other races must be their servant and they must be the under class citizens other words modern days slavery.

Lou Dobbs is actually our Joseph Goebbels in our time. We must fight back and drive them out of business. We can do this and together we will fire Lou Dobbs and his boss Jonathan Klein.

Please call CNN (404) 827-1500 and protest against their hate crime!

Note that media like CNN always taken the major supportive role in the past for most of the hate crimes and genocides from Hitler’s Germany to Darfur including Bosnia or Kosovo or Mississippi or Nashville, Tennessee or in the Hartland of America. CNN is just doing the same thing to gain short-term profit and keep KKK alive. We must stop them now! Otherwise it will be to late to stop! Like we did and we waited in Germany, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Darfur.

So at this time best way to fight back is just boycott them,

boycott CNN’s advertisers or ask them to boycott with you and

ask them not to buy Airtime from CNN.

Write Letters, send email, or call them.

Spread the word out talk to your friends and family.

Let’s drive this racist establishment “Caucasian News Network (CNN).” Out of Business.

I am sure there will be many true and honest American business man who will be happy to buy their assets from the public auction!

They do not represent true America. They are sending out a mixed message around the world about America. They are just hurting America. They are destroying America.

We must stop them now before it gets too late to Stop!

[Carli]

I think that Lou simply lack everithing that "they" have-- such as culture, song and dance, humor, simplicity, large family network and sex appeal. Of course he hates them!

[Western State Man]

Gee, this man sounds scary...Is he trying to start www III? Let's see but who owns the media? I don't think they let celtic boys own anything here in america anymore even if they did found the old u.s. of a. because it was all bought out by the infidels crossing over to america on boats into the n.y. harbor during ww II.

[Bilbo]

Most of the people posting the anti-Lou Dobbs rants are either guilt ridden, masochistic whites or militant chicanos who themselves are bigoted towards Anglos. By your definition, any white person concerned about border security and arresting and deporting illegals must be "racist" and somehow in league with shadowy nazi groups.

If the anti-white, anti-Lou dregs are motivated by interracial brotherhood and civil rights then why don't you raise your voice when the illegal brown people murder innocent white people in cold blood? Two years ago several teenage kids of illegal aliens crashed a homecoming party and stabbed a white male teenager to death. The reason? Just because. You see, mestizos commit acts of violence for the thrill of it.

If racist skinheads had done something similar to sweet mexicans it would have been national headlines for weeks.

The same people deriding Lou and the Minutemen as racist are cheerleaders for the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the middle east and are mum on Mexico's brutal treatment of Central Americans who try to sneak across their own southern border. You are hypocrites! Here's your philosphy in a nutshell; jews kill and torture non-jews to protect israel - good; non-whites kill and torture non-whites - indifferent; Blacks murder and rape whites - good; American whites desire to protect border and deport illegal aliens - EVIL, WICKED, RACIST, call CNN and bitch, writhe, spit, convulse, march, attack elderly whites because you're wimps who can't fight fair, etc.

BTW, coming to America to get on welfare, food stamps, and medicaid is not a civil right.

[Swissdiver]

Lou Dobbs a good-for-nothing racial nincompoop & a jingoistic fool. His bigoted views that he "spews" on the air daily in the pretext of illegal immigration and his concern for middle-class America is a sickening lie. He is an unhooded White Supremacist cowardly afraid to come out in the open.Ooops, loose lips sink ships!

[Fimbo]

Heard this -- the sonofabitch has been married to a Mexican-American woman for 20 years. This article really thumps this NAZI goon: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/CNN-s-Lou-Dobbs---The-Minister-of--Propaganda-and-Enlightenment-/23562

[Amerikanisch]

Lou Dobbs is married to a Mexican-American woman. This does not necessarily mean that he cannot be anti-Hispanic but it would sure make it a lot less likely. Do you think Mr. Dobbs married his wife so he could beat her up, pull off her toenails with a pair of pliars and lock her our of the house?
It just goes to show how flippantly many of you throw terms like "racist" around. And comparing Dobbs to Joseph Gorbbles (sp?). Please. how melodramatic can you get? You use these terms so generally that when a REAL monster comes along, you have no word to describe him.
You know, there are quite a number of legal Hispanics who oppose illegal immigration. Many of them are SMART enough to know that unbridled immigration supresses their wages.
Imagine if the whole thing were reversed and you had gringos coming in pell mell and demanding English as your second language and marching in your streets waving American flags and demanding rights. You'd throw them out and you KNOW it. There would be no Hispanic ACLU to save them. Heck, Mexicans won't even let gringos own beach front property and they ENFORCE their immigration laws. They also have their southern border militarized because they don't want anyone sneaking through and encroaching on their action. Give it up. You guys are hypocrits.

[Amerikanisch]

" I think that Lou simply lack everithing that "they" have-- such as culture, song and dance, humor, simplicity, large family network and sex appeal. Of course he hates them!"

You're right!
Now if these multi-talented, sexy people could just develop a country they actually wanted to LIVE in, they'd have it ALL!