Under pressure, Dobbs announces his resignation from CNN
From the November 11 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:
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LOU DOBBS: Tonight, I want to turn to a personal note, if I may, and address a matter that has raised some curiosity. This will be my last broadcast here on CNN, where I've worked for most of the past 30 years and where I have many friends and colleagues whom I admire deeply and respect greatly.
I'm the last of the original anchors here on CNN and I'm proud to have had the privilege of helping to build the world's first news network. I'm grateful for the many opportunities that CNN has given me over these many years. I've tried to reciprocate with a full measure of my ability and my energy.
Over the past six months, it's become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us, and some leaders in media, politics, and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving, as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day and to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible.
I've talked extensively with Jonathan Klein -- Jon's the president of CNN -- and as a result of those talks, John and I have agreed to a release from my contract that will enable me to pursue new opportunities.
At this point, I'm considering a number of options and directions, and I assure you, I will let you know when I set my course. I truly believe that the major issues of our time include the growth of our middle class, the creation of more jobs, health care, immigration policy, the environment, climate change, and our military involvement, of course, in Afghanistan and Iraq. But each of those issues is, in my opinion, informed by our capacity to demonstrate strong resilience of our now-weakened capitalist economy and demonstrate the political will to overcome the lack of true representation in Washington, D.C. I believe these to be profoundly, critically important issues, and I will continue to strive to deal honestly and straightforwardly with those issues in the future.
Unfortunately, these issues are now defined in the public arena by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous, empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion. I'll be working diligently to change that as best I can. And as for the important work of restoring inspiration to our great, free society and our market economy, I will strive as well to be a leader in that national conversation.
It's been my great honor to work with each and every person at this wonderful network. I will be eternally grateful to CNN, to Ted Turner, and to all of my colleagues and friends and, of course, to you at home. I thank you, and may God bless you.
The news continues for the rest of this hour, and I'll be right back after this.
















Not likely... but we can dream I suppose.
[b][jjamele2880/b],
I'm going with Shep Smith (as DAWUSS said) on the one being replaced... since Shep is the only half way decent person working at that whole circus
We can now look forward to Fauxliberal coming to Dobbs' defense.
Mr. News
The NY Times said "Months ago the president of CNN/U.S., Jonathan Klein, offered a choice to Lou Dobbs, the channel's most outspoken anchor. Mr. Dobbs could vent his opinions on radio and anchor an objective newscast on television, or he could leave CNN.
For a time, Mr. Dobbs did tone down his TV rhetoric, but on Wednesday he made a more drastic decision: He chose opinion."
People who get booted out don't get the rest of the contract that the employer is obligated to pay. He was 'let out of his countract', which likely means he was allowed to resign before he was fired.
Translation: "Those D@mn latinos cost me my &^*&^^% job. &^*&&^$%$ them all!"
LOL See ya Lulu
*sniff!*
~
OMG!!!
When he said work to combat distortions, I hope that meant he wouldnt be joining the FOX news team. Im sure they would be happy to have the added racism and bigotry but god knows, fox is in no short supply of discriminating against every minority group one can think of. When it comes to hate, fear, propaganda and all out racist, prejudice BS, FOX news is the station I trust to deliver me the worst of the venomous rage out of the nut jobs on the right. The most fraudelent and Biased news network in the country! Dobbs would probably just take them down a notch as he isnt as accustomed to spewing blatant lies as they are.
Don't make that obvious next step.
Thank You for help the RadioEingsNutz futher cementthe demise of the Republican Party. If you join Fox, you woll only prove these wackos(tee hee) around here were right about you.
See ya Louie, your act has fizzled out. Get a new one.
Did I open by saying all I will say is CIAO BABY. Actually, I lied out loud. But really, it was an audition for your old job.
Loud Obbs has devoted his last few years to kicking people who are down.
That is what Republicans, bigots, and such as do.
~
Your resignation helps, Mr. Dobbs. Thanks!
He might be a great american as far as law following, but his racially motivated rants secured his demise.
I hope he finds a place where his thoughts and ideas will be welcome.
Um look at my above post at (November 11, 2009 7:37 pm ET) for his next employment. OMG!!!
His thoughts and ideas are repulsive to thinking people.
That is funny stuff, rkp. You could be a Daily Show writer. I almost thought you were serious for a second. Well done. Lou Dobbs is a great American - that is hilarious.
I think Lou will be a terrific professional martyr.
Okay so he's saying that his language can go on beyond where he's already gone? That he can get more xenophobic and more rightwing when he's not constrained by CNN?
Watch out. He sounds pretty dangerous already.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/11/obama-to-give-interview-t_n_354457.html
May your journey for the values of this country continue.
God bless you and be with you.
I don't like these people that say God is on their side. Who told them that? As a human are you not supposed to be praying God is on your side in the decisions you make with no way of knowing. People who are so quick to turn to this are usually the dirtiest because they try to demonize everyone else to hide the truth about themselves.
I find the fact that this man who has an Hispanic wife and children CONSTANTLY denigrated Hispanics to be unconscionable. UGH!
I've got earplugs, and I'm not afraid to use them!
DOBBS-BACHMAN BACHMAN-DOBBS
DOBBS-LIMBAUGH LIMBAUGH-DOBBS
DOBBS-HANNITY HANNITY-DOBBS
Think happy thoughts.
If I were to ask Dobbs if he's one of the top one million smartest people in the US, he'd probably say no. So why does he feel like he should be solving our country's biggest issues? Shouldn't he get out of the way instead?
Don't our pundits see that the smart people are invariably far, far away from our highest-profile debates? Doesn't the imbalance strike them?
He might actually win the nomination, too. He knows the Republicans are at a loss for any significant leadership. They've tried to plug in Sarah Palin, but she's such a truly whacked out woman that even the Republicans shiver at times. And while having brains and a good education are desirable, the Republicans have been content for a long time now with the "appearance" of brains. Palin can't even swing that much.
So very likely, Dobbs is already hearing "Hail to the Chief." Brrr.
Could someone enlighten me and tell me what "advocacy journalism" IS? I had a standard good education. I learned that journalism's prime focus is supposed to be objectivity. You know, the ABSENCE of bias. I'd think "advocacy journalism" was a contradiction in terms. I guess that, and many other standards of democracy, has undergone a revision somewhere, and I didn't know until it had already happened. Silly me.
I know it's a contradiction to say someone is "beneath contempt," but I yield to the temptation where Dobbs is concerned. He flatly HATES Latinos, particularly Mexicans. His "oh-so-patient-and-tolerant" sighs nauseated me. Yet ANY time the issue of immigrants came up, CNN gave it over to DOBBS. That was despicable of them.
I have lived in Mexico for 15 years. I've met some of their own wingnuts, hairballs, maggots and bigots, but they are NOTHING compared to ours. As I watch the generosity of spirit leaching out of our society (and with radical theocratic religion leading the way), it makes me all the more grateful that I am here.
Mexico - and Mexicans - have been extremely good to me. I wish my countrymen could be likewise to them. The level of generosity of spirit exceeds any I have ever known. Grocery stores and pharmacies that will not only deliver, but will grant credit when you're strapped. At one grocery store there were hundreds of "chits" tacked to a board, and I knew the owner wouldn't get repaid by most of them. The people who signed the chits were too poor, and probably still are. But the basic humanity and kindness is a thread that runs through the population, in spite of their own rotten apples. Seeing it feels like oil on a burn.
Sometimes, when I'd listen to Dobbs, I'd actually growl! The man is a fine example of what an American should NOT be. He shames himself, shames his country, and shames me. I've met LOTS of Americans down here, who share Dobbs' mindset, like the maggot who sang and danced to his version of "Hooray for Hollywood," substituting his own lyrics: "Hooray for Poverty." I came within a hair of smacking him. But he represents a whole LOT of the Americans who come here, expecting to be treated like visiting royalty. Grrr.
I'm SO glad to see Dobbs going, but I worry that he may have higher and nastier things he'll want to shove down our throats.
But still, hope springs eternal! Today, Dobbs. Tomorrow, Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity and Palin? Could we ever get THAT lucky?
Obama is a scholar. He is also a hard-core realist, though fortunately without the hard heart that often accompanies it. Moreover, he is a Freethinker, like my dad. This is a time-honored Scandanavian tradition, which seeks to learn the realities of things, regardless of how difficult it is. It is a self-discipline, and a harsh one. You have to keep an eye open for your own biases, and set them aside. You have to study more intensely the views you like least, actively seeking any merit they contain. This can sometimes be painful to do. Obama had no Scandanavian dad to teach him; he probably worked it out on his own. It's not hard to learn or figure out; the hard part is applying it to yourself. But I recognize my dad in him.
Now THAT is what I call a person capable of "rigorous, empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion," and Dobbs doesn't even approach the standard. Nor does he want to try. He wants to spew bigotry and call it rigorous, leap to biased conclusions and call it empirical, and buy totally into the lies, smears and debunked propaganda of the far right, and call it forthright.
LOL.
Taken in isolation, we can laugh at such abysmal ignorance, but when you realize that it is completely in tune with millions on the right, it becomes more serious.
Something has been twisted backward, when haters' votes count for more than people who really DO think, study, and try to make the best of their abilities, without needing hate or callousness.
I guess when it gets right down to it, it is the callousness of the right which is scariest of all. They call us Dems tree-huggers or bedwetters - all are attacks on our compassion. When compassion becomes a negative in a culture, it is doomed.
And that IS serious.
IMHO , Lou Dobbs is one of the LAST great muckrakers...and I am glad to see him , and his twiated form of "newsmaking" and 1/2
truths,,,,go
David R. Lyon
Dallas Texas 75235