Statement on Dobbs' Resignation from CNN
Under Pressure, Controversial Host Announces Immediate Departure
Washington, DC - Media Matters for America released the following statement responding to late breaking news that controversial CNN host Lou Dobbs, best known for his relentless anti-immigrant rhetoric, will be leaving his long-time cable news home effective tonight.
"For too long, CNN provided Lou Dobbs with its stamp of approval as he pursued a dangerous, one-sided and all too often false conspiracy tinged crusade against immigrants," said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. "This is a happy day for all those who care about this nation of immigrants and believe in the power of media to elevate the political discourse."
BACKGROUND:
For More on Lou Dobbs' History:
http://mediamatters.org/search/index?qstring=Lou+Dobbs
Media Matters played a leading role in the Drop Dobbs Coalition (DropDobbs.com) which was launched to call attention to Dobbs' incendiary hate speech and falsehoods, which advertisers were supporting through their sponsorship of his nightly CNN program. The Coalition includes numerous national civil rights and other groups concerned about the kind of hate promoted daily by Dobbs on his television and radio programs. In addition to Media Matters in partnership with NDN, the coalition, representing over two million people, includes the National Council of La Raza, LULAC, National Hispanic Media Coalition, America's Voice, The Hispanic Institute, Southern Poverty Law Center, Netroots Nation, Voto Latino, LCLAA, Center for New Community, Reform Immigration for America, the Dolores Huerta Foundation, the National Puerto Rican Coalition and GALEO.
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Keeping Lou all but killed Latino in America and I'm sure hurt the sales of Soledad O'Brien's book.
How unfortunate for her, that the big blowhard's ratings go up because of his vitriol (the reason CNN keeps him), whilst her earnings go down because of the same.
When is the announcement about his new propaganda program on FOX?
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"They (CNN) think that a few hours of serious reporting on Latinos by sunny Soledad O'Brien can make up for thousands of hours of anti-Latino extremism from the dark Lou Dobbs," said Roberto Lovato, of Presente.org and a leader of the movement to dismiss Dobbs.
Through the Present.org Web site, www.bastadobbs.com, over 70,000 people have signed a petition demanding CNN President Jon Klein fire Dobbs. It reads, in part: "As President of CNN, it is imperative that you act quickly and decisively to drop Dobbs from your network, and send the message that CNN does not tolerate hate speech. There should be no place for the likes of Dobbs on the 'most trusted name in news.' "
Hate speech has created a hostile environment for Latinos in America resulting in violence and death. The FBI says that from 2003 to 2006, hate crimes against Latinos increased 40%.
Visitors to the Presente.org can watch the eye-opening video, "CNN: Lou Dobbs or Latinos in America?" They can also find some of Dobbs' most outrageously false claims, such as the 7,000 cases of leprosy caused by Latino immigrants..
Dobbs has also claimed that "Just about a third of our prison system is made up of illegal aliens."
But the Department of Justice reports that immigrants (legal and illegal) make just 6% of the prison population.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/10/18/2009-10-18_lou_dobbs_ruins_cnns_latino_program_aim.html#ixzz0WbTduMNB
Look for that announcement in 5 ... 4 .... 3 ... 2 ....
They also preach doom and gloom with junk like "Issue No.1: Your Money" or "Issue No.1: The Economy" and non news stuff like that.
Lou Dobbs leaving may restore a bit of cred to CNN, but not by much.
And, here's Media Matters lying about Lou Dobbs. You can't trust Media Matters: they lie and they support illegal activity.
As for the link in my first comment, would you care to present a logical, fact-based rebuttal, or would you prefer to simply engage in another logical fallacy?
If you trust MMFA, let's look at the facts:
1. A HI spokeswoman did give that quote above. However, on the same page where the quote appears, that same spokeswoman also says: "I don't know that it's possible for us to even say beyond a doubt what the image on the site represents." Does that sound like an authentication to you?
2. In August of this year, the same Hawaii spokeswoman admitted that they never authenticated the picture on BHO's site.
If you still think MMFA was telling you the truth, then you're living in 1984.
Also, FYI, HI didn't say that he was born there until the end of July 2009; their 10/2008 statement was at best ambiguous.
All your stuff has been debunked, and I'd venture to say that most of us don't want to take the time to go through it all again.
You see, she was talking about what looked like the seal, not the certificate itself. I don't really want to take the time to debunk the rest of the birther non-sense, because it has already been debunked, and it's anyone else's job to do your critical thinking for you.
Let the variable "x" represent the amount of available evidence for Obama's birth. Visualize x taking on different values: it might be small, large, medium, whatever. For every conceivable possible value of x, you will demand x plus delta x. It's some sort of weird inside-out calculus.
As an intellectual exercise, try to prove George W Bush's birth. There's probably a lot of evidence available for it, but I doubt it's enough. You'll probably need just a little bit more.
MMfA gets ten more bux!
Peronal gripe, MMFA's web technology sucks.
Earliest reports are provided in the comedy channels:
BREAKING: U.S. Deports Lou Dobbs - CNN Host Had Been Living Illegally In Country Since 1961 - November 11, 2009 | Issue 45•46
Luis Miguel Salvador Aguila Dominguez, alias "Lou Dobbs," is escorted by DHS agents to the airport to be sent back to Mexico.
... so sorry, I forgot The Link.
Also-agree a pint with my4cents-I DO wish the video and audio worked on my iPod Touch...?
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/victim_in_fatal_car_accident
He still had quite a bit of time left on his contract but he's not getting paid for that time - that means he was allowed to resign instead of being fired. He left on a Wednesday - he was pushed. He left right after his Latino in America 'documentary' aired - he was pushed.
PLAFstudies.com
In other words..........Dobbs morphed into Glen Beck.
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NJ Law Enforcement Appear to Contradict Dobbs' Version of Gunfire Incident
On Monday on his radio show, Dobbs stated that "my wife has now been and I have been shot at." The alleged incident, which Dobbs had reported to the New Jersey State Police, took place three weeks prior to the October 26 broadcast of the Lou Dobbs Show, and Dobbs told his listeners that it had "followed weeks and weeks of threatening phone calls." Dobbs' discussion of the incident during his radio show also included mention of both longtime critic and FOX host Geraldo Rivera and the immigrant advocacy organizations calling for his removal from CNN including the National Council of La Raza, America's Voice and other "ethnocentric interest groups."
Without specifying who he suspects of making the alleged threats, he also said on his radio show that "They've threatened my wife, they've now fired a shot at my house while my wife was standing next to the car." Concluding with a call for "truth, justice and the American way," Dobbs cautioned "if anybody thinks that we're not engaged in the battle for the soul of this country right now, you're sorely mistaken." And during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday, Dobbs spoke again about the gunfire incident, linking it to "threatening phone calls tied to the positions I've taken on illegal immigration."
Interviews with the New Jersey State Police yielded a rather different assessment of the events described by Dobbs. In a phone interview conducted yesterday, Sgt. Stephen Jones, a NJ State Police spokesperson, chuckled out loud after he heard about Dobbs' account of the gunfire incident. Jones commented that he "wouldn't classify it [the gunfire incident] as very unusual." He also confirmed that there are hunters in the area, and stated that, "at this time of year hunter [shooting] complaints go up."
He observed that in the ongoing police investigation sparked by Dobbs' complaint, "nothing has been determined [regarding] what the intended target for this bullet was." Nor did Jones confirm whether the shots near Dobbs' house appeared to be an accident or intentional.
Another New Jersey State Police spokesperson, Sgt. Julian Castellanos, noted that "it's a wide open area and there are hunters in the area." Castellanos explained that the bullet had hit the house in vicinity of the attic; it "hit the vinyl siding and fell to the ground" without penetrating the vinyl, he said.
While Lou Dobbs' wife, Debi Lee Segura, was standing outside the house at the time of the gunfire, the bullet did not come close to her; it "struck at the apex of the house, near the roof," and thus considerably higher than a standing person, Jones observed.
Jones says he had not seen any mention of death threats in the reports about this incident. As Dobbs stated on his October 26 radio show, the CNN host had "decided not to report" "threatening phone calls" he says he has received.
The New Jersey police made no mention of the immigration reform groups Dobbs discussed in connection with the incident.
When asked to comment for this story, Dobbs disputed the New Jersey State Police's account, saying in an email that "there was no hunting season underway three weeks ago." However, an official at the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife Bureau of Law Enforcement confirmed in a phone interview that state hunting seasons were underway at the time of the gunfire incident three weeks ago.
Asked what he thought of Dobbs' version of the gunfire incident, Sgt. Jones stated, "I'm really going to leave Lou Dobbs' assessment to himself."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/isabel-macdonald/nj-law-enforcement-appear_b_339696.html
"What is truly disturbing is that we have become a country in which people are trying to control our political agendas, our social agendas, with political correctness. Trying to control thought, and of course speech, through political correctness. And I love the fact that you said something that is politically incorrect, but is absolutely factually correct. Mexico has become our enemy."
On the April 14, 2005, edition of his show, Dobbs speculated on the possibility of leprosy in America, brought over by illegal aliens: "The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans. Highly-contagious diseases are now crossing our borders decades after those diseases had been eradicated in this country." Dobbs proceeded to speak with CNN correspondent Christine Romans, who said: "It's interesting, because the woman in our piece told us that there were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years. Leprosy in this country." Although this factoid was found to be completely false, in the video above, Dobbs relentlessly defends it.
"[S]hould he produce his birth certificate -- the long form, the real deal? Should he be a little more forthcoming? ... What is the deal here? I'm starting to think we have a -- we have a document issue. Do you suppose he's un -- no, I won't even use the word undocumented. It wouldn't be right."
"And tea-bagging queen Rachel Maddow over at MSNBC, she wanted another shot so apparently she twisted, she tried to twist my words. She ignored my statements on the issue. In other words, she was not being intellectually honest. Imagine that. [...] She lied. I never said I'm a 'birther.' I'm not. I don't know how many times I've said, 'Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States. Why not release your birth certificate?' What is the big deal with saying that?"
"The limp-minded, lily-livered lefties, who by the way are also attacking me in concerted form, as I actually raise a question of this great president. I mean, think of this, I actually had the temerity to inquire as to where the birth certificate was and why the president of the United States would not turn over that birth certificate to the national media and end the noise."
"I thought we had gotten rid of this left-wing pest for a while. But I guess he is just resurgent. He is a blood-sucking leftist. You have got to put a stake through his heart to stop this guy. So you have to give him credit for resilience even if he is a lefty." (Howard Dean)
"I'm against Saint Patrick's Day. I'm against St. Columbus Day. Saint Joseph's Day. I'm against all of those things ... How about an Asian ethnic holiday? Is there one? You know, a Saint Jin Tao Wow?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/11/lou-dobbs-most-scandalous_n_354803.html
It'll be about 1 week before he has his own FoxNews show, where he fits in better anyway, and then will try to out-Beck Beck.
Whatever "filter" CNN had on Dobbs, which wasn't much, is now removed, no doubt.