Lou Dobbs, who's Couch Potato Conservative rants have been the occasional target of many a liberal blogger like myself, said yesterday that his Wednesday segment would be his last one. It was an abruptly delivered message without fanfare or joy, and all serious and unfortunate.
Lou Dobbs
Lou Dobbs made a massive mistake in leaving CNN.
From what I'm reading, Lou Dobbs departure was related to an event hosted by FAIR, or Federation for American Immigration Reform, on September 15th and 16th. FAIR, according to the Dallas Morning News' Lynn Woolley and confirmed here, has been branded a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Apparently Dobbs was to and did appear on the "radio row" of at this event, which caught the attention of Media Matters boss Eric Burns, who blasted Dobbs in a letter to CNN President John Klein you can see here.
Burns wrote:
“Mr. Dobbs represents an ongoing threat to CNN’s credibility as a serious news organization, in no small part because of his polemical coverage of immigration issues and his continued use of his CNN show to lend prominence to groups such as FAIR. The attention and legitimacy he gave to the “birther” movement — and CNN’s condoning of his actions — did real damage to that credibility. His participation in the upcoming FAIR rally would do further, serious damage. We urge you to finally acknowledge that Mr. Dobbs’ actions in this and other contexts are inconsistent with the reputation that CNN strives to maintain.”
Lou not only appeared at the FAIR event but continued to hammer away at the birther issue, which I have said seems to be the issue to heart by right-wing extremists and racists:
It's no secret that a number of powerful organizations were out to get Dobbs, and via websites like Drop Dobbs.com and Basta Dobbs.com crafted a well-orchestrated campaign to have him removed from CNN's prime time line up, even creating videos like the one below, that provide a visual list of Dobbs "history of hate":
Still, while Lou Dobbs was certainly annoying, he was starting to balance this rather nutty commentary with attention to some powerful issues like the declining middle class and the loss of jobs in America. Indeed, his most recent shows showed an adjustment of sorts in his message. So just as I was starting to think differently about him, Dobbs went and pulled the plug on himself.
What I can only conclude is that CNN's John Klein asked Dobbs to become more objective and Dobbs thought that was the last straw. Also, given that Dobbs show had taken a ratings dive, CNN saw Dobbs as expendable and they were right. No one's crying tears over his departure, including me.
I think,as much as I disliked Dobbs message, I wanted to believe there was a better person back there behind the screen and was willing to give him a chance if he just understood and appreciated and stopped how he was hurting the feelings of people of color.
But maybe he's not the person I thought he was.
Lou Dobbs will never see a platform like the one he had on CNN again unless he becomes more contemporary and stops acting like the angry old homeowner yelling "Get off my lawn!"
But I can't see Dobbs doing that. He blew it. He's gone.
