Lou, We Hardly Knew You!

November 11, 2009: It's official. Lou Dobbs is out at CNN, effective immediately. On his show Lou Dobbs Tonight he says: "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." He concludes that after almost 30 years he will leave the network "to pursue new opportunities," but promises to continue to lead the "national conversation" on issues like immigration, the economy, climate change, and America's wars. If history is any indication, that conversation will be riddled with all kinds of inflammatory remarks...

October 26: On his radio show, Dobbs says a gunshot was fired at his home in New Jersey on Oct. 5 -- and that he believes the incident is a retaliation by "ethnocentric interest groups" for his views on immigration. "They want to destroy me, so they're taking their best shot at it," says Dobbs. Later, New Jersey State Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones tells ThinkProgress that Dobbs' home is in a "very rural" area and "with hunting season starting up," such incidents are "not at all uncommon."

October 20: A caller complains that after an outcry from immigration groups, an "Illegal Alien" Halloween costume is pulled from stores. Dobbs responds by saying: "I don't understand what would be so offensive," before figuring out exactly what it is that's so offensive: "I'll tell you what's offensive, because it reminds people that there is such a thing as an illegal immigrant. And this is not to be tolerated by the pro-amnesty, unconditional amnesty groups." In the end, though, it's all about Lou: "They try to build this case that I'm some sort of racist, even though they've never come up with a single ethnic slur, they've never come up with an instance of racism whatsoever in anything I've ever said and done."

October 15: They're all out to get him! Dobbs interviews Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who details his plan to tax and integrate undocumented immigrants into society because the U.S. "lacks the political will" to deport them all. In response, Dobbs says "left-wing ethnocentric interest groups are calling for my firing from CNN because I'm quote unquote a racist. I could obtain purity in a moment if I would just simply embrace open borders and sponsor illegal immigration."

September 28: Here's a head-scratcher -- Dobbs crams "illegal immigrants," ACORN, the multi-lingual census, and, of course, the liberal media and "blogosphere" into a single segment. Every right-wing meme in one convenient segment!

August 13: On his radio show a few days earlier, Dobbs had said of Howard Dean "you gotta put a stake through his heart to stop this guy." A few days later on Lou Dobbs Tonight, former DNC Director of Communications Karen Finney calls Dobbs out for using hate speech and calling Dean a "bloodsucking liberal." Dobbs' defense? "I called him a "blood-sucking leftist. I just want you to be accurate."

August 10: Dobbs had promised earlier to "absolutely forbid the use of the expression on my broadcast and in my writing, of 'illegal alien.'" That didn't last long. On his August 10 show, he criticizes "the nonsense you hear from the so-called establishment" about needing "illegal aliens in this country" to pay social security.

July 24: Before Dobbs' show airs, CNN President Jon Klein emails Lou Dobbs Tonight staffers telling them the Obama birth certificate story is "dead." Klein continues: "Since the show's mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonite." What did Dobbs actually say on his show? "Obama promised transparency and openness in his administration, yet he's chosen not to release his original birth certificate or a copy of it. And a number of Americans are asking 'Why not?' The left-wing media has attacked me because I asked the question."

March 31: Dobbs on the bailouts: "We are moving toward a combination of corporate power and political power that is so disturbingly similar to what we witnessed in Italy in the 1930s that it's not funny."

March 28, 2008: On The Situation Room, Dobbs responds to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comment that America has a "birth defect" on the race issue. Dobbs almost says that he's sick of "cotton-picking" black leaders telling him how to talk about race, but seems to catch himself just in time.



Credit to Media Matters for having already undertaken some of the research on Dobbs.