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Truth, Fiction and Lou Dobbs [David Leonhardt/New York Times smear job]
New York Times ^ | 5/30/07 | David Leonhardt

Posted on 05/30/2007 10:02:24 AM PDT by lonewacko_dot_com

The whole controversy involving Lou Dobbs and leprosy started with a “60 Minutes” segment a few weeks ago...

...“Well, I can tell you this,” [Dobbs] replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.”

With that Orwellian chestnut, Mr. Dobbs escalated the leprosy dispute into a full-scale media brouhaha. The next night, back on his own program, the same CNN correspondent who had done the earlier report, Christine Romans, repeated the 7,000 number, and Mr. Dobbs added that, if anything, it was probably an underestimate. A week later, the Southern Poverty Law Center — the civil rights group that has long been critical of Mr. Dobbs — took out advertisements in The New York Times and USA Today demanding that CNN run a correction...

...Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives...

...He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans...

...There is no denying that this country’s immigration system is broken...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: aliens; davidleonhardt; dobbs; immigrantlist; immigration; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes
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What Leonhardt fails to note is that the SPLC isn't just a "civil rights group". They also have an indirect link to the Mexican government.

And, I don't think Dobbs personally attacks illegal aliens to the extent that Leonhardt implies. I don't watch his show regularly, but I think he focuses more on illegal immigration and its enablers (such as the NYT and CBS). And, of course, the "nativist" tag is just a smear. And, the "broken" system is a stock talking point.

Please everyone write Leonhardt@nytimes.com and public@nytimes.com with your thoughts.

1 posted on 05/30/2007 10:02:28 AM PDT by lonewacko_dot_com
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To: lonewacko_dot_com

They can’t exactly call Lou Dobbs a bigot. He’s married to a Hispanic woman.


2 posted on 05/30/2007 10:04:17 AM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: lonewacko_dot_com

From the beginning I have believed this is an attempt to take down Lou Dobbs like they did Imus (not that I’m defending Imus, but he was neatly taken care of). They want Lou Dobbs’ head because of his high profile opposition to illegal immigration. Anything the SPLC is involved in is suspect. They are a marxist front organization that receives federal funding.


3 posted on 05/30/2007 10:08:25 AM PDT by 3AngelaD (They've screwed up their own countries so bad they had to leave, now they're here screwing up ours.)
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To: lonewacko_dot_com
is this like the 47 million uninsured figure, which was a 42 million back in 2004, which was a 37 million figure in 2000...especially in light of the fact the number of illegals has been frozen at 12 million for umteen years...
you mean those kinds of figures with no credible evidence to back it up ?

p.s. the closer we get to 2008, the closer we get to 50 million uninsured. Keep an eye on the Dem. v. Rep Presidential debate for the 50 million figure to magically appear.

But let’s continue to hammer Dobbs about about 7,000 with/without leprosy

4 posted on 05/30/2007 10:15:56 AM PDT by stylin19a (It's easier to get up at 6:00 AM to play golf than at 10:00 to mow the yard)
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To: lonewacko_dot_com; kittymyrib; Wolfie; mysterio; ex-snook; jpsb; Theodore R.

Dobbs is excellent. His detractors probably tend to be corporate whores if one ‘traced the money’. In this case it’s a ‘short trace’ to the New York Times editors and board of directors.


5 posted on 05/30/2007 10:16:30 AM PDT by ProCivitas (Qui bono? Quo warranto? (Who benefits? By what authority?))
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To: 3AngelaD

>>From the beginning I have believed this is an attempt to take down Lou Dobbs like they did Imus<<

I’ll bet they would like to do that.

Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez shut down a popular TV station that was anti-Chavez, and thousands of people went to the the streets to protest the loss of the station.


6 posted on 05/30/2007 10:19:44 AM PDT by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Illegals: representation without taxation--Citizens: taxation without representation)
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To: stylin19a

Half of the uninsured are fresh off the boat. They didn’t have insurance in their home countries, so they come here and demand it.


7 posted on 05/30/2007 10:22:41 AM PDT by 3AngelaD (They've screwed up their own countries so bad they had to leave, now they're here screwing up ours.)
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To: lonewacko_dot_com

VOTE THIRD PARTY.....YOUR HOSED AND GET USED TO IT....VOTE THIRD PARTY....


8 posted on 05/30/2007 11:00:21 AM PDT by Sovernity (What are You doing other than talking and listening???)
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To: kittymyrib

“They can’t exactly call Lou Dobbs a bigot. He’s married to a Hispanic woman.”

He’s a problem that has to be contained. Talking about economics and wages ‘n stuff. Democrat high councils risk money trades with their corporate benefactors if the long time ruse they rep the interests of the “common man” are destroyed. MSM white liberals deployed to demonize against “nativists”, using a favored wonkish polisci term.

I prefer they uses the term “nationalists.” A Bush spokesman, when addressing Mexican truck drivers and wage depression that follows, called those concerned about Americans “nationalists”


9 posted on 05/30/2007 11:05:12 AM PDT by Shermy
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To: lonewacko_dot_com

Dobbs is right about the 7,000 number. There are that many people with the disease in the country, mostly brought in by Mexicans. Once you get the disease you keep it. So, while it’s true that 7,000 people didn’t contract the disease last year, 7,000 have contracted it since the 80’s and still have it now in this country. It can be effectively treated but is not completely curable. The main point of Dobb’s arguments is that disease is just another manifestation of the illegal alien problem, which he is carrying the flag rather effectively on CNN and I’m sure the Libs resent it and are trying to tear down his arguments.


10 posted on 05/30/2007 11:33:25 AM PDT by ArtyFO (I love to smoke cigars when I adjust artillery fire at the moonbat loonery.)
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To: lonewacko_dot_com

It’d also be great if those reading this could in return smack down those who are cheering the NYT’s “smackdown”.

In addition to leaving comments here, please visit the sites that are discussing this article and offer the other side of the issue.

You can find who’s discussing this at these two links:

http://www.memeorandum.com/
http://technorati.com/search/%22lou+dobbs%22?language=n&authority=a7

There’s a bit of a cycle here: the blogs feed off the MSM, and what happens in blogs filters up to the MSM. If you discredit several Dobbs-bashers on their blogs, at the very least they won’t retransmit smears of Dobbs, and it might even serve as a cautionary tale to the NYT.


11 posted on 05/30/2007 11:45:18 AM PDT by lonewacko_dot_com (http://lonewacko.com/blog)
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To: Sovernity

You’re spamming. Knock it off!


12 posted on 05/30/2007 12:08:21 PM PDT by Admin Moderator
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To: ArtyFO
o, while it’s true that 7,000 people didn’t contract the disease last year, 7,000 have contracted it since the 80’s and still have it now in this country.

That's the first time I've heard a reasonable explanation of Dobbs' number. What is the source of this figure?
13 posted on 05/30/2007 12:18:21 PM PDT by Mr. Know It All (Term Limits: Stop us before we vote again!)
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To: ArtyFO
"which he is carrying the flag rather effectively on CNN "

That is putting it mildly, CNN is going great work now that Lou Dobbs is leading the charge. I've noticed a serious tilt to the right on CNN in the last couple of months. They are starting to ask hard question of D's as well as R's, very refreshing, CNN is getting watchable.

14 posted on 05/30/2007 12:42:39 PM PDT by jpsb
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To: Admin Moderator

he can’t spell, either.


15 posted on 05/30/2007 2:01:08 PM PDT by BunkDetector
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To: lonewacko_dot_com
I think Dobbs is a patriot who has at least read the Constitution.

U.S. Constitution, Article 4 Section 4:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,

and shall protect each of them against Invasion;"


Invasion: \In*va"sion\, n. [L. invasio: cf. F. invasion. See Invade.] [1913 Webster]

1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.

16 posted on 05/30/2007 4:47:11 PM PDT by Travis McGee (--- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com ---)
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To: lonewacko_dot_com

I don’t like Dobbs, but this is a rather despicable hit piece.


17 posted on 05/30/2007 4:48:28 PM PDT by Clemenza (Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
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To: Mr. Know It All

The source of the 7,000 figure is the total number of cases in 30 years.
http://hrsa.gov/hansens/30yeartrend.htm


18 posted on 05/30/2007 5:30:14 PM PDT by ArtyFO (I love to smoke cigars when I adjust artillery fire at the moonbat loonery.)
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To: ArtyFO
"The source of the 7,000 figure is the total number of cases in 30 years"

Oh, wait, the problem isn't the 7000 figure, it's that Dobbs said, three years — not thirty. This could have been chalked up to "mis-speaking," but he's repeated the statistic several times and when confronted, he (originally) refused to back down from it.

The second problem is that this he is claiming that the rise in leprosy is due to illegal aliens, and there is nothing in that data whatsoever to suggest that. In fact, the only demographic information in the data you linked to shows that the largest spike in leprosy cases came between 1978-1988 when the U.S. was receiving an influx of legal immigrants from Indo-China.

Basically, Dobbs was claiming that in the last three years an influx of illegal aliens has created a gigantic spike in leprosy cases and neither of these assertions have any factual basis. I think that's why people are annoyed with him.
19 posted on 05/31/2007 4:23:23 AM PDT by Mr. Know It All (Term Limits: Stop us before we vote again!)
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To: Mr. Know It All

I think that with 20 million Mexicans who have recently come to this country illegally who hide in the shadows there is a lot we don’t know about the diseases that they are bringing into this country. In the old days they would go through Ellis Island for a medical exam before being admitted. Today they don’t bother to see any officials on their way to LA or wherever. When they get sick enough they end up on the dole of some unsuspecting county hospital.


20 posted on 05/31/2007 6:01:58 AM PDT by ArtyFO (I love to smoke cigars when I adjust artillery fire at the moonbat loonery.)
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