Dobbs Joins 'Birthers,' But CNN Pushes Back
CNN鈥檚 Lou Dobbs rarely lets the facts get in the way of , so perhaps it shouldn鈥檛 surprise us that he has also jumped on the 鈥渂irther鈥� bandwagon by suggesting that President Barack Obama has yet to prove he鈥檚 a U.S. citizen.
鈥淭he first thing is to determine whether or not his birth certificate is valid,鈥� Dobbs said on the July 15 edition of his radio show. 鈥淎nd what I don鈥檛 understand is why that has not been released and given over to the public record.鈥�
That wasn鈥檛 a throwaway comment, either. As Media Matters for America documented, Dobbs repeatedly questioned the authenticity of Obama鈥檚 birth certificate last week on both his radio show and television program. In doing so, he aligned himself with a far-right fringe movement that claims Obama hasn鈥檛 shown he is eligible to serve as president. The so-called birthers have filed numerous (thus far unsuccessful) lawsuits questioning Obama鈥檚 citizenship.
Problem is, Dobbs鈥� own colleagues at CNN have refused to give credence to the suggestion that Obama wasn鈥檛 born in Hawaii.
CNN.com called it a 鈥渄ebunked theory鈥� in a June 11 , and CNN contributor Dana Milbank during the Dec. 8 edition of CNN鈥檚 Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull, according to Media Matters. And, on Dec. 5, CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called the questions about Obama鈥檚 eligibility 鈥渢otal bull.鈥�
They鈥檙e not the only ones. On July 17, CNN鈥檚 Kitty Pilgrim thoroughly knocked down the birth certificate myth in an appropriate setting 鈥� while sitting in as guest host of Lou Dobbs Tonight. Questions about Obama鈥檚 place of birth 鈥渉ave been asked and answered many times,鈥� Pilgrim said in her She continued: 鈥淐NN has fully investigated the issue, found no basis for the questions about the president鈥檚 birthplace, but the controversy lives on, especially on the Internet.鈥� She went on to recite a litany of evidence that Obama was born in Hawaii, including an investigation by the nonpartisan Annenberg Political Fact Check, a statement by Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, (a Republican and a McCain supporter) and a letter from the director of the Hawaii Department of Health.
Maybe this time Dobbs needs to heed the words he once uttered during a 60 Minutes interview: 鈥淚f we reported it, it鈥檚 a fact.鈥�
