Dobbs Boosts Conspiracy-Monger as Immigration Expert
It鈥檚 no surprise when CNN鈥檚 Lou Dobbs bashes immigrants on his TV and radio programs. But recently the factually challenged talk show host has been veering even further toward the far-right fringe.
Last week, as Media Matters , Dobbs approvingly introduced conspiracy hound Jerome Corsi as a guest on his radio program. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be talking about, obviously, illegal immigration,鈥� Dobbs said on the Sept. 15 show. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be talking about border security. And 鈥� Jerome Corsi is a pretty good guy to talk to about all of that.鈥�
The 鈥減retty good guy鈥� is a in the so-called birther movement, which contends that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and therefore is ineligible to hold the nation鈥檚 highest office. In addition to proclaiming on talk shows that Obama鈥檚 birth certificate is phony, Corsi announced last fall that he was traveling to Hawaii to investigate the matter and predicted that 鈥渢here鈥檚 gonna be something damaging on the birth certificate.鈥� (Dobbs himself repeatedly questioned the authenticity of Obama鈥檚 birth certificate on air in July, falsely claiming that the document hadn鈥檛 been released.) Corsi also traveled to Kenya last October to investigate Obama. The trip didn鈥檛 work out too well for him. He was promptly detained by immigration authorities as he headed for a press conference after arriving in that country, then put on a plane back home.
Not only is Corsi pushing a discredited conspiracy theory, but he has made derogatory comments about Muslims and Catholics. He posted a series of bigoted comments on FreeRepublic.com in which he called Islam 鈥渁 worthless, dangerous Satanic religion鈥� and declared that 鈥渂oy buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is okay with the Pope as long as it isn鈥檛 reported by the liberal press.鈥� (He later apologized for the posts.) Last July, he on 鈥淭he Political Cesspool,鈥� an overtly racist, anti-Semitic radio show hosted by avowed white nationalist James Edwards. Other guests who have been sympathetically interviewed on Edwards鈥� show make up a virtual Who's Who of the radical right, including former Klan boss David Duke, Holocaust denier Mark Weber and neo-Nazi activist April Gaede.
Corsi is perhaps best known for his error-filled books, including Unfit for Command about 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry and his New York Times bestseller, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. The latter book 鈥渋ncludes lines that some might consider racially insensitive,鈥� according to Dobbs鈥� own CNN colleague Jessica Yellin. Among them is this gem about Obama鈥檚 stepfather: 鈥淥bama鈥檚 mother chose another Third World prospect for her second husband, a second man of color, to be her mate.鈥� Corsi also co-authored a whitewashed of the vigilante movement called Minutemen: Battle to Secure America鈥檚 Borders.
The Dobbs show on which Corsi appeared was broadcast from 鈥淗old Their Feet to the Fire,鈥� an annual anti-immigration talk show blitz held in Washington, D.C., by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which the 人兽性交 lists as a hate group, in part because of its ties to white supremacists. At the same event last year, FAIR presented Dobbs with its 鈥淲e The People鈥� media award. The recipient this year was none other than Glenn Beck, who said in July that Obama was 鈥渁 racist鈥� who has a 鈥渄eep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.鈥�
We can鈥檛 wait to see who next year鈥檚 winner will be.
