BULLYING DOBBS
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Posted by Laura Flanders May 20th, 2007 |
I had an interesting run in with Lou Dobbs on May 8th. The clip has just become available at YouTube and on my site at www.lauraflanders.com as well as on Crooks and Liars. Dave Niewert at Orcinus transcribed the key part and kicked off an interesting conversation about Dobbs and macho bullying.
There was also some discussion of this today at the Book Salon on Firedoglake. The topic was Blue Grit, my new book, but scroll down and you’ll see quite a bit about machismo and cable news. Enjoy.
Here’s the transcript and the url for the post at Orcinus:
DOBBS: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you, Joe. Laura Flanders, let’s talk about Mitt Romney at …
LAURA FLANDERS, AIR AMERICA: I wanted to come back for a minute to the L.A. story, the last two stories. I think if Dr. King were alive today, he would be talking about what happened on L.A. on May 1st. When you talk about abuse, 240 rounds of rubber bullets and tear gas.
We’ve gone from legal punishment of illegal aliens to physical punishment, and it’s not helped by language like yours, Lou, talking about these [marchers] as being illegal aliens…
DOBBS: Laura, Laura, Laura, that’s ridiculous.
FLANDERS: They’re not aliens, they’re people. And the vast majority of people at these marches are utterly legal. They’re not aliens, Lou. They’re people, and you’re dehumanizing them with that language.
DOBBS: And you’re absurd to suggest such a thing.
FLANDERS: I don’t think so.
DOBBS: You’re being absolutely absurd.
FLANDERS: Let’s talk about people. You said they’re families …
DOBBS: You talk about people.
FLANDERS: … they’re peaceful families, so why not introduce them that way.
DOBBS: You want to talk about 250 million Americans in this country and their families, people who actually support laws in this country and you’re telling me illegal immigration should be condoned …
FLANDERS: No. I’m saying when you use language like illegal aliens as opposed to families, many of them legal …
DOBBS: What do you want to call them? Undocumented workers.
FLANDERS: You’re dehumanizing people which is making it easier to fire batons at them …
DOBBS: Laura …
FLANDERS: Lou, I like you …
DOBBS: You may like me, but you’re being extraordinarily short-sighted and obfuscatory.
FLANDERS: Dr. King would be saying let’s not call people aliens.
DOBBS: Dr. King, if you presume to speak for Dr. King, you are of greater intellect and spirit than me and I certainly would never presume to do so and I will leave that as your final comment because we have used up our time. Laura Flanders, thanks for being here …
MCINTYRE: I’d like to speak for Gandhi, Lou.
DOBBS: Joe Madison, Doug McIntyre, thank you. Thank you very much, Laura, for being here. Doug, Joe.
MADISON: Thank you.
May 22nd, 2007 18:03
That that man has an hour to spew his hatred of immigrants every night is beyond belief. Thank you for not backing down!
May 23rd, 2007 15:43
I have an insane urge to kick things when he comes on TV. Thanks for trying! I figure his ears are clogged with all the crap he spews…
May 26th, 2007 16:37
It is pretty obvious that Mr Dobbs use one of the most basic, rethoric to be loved by the american people. If you look at Mr. Dobbs, how he look at the camera by a side, his smirk, his crooked teeth, plus his pig’s side proportions, that will show you, how he pretend to be middle class. He is not, he is making money on that middle class he keeps talking about. The true is this, Lou Dobbs is making money on these issues.