Last summer, then-CNN host Lou Dobbs embraced the Birthers, an event that may have hastened his eventual departure from the network. Even now, he's having trouble letting go.
In an interview with Esquire, Dobbs commented:
I ask a question, and I am attacked from the extreme Left as a quote-unquote birther. I mean, what the hell is that? When you can create a controversy by asking what seems to me still a perfectly commonsense question? It has been used in the extreme Left to create a toxicity that is just unbelievable.
That's a pretty ballsy thing for Dobbs to say. It's the "extreme Left" that's created the "toxicity" on this, and not the people asserting that President Obama is a liar and a fraud -- even a possible traitor -- based on no evidence save the color of his skin and the foreignness of his last name? OK, Lou.
(Hat-tip to GOP 12.)
When I got to the office yesterday, there was a strange letter waiting for me on my desk. It came from the Dilenschneider Group, a firm that has been representing former CNN host Lou Dobbs, and it included some cryptic language about his future plans.
The letter appears to be a form sent to political journalists who've written about Dobbs recently -- there was a similar envelope addressed to our Joe Conason also on my desk. That's somewhat unusual to begin with, and the content of the letter wasn't any less unusual. It didn't give much hint as to what, exactly, Dobbs' future plans are, but it did hint that he has some, and it appeared to suggest he might be doing some further walking back of his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
An excerpt:
You were very thoughtful to report on Lou Dobbs in 2009, and it appears that he will soon have things to say about what options he will pursue.
Lou has always been supportive of high levels of legal immigration so long as the federal government is enacting public policy that includes programs to assimilate immigrants into American society. Lou is working hard on solutions that will help illegal immigrants in the country meet necessary conditions for a path to legalization. He is calling on the best minds in America to work together to constructively resolve the troubling challenges represented by as many as 20 million people in this country illegally.
Expect him to reach out into the Hispanic community, as well as to other parts of society, to find answers and solutions to not only illegal immigration but also larger economic and public policy issues ...
Be sure that we will be mindful of your interest in Lou as soon as there is something to report.
Lou Dobbs may hope that he can get Latinos to forget about the past few years of his CNN show, and the myths about Latino immigrants in which he trafficked. (Doing so, after all, would probably be a necessary step if he does want to mount even a semi-serious run for office.) But the people who liked what he was saying back then aren't going to forget -- in fact, they're pretty upset about Dobbs trying to rewrite history.
Dobbs has even managed to turn off the man who was once his biggest supporter. William Gheen, the president of Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC), has devoted quite a bit of energy in recent years to trying to persuade Dobbs to run for president; he even set up a Web site about the cause. But in a press release sent out Thursday morning, ALIPAC announced that it's "withdrawing support" for the former CNN anchor.
From the release:
Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is withdrawing support for Lou Dobbs after years, including the suspension of websites calling on Dobbs to run for President due to the perceived change in Mr. Dobbs's stances on immigration issues.
"While Mr. Dobbs claims his positions have not changed, however, that is not the perception of many of our mutual supporters," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "His recent comments on Telemundo and his national radio show supporting some kind of path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is inconsistent with positions of ALIPAC and the views of most American citizens." ....
ALIPAC is suspending the operations of two Dobbs fan websites. The Facebook "Draft Lou Dobbs for President or US Senate" and the fan site www.LouDobbsForPresident.org will suspend operations and have a notice of ALIPAC's discontinued support placed upon them. The site www.LouDobbsForPresident.org was launched back in early 2008 and has generated pledges of over $660,000 in contributions if Lou Dobbs were to run for office.
"We've received so many demands from prior Dobbs supporters to remove their pledges of support that we have to suspend all operations on the Dobbs fan sites," said Gheen. "Lou Dobbs has deeply offended his base of supporters and ALIPAC is going to remain loyal to those Americans who support our existing immigration laws instead of Amnesty disguised as reform."
CNBC isn't denying that it's talked with former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs recently. But it's pretty clear those talks aren't going anywhere.
After the New York Times reported on the meetings, a CNBC spokesman told the Times' Brian Stelter, "We are not in talks or negotiating with Lou Dobbs. He is not going to work for CNBC."
Granted, that could mean Dobbs was the one who rejected CNBC, and not the other way around. As Stelter notes, though, Dobbs is "said to be keen on having a new television platform," and there doesn't seem to be a bidding war for his services.
Of course, there's always the White House.
Update: Dobbs has denied he talked with anyone from CNBC.
Retirement can be fun, but somebody like Lou Dobbs needs something to do -- he's got to pass the time until he's swept into the White House on the shoulders of every right-thinking American, after all. So far, though, there's been no hint that another network had anything to do with Dobbs' abrupt exit from his job as an anchor at CNN. There were rumors that he was headed to Fox News or its sister Fox Business Network, of course, but those haven't come to fruition.
However, Dobbs has another option. According to the New York Times' Brian Stelter, who broke the news of the host's departure from CNN, Dobbs has been talking with business network CNBC, possibly about an anchor slot or perhaps just a gig as a commentator.
The move would make some sense. Dobbs' specialty was always business, and though he'd probably have to drop his nativist shtick in order to make it work, CNBC would be a good fit for him. Plus, a job there would give him at least some audience as he decides whether to try his hand at politics.
Dobbs better watch out, though. His early attempts to make the Latino community forget his long history of misleading and often offensive attacks on immigrants have been angering the nativists who make up his base.
Come on, people: Did you really think Lou Dobbs was going to run for president immediately after quitting CNN? I mean, he'd have to have a super-inflated ego and be immensely self-righteous to do that, right? So don't worry: Dobbs might just run for the Senate -- then he'll run for president.
At least, that's the latest from the New York Times, which has been hearing talk that Dobbs is considering a challenge to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. A spokesman for the former anchor told the paper, referencing the possibility of a presidential run, "I think Lou is realistically saying, that’s a long way off, but if he did run for office there’d have to be an intermediary step, such as the Menendez seat."
For the record, the idea that Dobbs could mount a successful campaign for Senate is almost as far-fetched as the idea that he could become president. (Then again, stranger things have happened.) But the real problem with his making a run for the Senate, if he does indeed harbor White House dreams, is that Menendez isn't up for re-election until 2012. That means Dobbs couldn't run for president until 2016 at the earliest. By then he'd be 71.
Thanks, CNN, for making Lou Dobbs
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