Revolutions tend to occur in waves, triggered by the aftermath of wars, like the world wars, or by revolutions in leading countries, like the French Revolution and the revolutions of 1848. In the last generation, there have been four regional waves of revolution. With the end of the Cold War, communist regimes were swept from power from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, surviving only in a few countries including China, North Korea and Cuba. Unable to justify themselves with the pretense of fighting communism, military dictatorships were swept away in Latin America. Then the Arab Spring triggered a wave of populist if not necessarily democratic revolutions against autocracies in North Africa and the Middle East.

Are we seeing a new wave of revolutionary politics in the heartland of the industrial West? Although governments are not being violently overthrown in Europe, political systems are being destabilized by the rise of anti-system movements opposed to the major establishment parties. In Greece, the leftist Syriza party and the far-right Golden Dawn have sapped power from the political center. The most recent Italian election was dominated by anti-system candidates, including Silvio Berlusconi and the comedian Beppe Grillo.

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"Dobbs will develop and host a new daily program premiering in the first quarter of 2011," Fox says.

Dobbs was let go from CNN because his populist independent shtick was based mostly on relentless fear-mongering about immigration, complete with baldly racist lies about "illegals" and the endorsement of conspiracy theories involving brown people seizing control of the American Southwest. It was a gross, indefensible performance, and instead of defending it Dobbs usually just pretends he's always been an ally of the poor, put-upon immigrant.

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The network said Wednesday that Dobbs will host a new daily program that will start in the first three months of next year. He'll also provide analysis and commentary on business news throughout the network's day.

Dobbs hosted a popular business-oriented program on CNN for many years that gradually changed into an opinionated general news program.

His campaign against illegal immigration made him a focus of political controversy. He tried to tone things down at CNN's request but quit a year ago, concluding that it was no longer a good fit.

Since then, he has hosted a weekday syndicated radio show and has contemplated running for political office.

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From "Lou Dobbs, American Hypocrite."

Based on a yearlong investigation, including interviews with five immigrants who worked without papers on his properties, The Nation and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute have found that Dobbs has relied for years on undocumented labor for the upkeep of his multimillion-dollar estates and the horses he keeps for his 22-year-old daughter, Hillary, a champion show jumper.

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(The last Tea Party convention, by the way, was in February. How many conventions are they going to have in one year?)

After a couple of years of boosting ratings for his formerly bland CNN show by spreading foul lies about invading hordes of illegal Mexican immigrants stealing jobs and spreading leprosy, Dobbs was finally fired by the original cable news network because he eventually  started being a Birther, for fun. (He was also fired because hosts aren't allowed to express any opinions, reasonable or batshit, on CNN.)

Since then, he's been doing a cookie-cutter right-wing talk radio show, and he's probably written another two or thee books with titles like "AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE" or AMERICA'S RAGIN' REAL AMERICAN INDEPENDENT" or "AMERICA: THE LOU DOBBS SOLUTION" or something.

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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.)

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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:

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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."

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On Monday, Dobbs was talking about just that; in two separate radio appearances, he said he's at least considering making a run for the presidency in 2012. When one interviewer asked Dobbs about the "crazy" idea of him entering the campaign, Dobbs replied, "What's so crazy about that?" He added, "I'll tell you this much: it's one of the discussions that we're having."

During an interview with former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn. -- who himself made an abortive try for the Republican nomination in 2008 -- Dobbs responded, "yes," when Thompson asked, "Have you given any thought to perhaps running for president?"

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OK, that last one is a joke. But O'Reilly really did ask Dobbs this: "Final question: Barack Obama -- is he the devil?"

"He's not the devil," Dobbs answered, presumably to the relieved sighs of millions of viewers. "But he is certainly a man who is right now not making it easy to understand why he's making the public policy choices that he is."

O'Reilly followed up by paraphrasing Dobbs as saying, "You don't think he's the devil, but you think he's mismanaging the country." Dobbs agreed.

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The next day, in his first radio broadcast after resigning from the news network, he appealed directly to independent voters, whom he said "dominate the registration rolls in this country for the first time," and went on to criticize President Obama as a leader who "focuses on the partisan and racial" in a "21st century post-partisan, post-racial society."

Having observed the former CNN anchor for many years, including a number of recent appearances on his nightly broadcast, I suspect that he may well nurture ambitions to run for president, as reported in the trade press -- and could mount a formidable campaign drawing upon the same resentful remnant that Republicans hope to mobilize in 2012. Except that he probably won't be running as a Republican.

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So one Spanish-language newspaper based in New York City, El Diario La Prensa, took the opportunity to celebrate a little. As you can see in the image that accompanies this post, the paper's cover on Thursday was a photo of Dobbs with a strikeout superimposed. The accompanying headline borrowed a bit of Spanglish that Arnold Schwarzenegger made famous: "Hasta la vista, baby."

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Dobbs announced his resignation, which is effective immediately, on his show Wednesday night. There's been some speculation recently that he could be heading to Fox News or its sister Fox Business Network, but that doesn't appear to be the case now.

“Some leaders in the media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem-solving,” Dobbs said. “I’m considering a number of options and directions,”

A CNN spokeswoman has not yet responded to an e-mail from Salon seeking comment.

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From the story:

The news that the NBA’s percentage of Mexican-born players plunged from 2% in 2008 to 1% in 2009, was hailed by CNN television personality Lou Dobbs as proof of the efficacy of tall border fences.

“Mexicans can’t jump,” said Dobbs, a longtime anti-immigration activist, who attributed the new, higher fences along the Mexican border for the reduction of Mexican players in the NBA.

I'll leave a few jokes to the parody itself -- just know that President Obama makes an appearance, too, and it's pretty great. But I did have to share my favorite part of the story, which I like because, based on my experience, it rings very true:

An emotional CNN spokesman, when Dobbs' statement was read to him by a reporter, said, "Oh no, not again," before abruptly ending the telephone interview. CNN is currently last in cable network news ratings.

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The new progressive coalition follows the lines of the "emerging Democratic majority" that Ruy Teixeira and John Judis predicted in their 2002 book of that name: minority, professional, and younger voters, with help from a large gender gap. This is a coalition that can win without a majority of white working-class voters, whether union members or not ... But it's also dangerous. A political coalition that doesn't need Joe the – fake – Plumber (John McCain's mascot of the white working class) can also afford to ignore the real Joes, Josés, and Josephines of the working middle class, the ones who earn $16 an hour, not $250,000 a year. It can afford to be unconcerned about the collapse of manufacturing jobs, casually reassuring us that more education is the answer to all economic woes. A party of professionals and young voters risks becoming a party that overlooks the core economic crisis – not the recession but the 40-year crisis – that is wiping out the American dream for millions of workers and communities that are never going to become meccas for foodies and Web designers.

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I've contacted a CNN spokeswoman for comment, and will update this post if and when I hear back, but in the meantime the report looks trustworthy, as TVNewser has what it says is the actual e-mail from Klein:

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