Guest Post by Morbo
I was glad to see the Carpetbagger’s piece this week about Lou Dobbs, CNN’s resident anti-illegal immigrant hysteria monger.
We should keep an eye on Dobbs for a couple of reasons. For starters, his appeal cuts across partisan lines. People aren’t sure where to put Dobbs politically. Last November, I was startled to read a profile of him in The New Yorker that contained this anecdote:
On Dobbs’s office wall is a framed drawing with a note from Kurt Vonnegut: “You, as the only big-time television personality capable of not only feeling but experiencing sorrow for American working stiffs, are our hero.”
Vonnegut was essentially a socialist — yet he admired Dobbs. The article went on to say, “The left, to which Vonnegut belongs, can embrace Dobbs for his opposition to big corporations and his support for a higher minimum wage, national health insurance, and abortion rights. The right likes him for his views on immigration, political correctness, gun control, the United Nations, and all efforts to limit American sovereignty.” (For more evidence of Dobbs’ crossover appeal, consider that the story was reprinted on Pat Buchanan’s website.)
Fair or not, some people view Dobbs as a progressive and pin him to our side. To be honest, some of what Dobbs has to say might actually be progressive. He sticks up for the middle class and blasts corporate welfare. It does have a certain appeal.
Yet I believe we must resist the siren call of Dobbs because his anti-illegal alien rants border on hysteria and are becoming increasingly reckless and embarrassing.
I’m not knocking Dobbs for speculating about the effect a tide of illegal immigration might be having on our economy. That discussion is legitimate. But Dobbs never stops there. He feels compelled to wander into the Zone of the Xenophobes. Illegal aliens have to be carriers of diseases. They have to be criminals. They have to be the rapists of children. This is not useful analysis; it is demagoguery.
Dobbs is mining xenophobic attacks that have popped up repeatedly throughout American history. In the post-Civil War period, Irish immigrants were accused of being violent, un-American and beholden to an alien religion. A few years later, immigrants from Eastern European nations were attacked for supposedly dragging down American culture and being criminals. Later still, Chinese immigrants were similarly tarred.
Increasingly, people are calling Dobbs on his reckless disregard for facts and shrill rhetoric. I expect him to have a good run, but he will implode sooner or later. When that happens, I’d rather Dobbs be far away from the progressive side of the aisle.