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CNN News anchor Lou Dobbs is using his position to promote rightwing hate movements, including the clearly discredited "birther" movement which spreads destructive lies about President Barack Obama's citizenship. CNN president Jonathan Klein emailed staffers at "Lou Dobbs Tonight" informing them that the story had been thoroughly debunked. And yet Dobbs continues to highlight voices questioning the validity of the president's birth certificate on his program. Why is Klein accepting this behavior?
For years, Lou Dobbs has used his platform on CNN to spread myths and misinformation about Latinos and immigrants. Our friends at Presente.org, working hard to get Dobbs off the air, say he is the "most dangerous man for Latinos in America."
Just how dangerous is Dobbs? Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center says: "The rise in hate crimes against Latinos coincides almost exactly with the time Dobbs has been propagating false conspiracy theories about Latinos on the air. He's not urging people to go hurt and kill - but that is the effect of what he does."
Dobbs is helping fuel the rising tide of hatred and extremism against minorities in this country. CNN would fire an anchor that used network resources to suggest the moon landing was a hoax. Why is the fictional "birther" claim any different? And, in fact, it's more dangerous.
Don Hazen
Executive Editor, AlterNet.org
