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."

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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

Submitter: Joan Brunwasser

Submitters Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Submitters Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.