June 9, 2007

Lou Dobbs: White Supremacist Links

Perhaps Lou Dobbs is a dupe, or just sloppy, but his drum beat against undocumented workers exposes a number of white supremacist links.

Madeleine Cosman, Darling of White Nationalist Anti-immigrant Leaders

One of Lou Dobbs' correspondents reported that there had been about 900 case of leprosy for 40 years, but 7,000 cases of leprosy in the US over the previous three years. The story implied that the increase in this disease was caused by undocumented immigrants. Eventually, Lou Dobbs was confronted by Lesley Stahl of 60-Minutes. His response to Stahl was, "If we reported it, it's true."

Eventually, Dobbs had to issue a correction. Lou Dobbs' producer, Christine Romans, eventually said the Lou Dobbs Tonight program got the figures from Madeleine Cosman, published in The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, a discredited radical right-wing pseudo journal that includes things like friendly book reviews of How To Talk To A Liberal (If You Must) by Ann Coulter, and Minutemen – The Battle To Secure America’s Border by Jim Gilchrist and Jerome Corsi.

Madeleline Cosman appears to have been a darling of white supremacists opposed to immigration. The following two clips give an idea of the source used by Lou Dobbs:


Madeline Cosman: Lou Dobbs' Unreliable Source on Leprosy Statistics


Madeline Cosman: Lou Dobbs' Source Unreliable Source on Leprosy Statistics

Mexican Plans to Recapture the Southwest

When Lou Dobbs reported that the Mexicans had a plan to recapture the Southwest, he used a graphic from the web site of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), the largest white supremacist group in the US (The CCC is considered the successor of the White Citizens Councils, both headed by St. Louis-based Gordon Lee Baum. Basically, Dobbs served as a mouth piece for the CCC in telling this nutty story. Just another "regrettable" mistake or a patter?

Lou Dobbs Tonight: Platform for Joe McCutchen

Joe McCutchen is a member of the CCC and headlined their meeting in 2006. McCutchen, head of Protect Arkansas Now, appeals to skin heads and neo-nazis, as well as the hardcore, boarder patrol anti-immigrant movement. Just Google the guy, and you'll find gems like this (search for McCutchin) and you'll have to wonder why Dobbs would give him a platform.

There are More

I could go on, but the work has already been done for my by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC, 2005). SPLC tracks hate-groups among other things.

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