Thread: Lou Dobbs on Defensive at Journalist Conference

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky...n/14838424.htm

Lou Dobbs defends immigration views at journalists' conference
BY RUTH MORRIS
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - CNN's famously blunt anchor Lou Dobbs took on his ideological foes Friday, telling an audience of Hispanic journalists that the United States was the "candy-rock mountain of the world" being chipped away by immigration policies meant to protect corporate interests.

Dobbs locked horns with former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. It was an immigration debate punctuated by jokes and sharp jabs.

The forum headlined Friday's roster at the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in Fort Lauderdale. Acknowledging that many in the audience had a family stake in the immigration debate, moderator Ray Suarez, of the Public Broadcasting Service, opened by asking spectators to "keep emotions well mannered."

At one point, Dobbs accused the Mexican government of exporting its poor to the United States, with "derelict" efforts to improve living conditions for its own.

Castaneda said the flow was in fact robbing Mexico of its most daring and entrepreneurial citizens, not unwanted citizens. He said, historically, Mexicans had emigrated north not to mock border controls, but because the U.S. government wanted them to come.

"Do you think Mexicans like to pass across the border through the Sonora desert?" Castaneda asked, to applause. "Do you think they like to die in the desert?"

Dobbs has turned his evening business show on CNN into a platform against reforms debated in Congress that would legalize millions of immigrants. On one recent CNN appearance, he congratulated a commentator for airing a viewer's e-mail that called for laying landmines along the border. Dobbs supports massive deportations and cracking down on employers who hire workers without the proper authorization.

"How can we reform immigration if we cannot control immigration?" he said in his opening remarks. "And how can we control immigration if we can't control our borders and ports?"

Richardson held up his own state policies as a counterbalance to an enforcement-only approach espoused by House conservatives. New Mexico allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, he said, pushing down the number of hit-and-run accidents and auto insurance premiums. His state also gives in-state tuition to the children of immigrants here illegally.

"This is working," he said. "Let's bring these individuals out of the shadows."

Beckmann, whose Washington, D.C.-based organization lobbies for the world's hungry, took Dobbs to task over comments that illegal immigrants were driving down wages, particularly in the meatpacking industry.

"It's not just the Mexican government that has failed its poor people," he said. Low-wage earners were feeling squeezed because of expensive health care and poor education, he said, not just because immigrants are filling low-paid jobs.

Suarez closed the discussion by asking Dobbs about his "unusual" role at CNN, where he stomps across the line between journalist and fiercely opinionated talking head.

Dobbs was unapologetic.

"I happen to have an interest in independent, nonpartisan reality," he said. "You may not agree with it."

Suarez smiled and responded: "Whether I agree or not is completely immaterial."

Suarez calling Dobbs opinionated !! Dobbs must have felt like he was surrounded by impolite third graders.

Screw them! Sorry for the language! I am sick to death of the political correct crap! It just does not fly anymore! It is an attempt to use the morals of this country to undermine what we stand for! It is nothing more than a guilt trip. Do NOT buy into this! That is what the globalist are depending on!

Educate everyone you know what is happening and what is in store for this Country! They will not want to listen! Give them the tools! Give them the studies and statistics. Point out how these apply to what is happening! Help them connect the dots! It is not easy if they do not have an open mind! It will be a hard go if they have been totally dumbed down.

We CANNOT fail people! Everything that our Mothers, Fathers, Brothers and Sisters fought and died for can NOT be in vain!

Tonight, my grandson wanted to watch the Alamo, I watched it with him even though I had seen it bofore, the whole time watching it with him, I wanted to weep, I held in the tears, my grandson would have thought granpa had lost his mind if he saw me weeping, it was just so hard watching, knowing how it would end, I couldnt help thinking what would those men think of our country and Texas now if they could see what is happening on the border and elsewhere in our Nation! Are their lives to be in vain, their selfless sacrifice thrown away for corporate america to continue with their cheap labor, for political correctness run amuck, is this what our country now is reduced to? What are we going to do to turn our country around? What is it going to take to open the eyes of our leaders to make them see they are destroying our country?

Originally Posted by nittygritty

Tonight, my grandson wanted to watch the Alamo, I watched it with him even though I had seen it bofore, the whole time watching it with him, I wanted to weep, I held in the tears, my grandson would have thought granpa had lost his mind if he saw me weeping, it was just so hard watching, knowing how it would end, I couldnt help thinking what would those men think of our country and Texas now if they could see what is happening on the border and elsewhere in our Nation! Are their lives to be in vain, their selfless sacrifice thrown away for corporate america to continue with their cheap labor, for political correctness run amuck, is this what our country now is reduced to? What are we going to do to turn our country around? What is it going to take to open the eyes of our leaders to make them see they are destroying our country?

Nittygritty - this is in no way an affront to you. It is a generalizes statement.

Until the fear of discussing "you know what" subsides; until the concept of "political correctness" is eliminated from minds - there honestly will be no recourse for the people to follow.

The populace is paralyzed with fear. Remember: if a government fears the people, you have liberty. If the people fear government, you have tyranny and dictatorship.

There can be no other way. The people determine which they have.

Those who squelch what our forefathers told us is our obligation when things get corrupted is to squelch one's own right to freedom and liberty for themselves and their children (and all posterity).

This is why I state in no uncertain terms whatsoever - if one bargains with the devil, the devil always ensures the outcome is in his favor regardless. The devil is now living on the East Coast, and the majority of citizens are playing a game on his own home turf. Who do you think will have his favored outcome, pray tell??

The DEVIL is in the details. Literally.

Kurt

Lou Dobbs can hold his own in any discussion with any pro-amnesty group or persons. Their argument about what the illegals bring to this country does not hold any water. They are a drain on our economy no matter how you look at it. The majority of them are the poor and uneducated of their countries who will always have low wages and yet are most in need of free social services. There is no way you can justify their presence in this country as the figures are just not there. It will always be a loss. Thank god for Lou Dobbs as he is one of the very few that stands up for the rights of american citizens and how our tax dollars are spent.