Lou Dobbs should be careful throwing around the "N" word--Nazi.
Josh Gerstein, writing in The New York Sun:
CNN's Lou Dobbs has accused immigrant rights groups and perhaps Mayor Newsom of San Francisco of embracing propaganda tactics reminiscent of the Third Reich.
"They might as well work for Herman Goering, I mean, they're running so much propaganda, trying to confuse the debate, the national dialogue, by talking about immigrants rather than illegal aliens and legal immigrants. It's mindless beyond belief," Mr. Dobbs declared on his program Monday night. The spark for the CNN's anchor's ire was Mr. Newsom's speech over the weekend reaffirming his city's policy of not assisting federal officials with immigration-related raids.
So there you have it: Dobbs getting more and more reckless and demagogic in what he says.
Here's more from Gerstein:
At a time when offense-takers are still waving Imus's scalp, it doesn't seem wise to be throwing around Nazi allusions willy-nilly. It appears Mr. Dobbs was referring to both Mr. Newsom and pro-immigrant groups, but you can judge for yourself here.
I suspect Mr. Dobbs may have intended to refer to the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, rather than Goering, who was more of a military type. In any event, the aspersions cast are equally nasty.
The Cable Gamer thinks that the Nazis were probably the worst group ever, and the Holocaust, maybe the worst thing that ever happened. So it cheapens history, and memory, to have someone such as Dobbs throwing around lazy hazy terms to describe contemporary political enemies.
So c'mon Lou: Get a grip.
Dobbs should be responsible. But if he can't be--and he is obviously, literally, full of himself--then CNN execs ought to rein him in.
Are you listening, Jon Klein?
