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Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said Wednesday that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately.

-New York Times, November 11, 2009

Here we go again.  How is it possible to print this statement with a straight face?  Lou Dobbs is not against immigration.  Lou Dobbs is right in line with the majority of Americans who are against illegal immigration.  Just so the New York Times might finally understand the distinction, I’ll point out, for the umpteenth time, where this apparently difficult issue seems to trip them up.

There is legal immigration.  There is illegal immigration.  One is legal and fine with everyone.  The other is illegal and fine with many on the left and certain Latino activist groups.  Those who are against illegal immigration are then painted as racist bastards who hate all immigrants.  While obviously untrue,  leftist media outlets such as The New York Times continue to lump those against the one with those against the other, misleading (lying to) their readers on the true nature of Mr. Dobbs position on the issue.

To wit, here is the Media Matters statement on Dobbs:

“For too long, CNN provided Lou Dobbs with its stamp of approval as he pursued a dangerous, one-sided and all too often false conspiracy tinged crusade against immigrants,” said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. “This is a happy day for all those who care about this nation of immigrants and believe in the power of media to elevate the political discourse.”

Really?  A “crusade against immigrants”?  No.  Against illegal immigration, yes.  Against legal immigrants?  No.  And notice how the phrasing suggests that Dobbs and those who are against illegal immigration don’t “…care about this nation of immigrants…”  Yes, that’s obviously it.  Anyone against illegal immigration just doesn’t care about people.  Nasty, closed-minded bigots!

The Huffington Post yesterday, under the headline Lou Dobbs’ Most Scandalous Moments, claimed Dobbs “is known for his anti-immigration rhetoric”.   Not his anti illegal-immigration rhetoric, but his “anti-immigration rhetoric”.  And then they offer this video as proof that he’s a racist:

Dobbs stops himself mid-phrase, realizing that if he says “…cotton pickin’ politicians” he’ll be accused of some racial slur.  But this is ironic because it’s against just such idiocy that he is continually railing.  And in the end he winds up on The Huffington Post, accused of being a racist for stopping himself from using the term “cotton pickin’”.

Is “cotton pickin’ now a racial slur because the slaves picked cotton?  I think of this term as being from the old western movies, as in “Now just wait a cottin’ pickin’ minute there Mister!”  Somehow I never thought of it as racist in the slightest.  In fact, I doubt anyone knows exactly what it means.  It’s just one of those phrases that somehow work their way into the language.

But there is no doubt that an attempt is being made to label Dobbs and those who are opposed to illegal immigration as racists by deliberately making no distinction between legal and illegal immigration, and by thin insinuations of racism based on things like almost-uttered phrases.

Unless we are to believe that these media outlets are simply making an honest error when they fail to use the word “illegal” when reporting on Dobbs’ views,  I can only conclude that this is being done on purpose to demonize those with whom the left disagrees.  It’s dishonest and leads directly to misunderstanding, distrust and hatred.

Which is exactly what they accuse Lou Dobbs of doing.

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