Beefin' With Lou Dobbs

It was maybe the second time in 15 years as a journalist that I had to do it.

But when a telephone interview with Lou Dobbs yesterday deteriorated to the point where he questioned my intelligence and my journalism abilities three times, I had to respectfully end the conversation.

It was too bad, because I was hoping to explore the phenomenon of his recent success at CNN, using his town hall meeting convened in Tampa tonight as a handy news peg.  According to a most excellent Dobbs profile by Ken Auletta in the New Yorker, his show's audience has grown by 23 percent in the past year.

It seems our problems during the interview surfaced after a question I asked about that profile -- specifically, how he felt about Auletta drawing a marked contrast between his high-flying lifestyle (lunch at the Four Seasons, friendships with powerful moguls such as former Miramax head Harvey Weinstein) and his current aggressive advocacy of middle class issues.

Insisting he loved the story and it implications were obvious, Dobbs gave me a hard time for bringing up what he felt was such an obvious question. It was an odd situation -- critics' rap on Dobbs is that he presents complex issues such as illegal immigration in black and white terms, treating those who disagree with him as either idiots or charlatans.

Now, I was on the receiving end of that intimidating process. And it was not fun.

Given the jacked-up state of world events, I don't blame viewers for gravitating to an authortarian figure who offers to take away the uncertainty surrounding some of the toughest issues of our time.

So what if the U.S. has spent decades building entire industries on the back of illegal immigration? Fine employers, build a wall, encourage vigilantees to help patrol the border and treat anybody who helps illegal immigrants like a criminal.

Who cares if loads of America's ports, gas stations and skyscrapers are owned by foriegn companies? If an Arab-owned corporation wants to buy  the company which owns several American ports, the government needs to stop them. Now.

Doesn't matter that state and local governments provide the funding for America's schools and local communities elect boards to control them, under the reasoning that local experts would know what their kids need best. Schools are failing across the country, so it's time to enact a national education standard that every school distrct must follow -- whether they're in Des Moines, Iowa or Miami, Fla.

These are just a few positions Dobbs has advocated on his show, where he is allowed to express a level of opinion most news anchors on CNN are not. It's no secret that such steady advocacy is the key to keeping audiences engaged when news is slow; no matter how good your news operation is, there are always times when the events at hand are not nearly as compelling as the wacky theories some people have constructed to explain it all.

Critics may grouse that Dobbs expects the reporters on his show to echo his view of the issues the advocates -- to a degree that even Fox News rarely approaches. But second-place CNN can't risk conflict with one of the few guys whose audience is growing in cable news by asking him to make the news reports on his show more even-handed.

Brian Stelter of the most-excellent TV news Web site TVNewser noted that Dobbs' show drew about 1-million viewers Monday -- more than CNN star Larry King and timeslot rival, Fox News Channel's Brit Hume. Given that Hume's ratings usually dominate the time period, that was news, indeed.

No wonder CNN is trying hard to spread him around -- including him among the four anchors who handled their election coverage in November, continuing the town hall meetings which are often more highly rated than his regular program (according to Stelter), and including him as a guest on a CNN Newsroom report Saturday on people who have been squeezed out of the middle class called A Paycheck Away.

Given that King is getting older and has had health problems in the past, it's not a stretch to imagine Dobbs well-positioned to take his place whenever he decides to step down.

It's an amazing story of survival for a guy who started when CNN began as a business anchor/reporter and experienced a 9/11-inspired transformation into an advocate -- riding the trend of business boosterism when it was high and now surfing the wave of cable news opinionating. 

"He created a brand for himself early (on CNN)...I don't think others did that, said Stelter. "Now, it's kind of accepted that people do that. He's reinvented himself."

What a cool story. Wish Dobbs had kept his cool long enough for me to explore it with him. 

Why I Still Have Hope for the Golden Globes

Their decisions about who actually gets awards can still be baffling and irritating -- William Shatner as best supporting TV comedy actor in 2005, over Will & Grace's Sean Hayes and entourage's Jeremy Piven?

But this year's passel of Globe TV nominees, announced this morning, also shows how tuned in they can be to new gems -- WAAY before Emmy ever gets a clue.

Michael C. Hall from Showtime's Dexter, NBC's super-powered hit Heroes, ABC's infectious hit Ugly Betty, and Alec Baldwin's amazingly vapid corporate boss in NBC's 30 Rock are all major, spot-on nominations from shows which hit the small screen just a few months ago.

Three nominees for acting in a miniseries came from HBO's Tsunami miniseries -- WHICH HASN'T EVEN CONCLUDED PLAYING ON THE CHANNEL.

Last year's Emmy awards featured nominations for some series which had already been cancelled. Talk about contrast.

Worried about diversity? Then note that the Globes have nominated Sleeper Cell standout Michael Ealy; Thief star Andre Braugher; the amazing British couple from Tsunami, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sophie Okonedo; Ugly Betty's America Ferrera and Masi Oka from Heroes. (other than Ferrera, no people of color were nominated in major acting categories, however.)

The Globes have their pets as well -- Weed's Mary Louise Parker, Monk's Tony Shaloub, the Office's Steve Carell. And I'm stil frakked off that the Sci Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica remake -- which I still maintain is one of the best series on TV right now -- was not recognized.

But the fact is, if you want a list of the coolest, most creative shows on TV, you need go no further than this year's Golden Globes list. And it's been a long time since you could say that about the Emmys. 

Comments

[Eric Deggans]

Well, Blather, I can't control what supporters of illegal immigration do with my posts. I think I made it clear in my comments that I don't think turning a blind eye to the current situation is warranted.

But the biggest problem with illegal immigration is that the practice is so widespread now, that wholesale prosecution of companies which use illegal immigrants and denying them social services outright would only create more problems.

Wal-Mart uses illegal immigrants to clear their stories overnight; thousands of hotels use them as maid staff and groundskeepers; fastfood restaurants throughout California and other states close to Mexico depend on illegal immigrants as cheap labor; farms throughout the country depend on often-illegal migrants to pick their crops. The list goes on. And those who deny them social services might not want to create a desperate underclass in america, but that's exactly what will happen.

Any solution has to forcibly wean american businesses from the cheap labor illegal immigrants provide, while pushing those who are here toward earning citizenship without turning them into a seriously deprived underclass.

Anyway...regarding The Wire. If you look at my Best Of 2006 TV column slated to run next week, you will see the Wire perched prominently there. I did forget to mention it in my Golden Globes bit, which was written rather quickly after I saw the nominees. Hope you still take me seriously...

[NoMoreBlatherDotCom]

I only watch Dobbs or scan his transcripts occasionally. That said, the debate over illegal immigration is not like that over raising the minimum wage or other domestic policies. Many of those who support illegal immigration are crooks, at least one advocate is a RegisteredForeignAgent (RickSwartz), another is a former MexicanConsul (TeodoroMaus), various non-profits have direct or indirect links to the MexicanGovernment (ACLU, SPLC, MALDEF, etc.) and the actions of many others is indistinguishable from how actual foreign agents would act (GilCedillo, etc. etc.) If Dobbs is rude to people like that, then that's just too bad.

As for denying non-emergency public benefits to illegal aliens, the goal is to cause many here to go home and many fewer to keep coming. The goal is not to develop an underclass, the goal is to limit the scope of the current underclass. Neither Dobbs nor I want such an underclass, but the policies proposed by those on the other side will guarantee that such an underclass only grows larger.

This post also joins the long line of Dobbs criticism, which supporters of illegal immigration enjoy linking to.

[John]

agree with jon from boston, i can't even take you seriously if you didn't mention the wire. did you not think it worhty or mention or have you just not seen it?

[Eric Deggans]

If I can understand how nielsen TV ratings work, I think I can handle the issues surrounding illegal immigration.

I'm not saying Dobbs doesn't have a point. I fault him for suggesting the answers to these problems are simple and obvious. I also fault him for personally denigrating people who don't agree with him. Seeing complexity in a situation he wants to present without nuance does not make me dishonest, stupid or professionally inept.

I think Dobbs may have expected me to do a critical piece, but I was hoping to simply challenge him in a story that was evenhanded about what he does.

I dont know about how the media reacted to Dobbs' positions on outsourcing, but I think that issue is much less contentious than illegal immigration. It's hard to argue for shipping quality jobs overseas; but keeping illegal immigrants from basic public programs, so they become a resentful, desperately deprived secondary class like African immigrants in France? that doesn't make sense, either.

I think Dobbs is right when he says America must confront its hypocrisy about illegal immigration. But I think he's selling a bill of goods by pretending it will be a simple or obvious task...

[NoMoreBlatherDotCom]

I don't expect a TV critic to understand everything involved in illegal immigration, but here are just a few of the downsides:
* propping up inefficient industries
* subsidizing employers
* massive PoliticalCorruption
* increased PoliticalPower in the U.S. for the MexicanGovernment
* devaluation of USCitizenship, as IllegalAliens are in some cases given a better deal than USCitizens

I tend to suspect that Dobbs may have had good grounds to respond the way you claim.

[Daryl Herbert]

So this big negative article just wrote itself after you hung up in a huff?

Or maybe you were planning all along to do a hit piece, and Dobbs could tell you were up to no good.

[Jon (Boston)]

If you have a list of the coolest, most creative shows on TV, and that list does not include The Wire, then the list is irrelevant

[bobholmgren]

When Lou Dobbs spoke out on outsourcing the dominent media didn't have a problem with him. But when he expressed an opinion that was at odds with most journalists they started to scold. The point being that critics of Dobbs are merely doing what he does--expressing opinions and enforcing their peculular groupthink.

[Khan of the Wastelands]

Am I the only one that finds irony is a guy like Lou Dobbs, whose anti-immigration rants have become legendary, giving a town hall meeting at a place called "The Italian Club"

It speaks volumes about Dobbs that when asked about his rants against Mexican immigrants waving mexican flags are rallies and how that relates to Americans of Irish descent waving Irish flags are St. Patrick's day parades, he claimed they should cancel celebrations of St. Paddy's day.

Someone should tell old Lou that when you toss out insults rather than answers, it makes it look like you really don't have any answers to give.

[Dan]

Although I enjoy and sometimes learn something from Mr. Dobbs' shows, recently I have been appalled by some of the bullying tactics he's employed in on-air, combative interviews.

[bill casey]

Dear Eric,
I'm one of Dobbs newer fans, and up to now have admired his reporting and advocacy for the middle class (Yep that's me)
However you're our guy around here, and so I will probably view him a bit more critically in the future.

[my cynical]

well , i guess thats bullying alright...cant say im a lou dobbs fan. i never paid any attn to him until he went nuts on immigration. then, it was like watching a car crash. but it was only fascinating for about 2 mins. then i got bored.

[Eric Deggans]

Thanks for that note, Jaye.

Indeed, the picture and bio blurb to the left reveals who wrote just about every entry here.

Mr Cynical, I didn't take notes on the insults and I haven't transcribed the audio tape I made. But I seem to remember it was remarks such as "I thought you wer a better journalist than that." or "Ask me a question that makes some sense." Or "That's just dishonest...you're absolutely being dishonest."

When he got to the point where he was calling me dishonest, I decided to end the conversation. I didn't need to be bullied, and there didn't seem to be any way to get the conversation back to a mutually respectful plane.

[Jaye]

Check out the box that says ABOUT THIS BLOG and you'll see who wrote it.

Nice story. Wish it had a byline so I could tell who wrote it. Not familiar with "the feed''

[my cynical]

so what specifically did he say to get your goat? 3 times.