Lou Dobbs – you can love him or hate, but sometimes he makes a point that will get your attention.
The CNN host of “Lou Dobbs Tonight” gave his evaluation of MSNBC “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann on his Aug. 11 radio show. According to Dobbs, Olbermann was a neophyte until MSNBC gave him a primetime show in 2003.
“First, I want to share with you something that just, I mean shocks me,” Dobbs said. “Over at MSNBC, Keith Olbermann is their resident moron over there. He knows nothing about politics, nothing about economics. He has never covered politics until they put him in that chair and said, ‘Hey, you know, go try it out.’ I mean, it’s crazy. He’s just – oh my gosh.”
But Dobbs’ point was leading up to a larger point – that there is a concerted effort by voices on the left, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and now by MSNBC’s Carlos Watson to marginalize opposition to President Barack Obama’s initiative to reform health care.
“But they got a new fellow over there,” Dobbs said. “His name is Carlos Watson. And Carlos Watson has come up with the ultimate – you know the White House has been trying to marginalize everyone protesting and demonstrating against health care, the president’s plan. They tried to marginalize, I mean the other day Nancy Pelosi, yesterday Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, the Democratic leadership inr the House, calling people un-American who are protesting loudly and – they called them un-American.”
Dobbs specifically pointed out an effort by Watson, which he likened using the word “socialist” to describe some of the policies put forth by Obama and congressional Democrats to a racial epithet.
“Well, now they raised it to a new level – the effort to marginalize those who do not want to follow, like some sort of phalanx of zombies, this president,” Dobbs added.
Dobbs was referring to comments Watson made on his Aug. 10 MSNBC program [1], which lumped all various elements frequently covered on his network.
“What concerns me is when in some of those town hall meetings including the one that we saw in Missouri recently where there were jokes made about lynching, etc., you start to wonder whether in fact the word socialist is becoming a code word, whether or not socialist is becoming the new N-word for frankly for some angry upset birthers and others,” Watson said. “I hope that's not the case.”