Geraldo called his boss because of the rumor that Lou Dobbs was leaving CNN and coming on over to Fox.
The boss said NO.

Geraldo defends the presence of immigrants in this country and reviles the defamatory tone used when discussing comprehensive immigration reform.  He blames Lou Dobbs for setting the tone that affects all Latino people.

Geraldo stated the following which was reported in the Huffington Post:

Rivera told the crowd, “One of the aspects of our reality in the United States right now is the defamatory tone of the immigration debate and how that immigration debate has slandered an entire race of people. It has been reckless beyond imagining, it has been reckless beyond precedent.”

He then trained his sights on Dobbs: “Lou Dobbs, a man who was an accomplished journalist, and who left to start his own venture in the digital media… and then came back to CNN, and nobody was watching his program. He discovered that one of the ways he could get people to watch was to make of the image of a young Latino trying to get into this country a profoundly negative icon. Lou Dobbs is almost singlehandedly responsible for creating, for being the architect of the young-Latino-as-scapegoat for everything that ails this country.”

31 Thoughts to “Geraldo Expresses Disgust with Lou Dobbs”

  1. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Geraldo’s doing everything he can to leave his “Al Capone’s Vault” and “Telling the World where our troops are” days behind him!

  2. opinion

    The real issue is confusing the twenty-four news networks with… well… news networks. They are in the entertainment business. The entertainers need to find an issue and an audience. In that respect, Dobbs is a very successful entertainer (as is Beck, Olbermann, et.al.) Dobbs will survive as long as he keeps the ratings up. He would throw cream pies at Hillary Clinton during interviews if that did the trick.

    The problem is that some people fail to see the distinction between news and entertainment. They are the equivalent of the 18th Century pamphleteers who inflamed the population with a low tech alternative. Those of us who do know and understand the difference must be forever vigilant.

    You know, I believe my opinion is so much more credible now that I have a spiffy new avatar.

  3. opinion

    Just once… I’d like to hear a newscaster say, “well… we are out of news so we are going to play hits from the 60’s for the rest of the hour.”

  4. Hahahahaha! Your opinion might even become news with that spiffy new avatar.

    Hell, your opinion might even become gospel. 100% agreement with what you are saying.

  5. opinion

    (bow with hat flourish)… thank you.

  6. Emma

    Geraldo’s a tabloid artist at heart, so I find it impossible to take him seriously on any issue, even when he is being serious.

    Opinion, your simple, elegant avatar does lend a measure of gravitas to what you say.

  7. I find myself agreeing with Emma about Geraldo. It really is hard to take him seriously. Didn’t he once get his schnozzle broken on his tabloid show?

    I do occassionally agree with him but I can’t brush that feeling that I am watching a Jerry Springer type and that he is all for show.

    However, I do think what he has to say is worth a fly by on this issue. It covers several issues: He does represent Fox, Lou Dobbs is on the more moderate CNN and he addresses a serious issue surroundng the immigration debate.

    Regardless of what we say as individuals, Latinos get caught in the crossfire of the immigration debate,

  8. opinion

    Geraldo is just another entertainer… and (IMHO) one of the better one’s. He accomplished his goal by getting the media (and us) to talk about his comments on Dobbs. I’ve noticed the cable news network like a bit of yin/yang to appeal to a broad range of folks.

    @Emma
    Thank you. Gravitas is what I was going for.

  9. Elena

    I had over 70 people in my house last night, more than half were children, so I am just catching up today. I guess I will have to find my own avatar!

  10. Elena

    As much as Geraldo is an “entertainer” now, he is spot on regarding Lou Dobbs. How can forget Lou’s infamous claim that illegal immigrants from south of the border were bringing in 7,000 cases of leprosy, then when confronted with the facts, disclaiming his assertion, he STILL denies he was wrong.

  11. Lou Dobbs is obsessed. I think Geraldo makes some very good points. It is hard to take him seriously after seeing him in other roles. Could a person with more gravitas make the point better or do we need a person like Geraldo, who is successful and who is also part Latino to point out the absurdity of Dobbs?

  12. opinion

    @Elena

    You know, Elena… you’re just not as convincing without a proper avatar. You really need to catch up.

  13. Opinion, tomorrow she will have one. Today she is coming back to life after the Halloween invasion.

    Oh and dear God, I am helping her. You saw how much ‘help’ I was to you all…couldn’t even get you to the right url address.

  14. Elena

    Slowpoke,
    Your avatar is completely inappropriate and you have just confirmed why certain people here accused you of choosing a “racist” moniker. Since I believe, at heart, you are really not a racist, I’m going to urge you to change it something that is not offensive or unfortunately you will be put in moderation and I will miss you.

  15. Second-Alamo

    Ok, it was only 6,999 cases, but who’s counting. ; )

  16. Elena

    SA,

    Please, don’t propagate out and out lies here. This isn’t a fact you can debate.

  17. I think SA was kidding.

    Seriously, where did that leprosy crap come from?

  18. Second-Alamo

    IT WAS a JOKE! hence the ; ) get it? Like I said, some people are soooo sensitive. I have no clue about the leprosy thing, but then just because a big anti-illegal immigrant speaker said it doesn’t necessarily make everything he says false.

  19. Opinion

    Slowpoke… Is that a webcam shot of yourself?

  20. No, I am sure some of the things Lou Dobbs has said are true. He has also said some rather stupid, inflammatory things, which sort of detract from the things that he says that are correct.

    He just went over the top too many times.

    I have rhino hide, SA, I knew you were kidding.

  21. Elena

    Yes, my middle name IS sensitive, especially when I am exhausted, sorry SA! The problem with Dobb is that BECAUSE people don’t fact check, what starts out as fiction soon turns into fact.

  22. JustinT

    How about Fox and CNN pull off a trade: Lou Dobbs for Heraldo Riveria. Dobbs is too much of a racist for CNN, and Riviera is Hispanic, and thus should not be shown on Fox.

  23. Leila

    It wasn’t just that Dobbs was wildly wrong on the leprosy thing, it wasn’t just that Dobbs was being a hatemonger trying to associate illegal immigrants with allegedly thousands of cases of a disease that carries a huge stigma in society, it was the way he responded to being challenged. His response, to me at least, calls into question any notion that he has ever been a journalist. Here it is, said to Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes:

    “Well, I can tell you this,” he replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.”

    So while Dobbs may say some things that are true (a stopped clock is right at least twice a day), I think the above suggests he doesn’t particularly care if he is accurate. What would be worse, being just that arrogant or being just that deluded? As others have noted, Dobbs kept repeating the incorrect information even after being presented with the error! Then he tried to blame others. Then he tried to blame the news media for being interested. Any one in the news business who would say what he says above is not a professional.

  24. Are you saying he is even too sleazy for Fox News? It sort of sounds like it.

  25. Leila

    Nooooo. I’m not saying that M-H. I would NEVER say Dobbs is too sleazy for Fox News O:)
    I am no fan of Geraldo’s, but he is obviously a token in political terms on Fox. Dobbs on the other hand will fit in quite well there, right up there with the bizarre eugenics supporter they have on every day on Fox and Friends.

  26. Leila

    Sorry, I meant “would” not “will.” I wonder if it will happen. CNN has been pretty good to Dobbs in some questionable ways. I suppose he makes them a ton of money.

  27. 🙄 I read you loud and clear. One good thing about Dobbs and CNN: the minute someone starts in on how liberal CNN is, mention Dobbs. I don’t find them liberal to start with. I actually find CNN about as vanilla as it gets.

    After Fox and all its razzle dazzle, fancy women all showing leg and cleavage, the inuendo, the Obama-bashing (yes the supposed news folks) and car chases, CNN seems very vanilla. Its women aren’t as pretty, its men aren’t as handsome, and no one is as opinionated. I can’t remember ever seeing a car chase. But most of the time I find them to be more unbiased in their reporting than the other 24/7 cable channels.

  28. Rick Bentley

    Geraldo calls anyone who opposes illegal immigration an anti-Latino bigot. Of course Dobbs drives him crazy.

    Here’s Geraldo getting into it rather violently with Bill O’Reilly – you have to see this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwwbNA3hjg

  29. hello

    I find it odd that you would even listen to someone from Fox News… Geraldo works for that evil, non-news channel doesn’t he? So it’s they suck, except if they say something we agree with?

  30. Leila

    @hello

    Who is the “you” in your post? I can’t speak for M-H or anyone else, but I read/watch/listen to news from all kinds of sources whether I agree with them or not. I am more interested in print media and in radio (NPR, BBC, CBC, etc.) than in TV news, but I certainly have watched Fox a fair amount, even if they often turn my stomach. Eg the eugenics supporter on Fox and Friends. I find the network really troubling in a journalistic sense. Television news has credibility problems, but Fox pretty much pushes the envelope in that regard and makes CNN look positively august. It doesn’t have to be that way with conservative media. I would imagine Fox appalls serious conservative journalists as well much of the time, just as Anne Coulter does. Geraldo is one of Fox’s token liberals and I would imagine it pleases them that he is somewhat of a wacko. With CNN and Dobbs, I assume the relationship began before he started his obsession with illegal immigrants, and certainly before he was supportive of birthers. I don’t know if Dobbs really believes his rhetoric, or if he is doing it to fill a highly lucrative niche. I would suspect that CNN keeps him on because he draws viewers and thus money. But I don’t know. Maybe he is their token wacko as well. But I can’t really blame them for keeping a moneymaker when newsrooms in all forms of media are practically having to hold bake sales.

    hello, it isn’t an issue of “agree with.” Dobbs was breathtakingly inaccurate in the leprosy thing and then defended himself in the most reprehensible way I can possibly imagine for a alleged journalist to do. If we said it, it’s correct, he allowed. I would come down on any news person of any political stripe who acted that way.

  31. If I am the ‘you’ being addressed, this subject has been discussed time and time again. You might want to review a rather lenthy discussion between Opinion and me about the importance of knowing what ‘the other side’ thinks.

    I will continue to criticize Fox News until those newscasterst stop inserting opinion into news.
    Beck, O’Reilly, Hannity I will criticize for ideas.

    I certainly would not limit myself to just one news source.

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