Lou Dobbs Almost Calls Condi A "Cotton Picker"

Lou Dobbs visited Wolf Blitzer in the "Situation Room" on Friday and railed against Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice for saying that race is still an issue in America because it was an American "birth defect."

Dobbs dismissed Rice's very notion, claiming race is no longer an issue in a society as diverse as modern day America. "The reality is, this is the most socially, ethnically, religiously, racially diverse society on the face of the earth," Dobbs said. "Now, Wolf, we don't make enough of that in the national media. We listen to some idiot say you can't talk about race."

Then Dobbs tripped over his words, as he declared, "Not a single one of these cotton...[stammering]...these just ridiculous politicians should be the moderator on the issue of race."

Watch:

Comments

[naturallight]

Clearly he meant, cotton pickin, as in a polite way of saying 'mutha flippin'.

He was expressing an emotion rather than a racial epithet.

Huffpo : seriously give it a break.

I will go to "Lulac or La Raza" if I want this kind of slant.

[spaceman3838]

it only gets a break if its something like typical white person. now that got a break

[mhoiles]

It's the "cotton picking" Imus result. AA's can say it to each other, about each other and sing about and talk about it when it refers to white people. Where were Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson When Rev Wright was running his big fat yapper????­??????????

[Durango]

Stephen Colbert, if you are out there?

Please, please,ple­ase,please­,please,pl­ease,pleas­e. Take this on!

We need you right here. Please, please,please!

One blowhard after another. Please, please,please!!!

[Neoconstant]

Don't you mean Senior Estaban Colberto a la dos chicas?

[MadFae]

I don't care for Lou Dobbs, but attacking him for something he "almost" said is ridiculous. He obviously realized what he was about to say would be taken badly, so he stopped. "Cotton picking," while not a very appropriate phrase, is very very common and under any other circumstances, it probably would've slipped by unnoticed. It has a bad history, but is in such common usage now that a lot of people wouldn't pick up on the racial undertones. Dobbs realized it would get slammed. He stopped himself. I don't think this makes him a racist at all. America, we have gotten way out of control on both sides of this issue. Being racially aware is not the same thing as being racially over-sensitive. The latter will only make things worse. Everybody needs to just step back and take a breath.

[dlbdpb]

DOWN WITH DOBBS, and RICE BOTH.

[Neoconstant]

Down with beans and rice, both!

[Nolawi]

I thought he was the one who did the same thing to wright....

[Nolawi]

lol

[1differentdrummer]

To his credit, his show does sign off and fade to black. Of course, I learned I can do that with the remote so Mr. Dobbs is no longer in our house.

[gnostic19]

Why is he slamming Condi for talking openly about race? Isn't that what he is bitching about...th­at we aren't allowed to discuss race openly for fear of being misinterpreted by the media? Isn't that what Dobbs just did...slam Condi for speaking openly?

Why does this guy have a sounding board?

[justobserve]

Is he dreaming? Race is not an issue anymore in this progressive, ethnic diversed country? Then he stammered "these cotton....­"? Wow! I have never seen a more straight-faced racist like this uh...one!
By the way, the clip of Wright saying "God damn America" is of course out of context. Kwowing the black history in this country, how would you feel if you are a white person in a black state and you are arrested or have to go to the back of the restaurant to eat (and pay!) or get lynching just because of your skin color, wouldn't you say the same thing?

[Neoconstant]

Truthfully, Condi Rice should be slammed anytime she talks about anything, ever. She and her employers ought to be railroaded out of the public debate, along with xenophobic, "color-blind" racists like Dobbs. Hmmm CNN - Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs - are you going to hire Bill Kristol next?

[preatorius]

Want to have some fun? Please send a bag of cotton balls to CNN:
Lou dobbs

c/o CNN NY

1 Chase Manhattan Plaza

New York

NY 10005

[zeiben]

I'm surprised he caught that horse by the tail before it fully left the barn, considering how worked up he was. "Cotton Pickin'" is not an expression white people usually realize is going to be offensive, especially if you grew up on bugs bunny.

Still, he's a xenophobic a-hole and he deserved a little egg on his face...

[Nilla321]

I wish that is what she actually was, rather than a facilitator of crimes against humanity! The world would be a better place for it.

Oh and I wish CNN would call themselves spinners rather than news people.
I support Hillary, but my opinions are my own.

Finally I am so sick and tired of skin color, religion and every other little differences these spinners can find to make us walk on pins and needles, afraid to talk for fear of offending. Being a color blind atheist is so hard.

[mslindab]

My husband and I are done with Dobbs. We supported him through the immigration debate but find he is pushing an agenda these days rather than fostering a fair and intelligent debate.

[chlllfactor]

I agree! I used to be a huge fan of Dobbs - even TiVo'd his progam if I was not home. No more! He has forgotten the elements that make up a good debate, cultivated a 'religious' following, and now uses those followers to push his agenda. As a debate coach, I would give his 'peformances' an 'F.'

[lennix]

if you notice the biggest flag wavers are the ones that thnks no one loves america but them if some one speaks the truth then put the lable on them that they do not love thier country is a fool lou dobbs is a fool and out to feed his ego and his pockets and dont give a damn about race how can some one walk this walk can tell anyone about race when did he become a expert cnn fox are more alike then they know or do they whats wrong with america is not that we dont talk about race we always put fools up front to talk about it who job is to lie about it and say its not that bad until we the people not the talking heads sit down and talk about it our selfs we will always be at odds becuase people in power likes us at each other that way they can keep us from seeing who is realy playing us for a fool yes the powers that be we got to wake up

[Robert59]

I don't think he was going to say cotton picker, but cotton picking polticians. He's from Lubbock, not quite the panhandle of Texas. Lubbock is the heart of Texas' cotton country and Lou picked plenty of cotton growing up.

Other than his obsession with illegal immigration Lou is on target with just about everything else.

This is much ado about nothing. If he had actually completed the thought and it was something bad, he deserves to take his lumps, but to be villainized on an incomplete phrase is too f---ing much. Now did I mean f-cking or frigging or somethng else altogether?

[1differentdrummer]

Blah, blah, blah.

[Robert59]

My thoughts exactly blah blah blah.

[Neoconstant]

You meant "freaking," as in "Lou Dobbs is a freaking idiot."

[Robert59]

Freaking is good. Why do you think Lou is such an idiot? You don't think our country is being taken over by corporatists, that we're bleeding good paying jobs, that lobbyists control the electoral process.

[batspaul]

It is delightful to see an ignorant blowhard like Dobbs trip over his own rhetoric. He's so busy getting hot and bothered about race that he defeats his own points. He slams others, including, presumably, two of the most prominent African Americans in the country, for talking about race, saying "We listen to some idiot say you can't talk about race..."

Well, yeah, Lou, that would be you....

And I would question his claims about ours being the most "diverse society on the face of the earth." Of course he could count on that dolt Blitzer not to even ask Dobbs to support that assertion. He may be right or wrong, technically, but I guess he hasn't been to the UK lately. This from a man who has made his name beating the drum of "The Crisis at our Borders." Suddenly he's a champion of diversity.

His hypocrisy is truly breathtaking.

[slow2]

batspaul, you could not be more accurate. Thank you.

[Frits]

That is part what makes the US so not understood in the world. They are definitely not the most diverse society. Many countries in Europe are far more advanced on that field and even this small island where I live (Curacao) is far more diversed then the US, here people regardless of color, religion or race have equal opportunities

[Jacee]

Definition from the Urban Dictionary:

1. cotton-picker
53 up, 19 down


A racist slur to represent a black person, or person of African heritage..­....this word is used because in the Age of Our Founding Fathers, when blacks were slaves, they were known to mostly pick cotton.

"Stop picking on me you fxxxxg' cotton-picker!"

The bigger issues...L­ou's unhinged response to Rice. It is laughable that he chastises that we can't talk about race and then uses a racial slur. Typical of that generation. Enough with the old farts.

[mhoiles]

Condi Rice's description of a birth defect = being born black is laughable. wtf

[Jacee]

Only because I feel sorry for you...

Here is Rice's comment:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.

She said the Nation has a defect, not black people

Geez...god love the persistently stupid

[Frits]

fool, she refers to the birth of the nation !!! Learn to read before you comment

[Bjarni]

Her comment had nothing to do with black people being born with a defect, her argument is at the birth of this democracy, there was a deficiency that made the law not look upon black people in the same way as white.
She's basically saying the same thing Obama said in the beginning of his “A more perfect Union” Speech.
"The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generation­s."