Obama: Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs Responsible For Rise In Hate Crimes Against Hispanics

At a fundraiser in Florida Thursday night, Barack Obama accused anti-immigrant crusaders Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh of "ginning things up" to such an extent that there was a rise in hate crimes against Hispanics last year.

"A certain segment has basically been feeding a kind of xenophobia. There's a reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year," Obama said. "If you have people like Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh ginning things up, it's not surprising that would happen."

Politico's Jonathan Martin writes that Limbaugh addressed Obama's remarks on his radio show today and said that the remarks hurt his feelings.

"I actually don't believe this. Barack Obama, in my own state, raising money for his presidential campaign called me xenophobic at a fundraiser," Limbaugh said. "I thought this guy was the unity candidate? Calling me a Xenophobe? Responsible for hate crimes? My feelings are hurt here."

Earlier this year, promoting his book "His Panic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S.," Geraldo Rivera called Dobbs a "hate-monger" and said "I would not shake his hand because this is a man that's done more damage to the cause of sensible, comprehensive reform than anyone with a microphone."

Comments

[gregjones]

From Blacks4Barack !
Demand To DNC: Kick Hillary Out NOW !
Insinuates That Obama Could Be ASSASSINATED !

Now, things have gone way too far. Yesterday, in an appearance in South Dakota, Hillary Clinton justified her reason for staying in the campaign by referring to the fact that presidential hopeful 'Robert Kennedy was assasinated in June'...im­plying that the same could occur to senator Obama. THIS IS SICK !!! Regardless of how the pundits try to spin this as just another misspeak, the statement speaks for itself and displays the diobolical mentality of Hillary Clinton.

It is unclear as to whether she is actually hoping that Obama would be killed, therefore giving her an open path to the Democratic nomination, or if she may be signaling her desire to some sick, warp minded homicidal maniac. Whichever be the case, her statement is automatic grounds for the Democratic National Committee headed by Howard Dean to demand that she remove herself from the race. If he does not, American Democrats should demand HIS stepping down !

This can not be tolerated. ANYONE who would wish the death of another human being in order to win a political position is sick, dangerous, maniacal, deranged and totally unfit for any political position, particularly President .

CONTACT THE DNC....
HILLARY MUST BE EXPELLED NOW !!!!
FLOOD THE PHONE LINES...CA­LL THE DNC TODAY !!!

CALL DNC: 202-863-8000
HILLARY MUST BE KICKED OUT NOW !!!!
SEND THIS EVERYWHERE !!!!!!!!!!

Greg Jones
www.Blacks4Barack.org

[kart0624]

This probably does not belong here, but I wanted to guage opinion in-terms of this important subject.
I thought Obama was different in terms of foreign policy etc, did you guys notice he too has done the same thing in the end 'The-Great­est-Suppor­ter-Of-Isr­ael-No-Mat­ter-What-T­hey-Do' tour. Why is that every single politician in the US has to pay homage to Israel, commit and re-commit again to Israel, hell the politicians can even say bad things about George Washington and get away with it. But, he can't become a town clerk if he/she were to level any sort of criticism at Israel. How are people so ignorant that they don't understand when people criticize Israel, it's not against Jews, it's all about the state . I don't mind anybody denouncing, rejecting the hatred coming the Palestinian/Arab side as well, but to just pin it all on one side is what makes me so mad. Why? Because, if we can't solve the Israeli/Palestinian problem, we can't get close to helping other more desperate people that seek it in Africa and other parts of the world . All the attention is being sucked into this one conflict most of the time. I don't care who it is, to me for the most part Obama has become just another politician who will do anything to get elected and that is very very disappointing.

[ObamaEdwards]

Just stop watching and stop listening to these pork heads. Tell your family to stop paying attention to them. Tell your neighbors and your friends. Turn off the TV and the radio when they come on. When they have no ratings, they will disappear. Let them hold up signs by the side of the freeway with their inane messages. Stupid, ugly men and their stupid, ugly opinions. They're nothing. Turn away, and they will evaporate.

[ctmommy]

Yes, lets just continue to listen to Obama make things up (lie) out of thin air as he panders to whatever group he is speaking to at that moment.

Good luck with that......

[Soule23]

If you are inclined to believe Dobbs and Limbaugh over Obama, you ought to get your head checked. That would be like me believing Al Franken over John McCain: we might have more in common, but when it comes down to it, a US Senator is probably more reliable than a right or left wing attack dog.

[presto]

Which porkheads?

[saun8934]

The ones this article is about...

[DesertLight]

I believe it is rather evident from the posting here that the Liberals have pretty much turned him off with the exception of Media Matters. Yet, it did not affect the viewer audience. This may come as news to you but this site is pretty much minority opinion as is most of the progressive agenda.

[sarasotajeff]

yeah, the 81% minorty, is that right ?

[DietrichMoody]

People like Rush and Lou Dobbs have no principles. Any asshole with unproductive views can find an audience. And Dobbs and Rush have found an unprincipled audience with unproductive views, that continue to think "whats the big deal?" Well, the audience that thinks that Dobbs cares about what he says are so naive. And because they don't care, they are not going to care, that their cheap talk foments hate. And when you end up with true fighting, anger, an groups sticking strong to their views, civil war, resentment, etc. - the Rush's and Dobb's of the world are just going to either implode or fade away. By then the damage would have been done. So the the Rush's and Dobbs need to be exposed for the phony's that they are.

[TuffPosh]

It might be useful to step back a bit and think through whose interests are served by Dobbs-bashing. Certainly not the interests of the vast majority of Americans. But, bashing Dobbs does serve the interests of those who profit from illegal activity, such as the Mexican government and crooked banks and businesses. Now, ask yourself: whose side is Barack Obama on?

And, in fact, not only did Obama smear Dobbs, but he lied:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFAPqElNrXY&eurl=http://lonewacko.com/blog/index.html

[jalapeno]

The facts are the facts, dude. I live in Arizona and the hispo-hate is frightning and has ruined our economy. The soutwest was Mexico before it was the US. They have families here. Deal with it!

[damianmann]

you got it right. These people have a lot of nerve telling aboriginals to the area that they can't enter. It's THEIR land...and dirtbag racists like Dobbs and his supporters were the types that stole it from them. F#$K Dobbs

[presto]

Yes, facts are facts. Your information is anecdotal and based on perception. The statistics do not indicate that hate crimes caused economic distress in Arizona. There are indications, however, that the crackdown on employers hiring illegal immigrants started a snowball effect on the economy. It certainly was not the fault of a couple of half-baked commentators. Obama knows that perfectly well. He's just doing some Florida pandering.

[KVB]

Ok. We'll give them back Arizona, and Cal and in turn ALL Mexicans have to leave the rest of the US. Fair deal?

[jameskong15]

Yes, facts are facts, but what you’re spouting is far from a proven fact, and THAT’S a fact, Jack.

[vandegrasse]

You tell them Obama. These bloated hacks have had a free pass for way too long while reasonable people have sat in silence.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xm_9S8DdrYI

[josephjsalas]

I say it's got more to do with the "Constitution for the North ameican Union" replacing the
Original US Constitution than anything else. 89-719

[Soule23]

There already is a NAU, sort of: NAFTA. The NAU as it is usually presented is a ridiculous conspiracy theory. A NAU that functioned along the same lines as the EU would probably not be a bad thing at all, but could never happen thanks to unilateralism, arrogance and fear.

[closetodemfection]

Lou Dobbs is one of the he few in the MSM that resisted jumping on board the "Hillary is a racist" bandwagon. He has managed to objectively cover this primary which has not served the Obama campaign. Call me cynical, but I suspect Obama's campaign will now push to label Lou himself as a "racist" himself to cut off HRC's only form of life support in the press. Ugh.

[raw915]

If Lou Dobbs is the only support Hillary can get, she really is toast.

[ksjohnso]

No...Lou Dobbs is a hatemonger no doubt. The veiw that he espouses is that every illegal immigrant are immoral criminals. He really pays attention to the economic issues that drive immigrants into the US. Just because you want to protect Hillary Clinton from the negative press that she generates about herself does not take away from the fact that Lou Dobbs is a hatemonger who seems to want to only accept one truth, his, to a problem that has many sides none of the right or wrong. He hates.

[JohnJames]

Objective? Dobbs clearly detests Obama. Whenever he can think of anything bad to say about him, which is usually every day, he leads with it.

[barackobama4prez]

"HRC's only form of life support in the press"...d­ang...she'­s really washed up.

[Soule23]

When everyone else is jumping ship, it might just be because the ship is sinking.

[CatLadyforObama]

I think the real story here is that Limbaugh has feelings..­..who knew?

[DesertLight]

You would have had to hear it. He was being sarcastic. Here is his response:

"RUSH: My, my, my, how things have changed over the course of a year. Why, a little over a year ago he was able to laugh at it, no big deal, Rush is a good guy, just an entertainer, now I am sponsoring hate crimes and xenophobia. Don't talk about his wife; don't talk about his ears; don't talk about his mother, his father, his grandmother. Don't talk about his voting record; don't talk about his attendance anywhere. Don't call him liberal; don't talk about his preacher; don't talk about the mobsters he ran around with; don't talk about the terrorists he runs around with. Don't talk about anything. Xenophobe and racist. By the way, last night on CNN, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs interviewed the Senate minority leader in Florida, Steven Geller. Dobbs says, "What do you expect to happen as a result here, if Florida's vote doesn't count? What are you going to do?"

[TRocks]

Remember this?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0Y0W19-N3Ik

[DesertLight]

Don't look now but your own party is in a battle of racism. You can't blame that on anyone else but yourselves.

[TRocks]

I want you to write your opinions in at least 200 words without attacking liberals or democrats or independents or Christians or Muslims or anyone else. I want you to express YOUR ideas about how we will make America a better place and restore her leadership in the world. I challange you to construct a unifying massage here without repeating what bigots are saying like a obedient parrot. I want you to show me you have a speck of intelligence by offering solutions to the problems we are facing today. I want you to tell me who should lead this country next four years without mumbling about who shouldn't.
I dare you to show me you have the courage to come clean for what you stand for not what you are against.
I dare you, I double double dare you! Hah!

[portchester]

Lou Dobbs, is the individual who has a platform to promote his book on CNN, and at the same time he always stating on TV, let me quote it: If the US government will not protect our borders from the illegals, which are mainly hispanics, then people who live along the borders should take the law into thier own hands.

We all know what Rush is besides a legal druggy.

[DesertLight]

You wrote: "We all know what Rush is besides a legal druggy."

By your standards we could then call anyone who has used drugs illegally a druggy or an addict. How about Obama is he a coke head?

[ManhattanMC]

Light-

did he also lobby for sending all drug addicts 'up the river' ?

[DesertLight]

#2 Comment by Barack " OBAMA: (laughing) You know, I have not heard it, but I've heard of it. I confess that I don't listen to Rush on a daily basis. On the other hand, I'm not one of these people who -- who takes myself so seriously that I get offended by -- by every -- every comment made about me. You know, the -- you know, what Rush does is entertainment, and although it's probably not something that, you know, I listen to much, I don't --"

He said this May 2nd 2007 concerning Rush's Parody on Barack

[DesertLight]

RUSH: My, my, my, how things have changed over the course of a year. Why, a little over a year ago he was able to laugh at it, no big deal, Rush is a good guy, just an entertainer, now I am sponsoring hate crimes and xenophobia. Don't talk about his wife; don't talk about his ears; don't talk about his mother, his father, his grandmother. Don't talk about his voting record; don't talk about his attendance anywhere. Don't call him liberal; don't talk about his preacher; don't talk about the mobsters he ran around with; don't talk about the terrorists he runs around with. Don't talk about anything. Xenophobe and racist. By the way, last night on CNN, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs interviewed the Senate minority leader in Florida, Steven Geller. Dobbs says, "What do you expect to happen as a result here, if Florida's vote doesn't count? What are you going to do?"

That was Rush's response to the Xenophobia remark. Just so we get it straight here.

[presto]

And he does get offended by every comment made about him. Even comments that are not about him but he imagines might possibly be about him.

[DesertLight]

"OBAMA: I don't mind. I don't mind -- I don't mind folks poking fun at me. That's part of the job."

This is what Obama said about Rush a year ago.

[dizmo4]

And that's relevant to this how?

Obama wasn't criticizing Rush for attacks against him, he was criticizing Rush for the constant barrage of anit-immigration sentiment. This constant badgering by Dobbs and Limbaugh and OReilly has had an impact on hate crimes and attitudes towards Latinos in some areas.

Thats what Obama was criticizing, that is the issue here.

[DesertLight]

I have provided fact and substance here right from the source. Why don't you do the same. Barack took shots at labeling Rush at a fund raiser only to benefit himself. Otherwise, known as cheap shot.

[freebeer]

I see Obama as a typical politician hyped as a liberal by his bosses, because that is what the public wants. I don't believe he will be able to deliver 10% of the hope and change he talks about.

That said, he is right about Dobbs and the blatant racism aimed at Hispanic people on many news networks.
It took balls to say that, or is he just fishing for Hispanic votes?
Either way, he is correct and speaks the truth on this one.

[DesertLight]

I have to say he was fishing because he knows the demographics of the issue. The Hispanic voters largely go Clinton. It my community it was a landslide and my community is 80% Hispanic. I don't even think I saw one Obama sign. In fact, there were more Paul posters and signs than Obama's.

[albiceleste]

Fishing?

Last I checked, he's the one who said we shouldn't scapegoat immigrants for the nation's problems - going all the way back to last year.

HRC - in the debate in Cali - she basically said they were taking jobs from real Americans.

He hasn't just started "fishing" if it is fishing, and he's been consistent on the message that immigration is not the enemy of the people.

[Zankee]

Remember David and his "sling-sho­t".., practice your "sling"...­Grasshoppe­r.....