How's this for irony: the extremist group behind the drive to recruit Lou Dobbs into a presidential run has yanked support for their one-time champion.
While bloggers debated whether Dobbs was too mean to be President, it came out that he was no longer mean enough for the extreme base he's cultivated all these years. The Plum Line's Greg Sargent writes:
Wow. Lou Dobbs, putative presidential candidate, just can’t catch a break.
Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), one of the most extreme anti-immigrant groups out there, isn’t happy with Dobbs' recent statement that creating a way for hard-working, undocumented people to regularize their status and become legal citizens might not be such a bad idea. Not only that, but Dobbs made those comments on Telemundo, a network that broadcasts in Español (gasp!).
Understandably, the reaction from Dobbs' extremist base was essentially, “OMG!! WTF!?! Why Lou Why!”
Who are you and what have you done with Lou Dobbs?
But extremists of the world should be rest assured-- those of us who believe in treating everyone in America with equal dignity and solving the immigration crisis aren’t ready to claim Dobbs as one of our own. You see, Lou Dobbs has a habit of fibbing a little. Whether it’s that immigrants are bringing a new wave of leprosy to America or that the President of the United States might be an undocumented immigrant from Kenya, Dobbs is ready and willing to push the envelope on journalistic and personal integrity.
So, my ALIPAC amigos, while Dobbs may sound a lot less like that grumpy old man whose rants and rails against immigrants were the cornerstone of your movement, I wouldn't fret. Deep down inside, I'm sure he's still got it in him.
But I’ve got a question for all of you extremists out there – why are we still paying attention to this guy? After all, Lou Dobbs is now just a man who had a TV show once, fired from CNN, and two other networks have said that they won’t hire him. Imagine what else you could do with all the money you were going to spend propping him up after his 15 minutes of fame dries up.
So this Mexican-American, constitution-hugging, diversity-loving advocate invites the anti-immigrant extremists of the world to unite with me for a common purpose – let’s just ignore him. Together we can help Lou Dobbs make a speedy transition to TV has-been status. Let’s just get it over with. Are you with me?
Cross-Posted at Jack and Jill Politics and America's Voice.