How Lou Dobbs Scared Rush Limbaugh Off the Birther Story

Have you noticed Limbaugh's deafening silence about the birthers since July 20th? Have you noticed how the birther movement was in the news virtually every day last week, how the mainstream press was debunking it and calling out the right-wing nonsense, how NBC's Nightly News referred to Limbaugh in its birther report, yet Limbaugh remained mum? Rather than step forward in his natural role as a birther defender and attacker of all things Obama, Limbaugh has sat out the birther controversy and watched its members get mowed down in the press.

Limbaugh's scared to talk about the birthers and won't defend them because he has seen how Dobbs and the movement got manhandled by the press -- including by conservative commentators. Limbaugh saw how the press was sticking to the birth certificate facts and wasn't shy about knocking down high-paid radio hosts who tried to traffic in that nonsense.

And guess what? If Limbaugh won't back the birthers, that means most right-wing AM hosts won't either. Because that business is built upon a very simple (lemming) rule: Do whatever Rush does. And if Limbaugh won't line up on the side of the birthers, than means most AM talkers won't either, which means the birthers are going to be pushed back to the fringes where they belong.

And for that, we have Lou Dobbs to thank.

Read the entire Media Matters column here.

Comments

[Kzb]

But the birthers help us with the swing vote.

[Jazzman323]

Rush is attacked for his silence on the birther issue? You attack him for what he didn't say??

Not Rush or any conervative believes the Birther conspiracy. It is only kept alive by the left, and they try to accuse the right of pushing it. But it isn't sticking, except to Lou Dobbs of CNN.

Nice try.

[DemocraticVoter]

Now, while you have a point about Rush being criticized for actually being quiet about the Birther issue -- Birther's ARE conservatives -- thus, your second point is inaccurate.

[superstition]

"BORN IN THE USA?
Limbaugh: 'Obama has yet to prove he's a citizen'
Radio giant blasts president's refusal to show long-form birth certificate"
July 20, 2009

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104595

"Limbaugh: God Does Not Have a Birth Certificate and Neither Does Obama"
06/10/2009

http://www.politicususa.com/en/Rush-Obama-Birth-Certificate

[flatus]

"Not Rush or any conervative believes the Birther conspiracy"

Now here's a statement on a lunar scale.

[Jazzman323]

in the title of this article is says Rush is silent on the Birther issue. So IS he or ISN'T he??

Meanwhile Rush talks about much more relevant issues, like Obama's disasterous health care plan.

[HeavyHitter]

Rush doesn't want to draw too much attention to the birther conspiracy theory for fear of exposing its flaws. It's much more useful to him if he can keep it in his arsenal to use again at another time. Trust me, he won't stop alluding to Obama's alleged illegitimacy any more than he ever stopped claiming the Clintons were responsible for the death of Vince Foster.

[RealityBaseCamp]

Really good point. I was still listening to Rush at the time the Foster rumor broke, and at the time I gave him some credit for disclaiming that it was just a rumor. However, he had the topic going the whole show, and has never let it slip out of his version of the Clintons' story. I agree with your prediction: he will never go too long without mentioning it, working into a joke, or alluding to it. Just as he avoids outright hate language while constantly demonizing any group in his sights, he keeps his myths going. That's why we have to keep on mentioning that Rush is a millionaire being paid by billionaires to make his listeners hate the only people that could help them.

[CCverve]

No no no...I Would love for the ignorant questions to continue. Sooner or later Rush and his band of merry Republican men will have to answer to the questioning of the logisitics and integrity of the Vetting process of the FBI, Secret Service, NSA and host of other time tested government agencies..­(Consideri­ng Mr. Obamas Mom worked for the State Department think of degree of incompetency ).

And their case is based off of supposed testimony from a step grandma in Kenya? You value the word of a doting old African grandma over that the host of agencies US involved?
How Un American is that!?!

[dechipe]

Now wait a second.... In all fairness to Rush AND Lou, did anyone actually see the afterbirth?? Look now, don' get mad, honey, I'm just saying.

[karinova]

I've got MY original afterbirth right here in this bag; I don't see why he can't come up with his.

/parody

[HeavyHitter]

It was just a matter of time until the "afterbirthers" started coming out of the woodwork.

[edgeguy]

Lou's choice of stories are only about ratings.
About 2 years ago Lou had an newsworthy incident while he was speaking to a bunch of school children about his job.
The questions became interesting and Lou had a moment of honesty.
He actually told the kids it's not about anything but ratings.
If it will bring ratings I will discuss it.
If he loses ratings his job is over.

As long as people will tune in to watch him he will discuss anything.
It's not personal.
He's actually the opposite of crazy.
He's a fat unattractive man with imperfect teeth and has a top rated show.
Ya gotta hand it to him.

[MDhome]

I just came across information that said Lou Dobbs was a COMMIE in the 50's. What say you Lou? Are you a sleeper agent or what???

[Zigman61]

My birth certificate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for my birth in 1943 does not show the attending physician nor the hospital. It has my number, name, date of birth, city of birth. That's all. Plus a really pretty border pattern. Oh yes, a seal in the lower left corner, a name in the lower right corner of the Secretary of Health in the Commonwealth at that time. That's it. Nothing more. When will this madness end??

[morefromLA]

What madness? You're clearly not qualified to run for President. Tea, anyone? LOL!

[CessnaDriver]

Ronald Reagan was born at home...no doctor, no hospital. How do we know that his birth certificate was accurate? He could have been born in Canada and brought to Illinois and then had a birth certificate filed for him, right?

[karinova]

And this is where I feel the press (despite being lauded here) fell down on the birther issue. They spent a lot of time last week waving around the birth certificate and mocking birthers-- which, obviously, is good fun for us-- but none of them ever explained the thing that they're (ostensibly) so concerned about. I forget the actual terms right now, but my understanding is that the document with all that extra info and the doctor's wet signature and whatnot is NOT an official birth certificate; it's something else.

The thing the birthers don't understand is that NOBODY has their "original" birth certificate-- that is kept by the state, never to be released. (This is why the Hawaiian authorities keep saying "yes, he has a birth certificate; I've seen it." They're looking at the actual original-- which they cannot remove.) What they give you is an OFFICIAL copy, which looks somewhat different (and has probably changed a few times over the years. That is, a certificate requested in the, say, 1960s might look slightly different from one requested in the 1990s. Forms change.).

Even better, I wish some news outlet had simply gotten some Hawaiian to order up a birth certificate, followed the process from beginning to end, and displayed the results to the camera.

[Anastasia]

Great piece.

In addition to Lou Dobbs we need to thank Jon Stewart, who very nicely eviscerated Dobbs and the Birther movement.

And for a change, we need to thank the MSM too. It would be interesting to know what inspired them but I like to think that the passing of Walter Cronkite and the accolades he received, served as a teaching moment.

[CaLaWyer]

You beat me to the punch. You're correct that the person we should be thanking is not Lou Dobbs, but Jon Stewart. He's the one who throughly debunked the "birther" movement. If he had not done that, then Dobbs' B.S. would have gone unchallenged, and Rush and his clones would have been on the story like white on rice. So don't thank Dobbs, thank Stewart for, once again, doing the job that the real media should have been doing all along. Oh, and the next time you people in the media scratch your head and wonder why the public doesn't respect you anymore, you need look no further than this incident.

[SeymourButz]

well said.

[ContraEgoiste]

Don't know if I can give the MSM much credit. What they did was as risky and dificult, as sliping warm milk down a baby's throat. You are not taking any big stance nor risking much by saying the sky is blue.

Where are they on the realities of Health Care and not the propaganda and mis-information meted out by those who don't wnat to stop the status quo??

[human2008]

I can catch half a dozen right-wing radio shows while driving to and from work everyday and no liberal radio shows - wonder why ?

[Sassys]

Because the Liberals wont lie Human2008.

[CaLaWyer]

Because talk radio isn't for people who like to think for themselves. Talk radio is for people who need people like Rush, Hannity, Medved, O'Reilly, Hewitt, Savage, etc, to tell them what to think and how to "overcome" perfectly reasonable arguments against their positions.

[roald]

I wish I could say that. They do everything they accuse the conservatives of doing. They just don't do it as well and are willing to correct and apologize when the facts are known.

human2008 might not be able to catch the liberal shows because s/he does not know where they are, can't tell the difference between news programs and liberal programs, or lives in a place where the lemmings feel the need to reinforce each other.

[Questioner In Chief]

I guess some folks don't need anyone to do their thinking for them.

[bipolarbear]

Just a guess, but perhaps liberals aren't satisfied with whatever drivel pours from their radio and would rather listen to a talking book they purchased, a CD of their favorite music or any number of other options.

Ask anyone in the radio business and you will find that "talk radio" is the last ditch effort of the industry to salvage A.M. If you know anything about how ratings are calculated, you'll understand that the loyalty of those listeners is much more valuable to the ratings system than the actual number of listeners.

[AndSoItGoes]

Think that goes for the cable news also. There aren't any options on weekends when most of the working people can take a break and watch. F Fiction Network is on all week end. MSNBC does a great job during the week in the evening but then the network puts on those ridiculous prison / crime programs - just hate those.

[Zenith1959]

So this is like a day or so late, but libs know how to use an I-pod.

[idealisticNM]

Until I finally found Air America, I'd search in vain for a good, liberal talk show across the AM dial. I like to listen late at night, as I'm falling asleep. I learn so much.

But I wanted to share that despite me being biased--I am firmly on the left side of the issues--one thing I notice (and like) about left radio (Air America) is how civil and mellow it is. No screaming, no hyperventilating, no fearmonger­ing...even if Ron Reagan gets a call from someone on the right, he is calm, considerate, and thoughtful. If the rightwing caller gets overly nutty, Ron--and any other Air America host--just calmly says "well, our opinion differs. I respect your POV, but this is how I feel. Moving on..." I LOVE IT !
Whereas, when I'd be searching the AM dial in the past, the awful rightwinger hosts were nearly always screeching, getting hysterical, and condescendingly putting down everything and everyone with whom they did not agree. It was awful ! I could practically hear their blood vessels pop as I listened !

[idealisticNM]

p.s. . Laura Ingraham was the worst. Savage was pretty bad, too.

[igorz]

Ron Reagan Jr is proof that, as amazing as it might sound, Nancy Reagan was the brains of the family. Either that or he was adopted. He sure doesn't resemble Dad.

[WillCooney]

I'm not sure but, I seem to have read somewhere that Lou Dobbs was a member of the Communist Party in the late 50's.

Untrue but, my "Freedom of Speech" allows me to say it. Now, all I need are a couple of thousand people to read that statement and call for Lou Dobbs to prove that he was never a Communist.

[DG55]

You know, I read somewhere (it might have been your comment, but I'm not sure) that Lou Dobbs was a member of the Communist Party in the 50's. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but I know I read it somewhere.

[Polichick66]

And until Lou Dobbs can prove otherwise, I will believe what I know I've read about him somewhere.­..

[roald]

I looked it up on Google and found a reference (to your post,) proving it is true.

[huffy2001]

It's too bad, really. This was just the kind of loony bin issue that could have actually sunk them all. Wish they'd all pile on board...

[moonflowerjewelry]

what makes me grind my teeth is that these are the same people who praise their own mythical moral virtue all the while turning a blind eye to real suffering and injustice in this country. there is no "let's work together to make our little corner of the world a better place" (not that we progressives do a whole lot of that, either). there is no christian charity beyond tithing to the "pastor as rock star du jour"... no concern for the elderly except to lie to them so they'll be afraid a public health auction will send them to the gas chamber...
what a bunch of really messed up priorities

[Libbydoe]

For a few years in the mid to the late 70's the state of New Jersey issued birth certificates that did not include the name of the parents. When my son needed a passport, the passport office said his birth certificate was not adequate because it didn't contain his parents' names.

I had to contact Raritan County, where he was born, and have them issue a new certificate (naturally for a fee) in order to obtain his passport. Consquently, the certificate he now has was not issued at his birth but much later. Stuff happens. Not everyone has the birth certicate that was given to them at their birth.

[flhu]

Let's hope your son never wishes to run for President.­.. or any 70's NJ-born "American," (if, by Birther's definition, there are any) or we'll have to hear about this in another 20 years.

[Polichick66]

He'll be fine unless he is black.

[DemsDeBreaks]

Here's another reason Rush is running scared:

Orly Taitz, the "Lawyer" / "Dentist" / Real Estate agent who is leading the Birther controversy and filing lawsuits claiming Obama isn't our legal president.­..this woman is NOT a citizen of our country and is probably here illegally. She is a CITIZEN OF RUSSIA.

Her ‘law’ degree was obtained online from Willam Howard Taft, an online California law school that is UNACCREDITED with the State Bar of California and UNACCREDITED with the American Bar Association. The “law clerk” who helps her clog our courts with her nonsense is Charles Lincoln, who WAS a member of the Bar, although he has been DISBARRED in Texas, California, and Florida because of CONVICTIONS of FRAUD with five other felony charges.

Her “DDS” degree is supposedly from Hebrew University in Israel. No independent source has verified that she even attended school there, much less graduated. Her real estate license? Who cares? No independent source has been able to find any record of her immigration papers or citizenship, facts that should be in existence and publicly available.

Using Orly's own logic, examine her past and then look at her current anti-American activities (she is, after all, a RUSSIAN with a mail-order law degree who is trying to overthrow our presidency) there can be only one conclusion: She is a Communist spy!!

Someone in the media, PLEASE do an in-depth expose on this Russian woman!

Vladimir Putin is laughing his a$$ off at our gullibility.

[Donnat]

after reading all this, I don't know if she should be deported or if she should run for Michelle Bachman's seat.

[dirtfreak]

Since she's so 'close' to Russia, she should take over for Sarah.