Holy crap: Lou Dobbs foaming at the mouth nearly refers to Rice and Obama as "cotton-pickers"

[TheDonkey]

Excuse me. Why is Lou Dobbs still on the air?

I know Hillary supporters are now big Lou Dobbs fans but this man is outrageous.

Video of the "slip up": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y0W19-N3Ik

Please send CNN your comments about Dobbs racist and out-of-control behavior.

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/


From TV Newser today (3/31) on the story:

The Huffington Post caught a Lou Dobbs slip-up from Friday's Situation Room, when the CNN anchor almost used the term "cotton-picker" when referring to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Dobbs was commenting on what Rice had said regarding the "birth defect" of race in America. Dobbs disagreed with Rice, and brought in Sen. Barack Obama as well. "The reality is, this is the most socially, ethnically, religiously, racially diverse society on the face of the earth," he said.

Then, he began another thought. "Not a single one of these cotton pi...these just ridiculous politicians should be the moderator on the issue of race," he said toward the end of the soundbite.

Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/31/lou-dobbs-almost-calls-co_n_94301.html

[DerekJ]

1. OMG

Really Lou!! What's next the "N" word.

[TheDonkey]

3. He says that people are afraid to speak about race because it will be used against them

Yes, lou it will be used against you if you try to use racial slurs on national TV you fucking bigot. A disgusting man.

[Drachasor]

22. I don't think he was using a racial slur

I'm fairly certain he was going to say "cotton picking" which is used instead of a swear-word (like "dang"). He seemed to recognize it could be misinterpreted and so he didn't say it.

Btw, the racial slur is "cotton picker," for what it matters.

[joshcryer]

26. Yeah, I agree, but in a way perhaps catching himself did him more harm.

[NDambi]

38. He uses the word cotton picking all the time...when he's ranting..but I guess he

caught himself just in time...this time..

Man that would have really made the news cycle!!!

[skooooo]

2. Lou's such an expert on everything he speaks of..

:eyes:

[ecstatic]

4. lmao. Oh the irony.... nt

[anamandujano]

5. I don't watch him but I'd wager he uses that term a lot. He just

caught himself because he knew it would be racially tinged.

There are a lot of phrases that are in our language, cliches that are now in deep focus. I'm still trying to figure out how "fairy tale" fits into this group.

[TheDonkey]

8. I will explain the "fairy tale" slur

It was incredibly dismissive, beyond all belief, as if Obama winning or being realistically involved in this process would be a "fairy tale" because he was black and this has never happened before and people are constantly saying how it would never happen. Incredibly patronizing and insulting as a result.

I'd assume a similar reaction would occur if Obama had gotten on stage and called Hillary Clinton's campaign a "fairy tale." Women would offended and rightfully so for the same reasons that most have loudly dismissed the notion of a woman president and we've never had a serious chance of ever getting one imo.

I assume you do not need an explanation as to why "cotton picker" is extremely offensive and has no place coming out of someone's mouth in that context.

[anamandujano]

11. The fairy tale comment was about his stance on the war, proclaiming

he was against it when he didn't have a vote, excusing Kerry and Edwards by admitting he had never seen the intel, so he didn't know how he would have voted, and then voting to fund whenever he had the chance.

From what I understand, Dobbs did not say it, but caught himself, knowing it would be bad.

[joshcryer]

15. Of course he knew it would be bad! He was just staying how racially charged this campaign is!

He's an idiot for allowing his inner language, whether kind or not, to come out that way. He stumbled when he caught himself. This won't die and he will likely be fired.

[Florida22ndDistrict]

59. re:

I don't watch CNN unless I want hurricane coverage during a storm that affects me, but I do know that Dobbs is their cash cow and he will not be fired over that. It's obvious that the term was being used in a different context then what the OP is proposing. He caught himself halfway through knowing that it would be used against him in the way he was just previously discussing.

[MonkeyFunk]

25. Wrong.

The fairy tale comment wasn't about Obama himself or his campaign - it was about his story on how he'd vote on the war. And being dismissive of an opponent is not racist.

[Ravy]

51. The problem was that Bill Clinton said nothing of the kind.

He said what people thought of Obama's war credentials, based on his speech in 2002, which he removed from his website to run for Senate in 2003, to his statements for Kerry and the IWR vote in 2004, to his votes to fund... his anti-war credentials were a fairy tale.

This is what started a huge Obama downturn for me, personally, although I was an Edwards supporter at the time. Now I don't care which wins, only that a Dem takes the WH.

[Rageneau]

6. He was gonna say, "cotton-picking, finger-licking, chicken pluckers..."

But decided it was too dangerous to try to say on live TV.

[anamandujano]

10. Actually you said that. Being for Obama gives you license to speak

your inner racist.

[DerekJ]

23. Is there anything you (Hillary's supporters) won't defend or twist?!!

Fox news is fair and balanced?!!
Pandering to "Scaife" was a great move.
Racist comments are "fairy tales".
Teenage moms are not suffering.
Bosnia wasn't a lie.
Ireland Peace wasn't an exaggeration.
Hillary was against NAFTA.
Kosovo was the complete truth.
DOMA is defensible, but Mcclurkin isn't.
She is really busy, she can't get her tax returns for the past 6 years.
She doesn't have any shady ties with PACs or lobbyists.
She is not financed by them.
Richardson was Judas.
She has no ties to the NeoCons.
The Clintons made their 40 Million dollars from speeches, and books.
Her library donor list and earmarks will be squeaky clean; she is just baiting Obama to ask for them.
Hillary's kitchen sink strategy against a democrat is fair play.
Hillary never meant to disfranchise Mi & FL.

Where does it stop?!!

[anamandujano]

29. Rageneau is using racist language and pretending that Dobbs thinks

or says this stuff. That is bull crap. Why are you changing the subject?

[SwampG8r]

34. its just Clinton Projection Syndrome

or CPS
it is evidenced by taking facts and reversing them to fit the argument
thereby framing it to your advantage

ie:
obama's supporters keep repeating their new rules for super-delegates = trying to game the rules at every opportunity to defy the democratic process and constantly move the goalposts
obama lies= snipergate
obama is in with the RW = press conference kissy faces with the MSM and Sciafe
obama is bad for the party = endorse the republican over obama
obama is tearing the party apart = tear the party apart with attacks on fellow dems by carville et al.


i think you see the pattern of CPS and probably have examples of CPS in action.
but
it isnt all bad,you can help
a small donation to obama 08 will help to return the center of this horrible dysfunction to chapaqua NY where hopefully it can be quarantined and cured.

[JVS]

7. cotton picking politicians, eh?

:rofl:

Smooth move Lou!

[Drachasor]

That said "cotton picking" can be used like "darn" or "dang" -- not necessarily a racial slur

It's a type of southern (and in some cases rural, I suppose) slang to avoid swearing.

Given how he was born in Texas and live there until he was 12, then moved to Idaho, he probably came by this idiom naturally.

Now, if he was going to call them "cotton pickers" then that's a completely different matter. We don't, however, know what he was going to say, and therefore should give him the benefit of the doubt.

For the record, I don't much care for much of what Lou Dobbs says.

[TexasLady]

40. true,

Grandma really was a cotton picker, and used the term all the time.
lol, but he was 'fixin' to say it.

[rox63]

41. I've heard it used like this: Just wait one cotton-picking minute...

Perhaps that what he meant. But I won't deny that Dobbs is a racist.

[Celebration]

54. agreed, but

Its origin is racial, for sure. Cotton pickers are the same as "damned." We just don't think about it. What is so interesting is that this very statement negates the point that Dobbs was trying to make (no more racism in this country, etc.)

As long as a long of us say that, without thinking about it, there is racism--just not necessarily overt--it is "unthinking".

[OzarkDem]

62. Very true

as in "now just a cotton-pickin' minute"...

[JVS]

9. Oh, one more thing. When Condoleezza Rice is saying stuff about race that's pissing off...

windbags like Dobbs it's a sign of progress. This shows that even black people who are part of a republican administration are not willing to simply shut up and do what they're told.

[depakid]

12. "Why is Lou Dobbs still on the air?"

Because some still watch and comment on him.

Despite the fact that he (and CNN) have no problem looking right into the camera and lying to you.
-------

Got leprosy?

errrr... toma leche?

[totodeinhere]

31. Because he has the highest rated show on CNN.

[LaurenG]

13. You know, my family used that term all the time

but not as a racial slur. "Wait just a cotton pickin minute". We all assumed it was a replacement for a cuss word.

Our world is a strange place, people will find offense wherever and whenever they think it'll give them a leg up or a reason to cut down or criticize. I'm ok with Lou Dobbs on some things not so much on others.

When will we all just get a grip?

[JVS]

17. I've heard it a lot as a euphemism for "god damned" but rarely applied to people...

and to apply that term to people whose ancestors may very well have been forced to pick cotton at the end of a whip is displaying gross insensitivity. Especially when you are talking about being unable to comfortably discuss racial issues.

[Drachasor]

19. giving him a little credit, he recognized and stopped saying it halfway through

So I think he realized that in his given context using "cotton picking" was not a good idea.

The racial slur of it is calling someone a "cotton picker", which is quite a different thing.

[Krashkopf]

69. That's right, lets give the Mother F . . . the guy . . . a little credit

[LaurenG]

30. True somewhat

I don't care for ill will based on minor misstatements, I try really hard not to take offense from those types of errors. I can sometimes tell where the person is coming from and whether or not they were meaning their misstatements the way they are often interpreted. Maybe Lou Dobbs is just flat out racist and if that is the case he should get out of the MSM.

I didn't think Obama's statement about punishment was a big deal, or Paster Wrights statements and I don't think this was so horrible either. We are certainly having to take a look at the hidden meanings and decide if we as a society will allow this type of thing to go on any longer. We are going through some growing pains as a society and that I do think is good. Perhaps we can come out on the other side much kinder and wiser for it.

[OzarkDem]

64. Agree, everyone needs to relax

and focus on issues, McCain, etc.

We have two pretty good candidates who are head and shoulders above anything the GOP has to offer. There's no need to tear each other apart.

[joshcryer]

14. HOLY FUCK. FIRE HIM NOW.

Holy shit!

OMFG, he totally owned himself! This is huge!

[anamandujano]

18. Ok, whoever you are, what did you do with Josh?

[joshcryer]

24. You have to realize I consider the MSM dispicible, able to eat its own.

The Obama people will be writing in to CNN within hours, and it will go on all day today, similarily as to how the Hillary people got that one guy fired for his "Chelsea is a whore" comment.

When the Bosnia thing hit it barely made any news, no one cared, but then the MSM caught the feaver and pow, it made the news and was talked about all day.

He'll be fired.

(And sorry, just because I defend Hillary doesn't mean I defend the term "cotton picking" just as much as I don't defend using "punsihment" as terminology to refer to unplanned pregnancies or STDs, those are right wing code words.)

[anamandujano]

28. I don't care if he gets fired but I do think he was just talking normal,

unfortunately on TV at the time.

I tend to doubt Hillary got that guy fired. She didn't ask for it. I doubt her supporters deluged the studio like the Bamabots will. MSNGE probably wanted to get rid of him and saw their chance.

I think it's an impossible task to try to take out all those hokey phrases from our language. If a comment is not meant as a slur, it should be forgiven. Jesse Jackson defended that lady who owned the basketball team and used a slur (name? Madge something) saying she shouldn't be singled out for institutionalized racism. This isn't even that, it's a stupid couple of words. Nobody even thinks of people who pick cotton when they hear it.

[crankychatter]

16. Dobbs Bashing Kindasleezy now?

I've never liked her more.

[anamandujano]

20. Yeah, she's pretty cool, screwed up her first job badly and got a promotion.

[K Gardner]

21. People from the south, older generation, typically use the phrase "cotton

pickin'" as an adjective, i.e., "Now, wait just a cotton pickin' minute!" I still hear this today from people from more rural, mountainous areas of Tennessee. It's a handed-down phrase and I've never heard it used as a "slur". That was the first thing I thought when I heard the cut-out on Dobbs... that he was getting ready to say something like: "Cotton pickin' politicians" and using it as an adjective, however poorly thought-out that would have been. BUT...

Hell, I am from the South.. have heard this phrase all my life, still hear it today, have family who used it.. and its not even something *I* would slip and say ! Is Dobbs a closet rural Southerner? I don't think so, so why is this something he would use?

I'd like to hear him explain what it was he "almost said" and why.

[susankh4]

35. Me too....

Gadz. Why don't folks get a life and quit the cotton pickin' pickin'?



:rofl:

[Whisp]

65. let's examine the phrase. To me, this is what it means...

cotton pickers were lowly field labourers, mostly black and slaves, iirc.
I think it was used originally in this context, to insult someone or some idea as 'cotton-picking' - as beneath 'us' (spoken from a white frame of mine).

Over the years, as a lot of phrases do, it's developed into something less than the original but still has roots. Language and meanings change all the time, eg. that Shuster 'pimp' thing. I don't think he was really calling anyone a prostitute, but the real meaning of pimp is, a pimp. Can you imagine Walter Cronkite using this word, no. But Dobbs caught himself because he's of a generation that may well remember what 'cotton-picker' origins are.

I'm not a wordmiester but this is what I think. I'm sure there are people here than can explain it in further detail.

[cooolandrew]

27. Some broadcastsers belong in the 1800s wtf. Too sad for words. Tune them out folks except olberman.

[izzybeans]

32. His face when he says it portrays the way white people in Southern Indiana used that term

when I was a kid. It is not race neutral and you could see it in his wild eyes.

[goodgd_yall]

67. Thanks

that's the kind of insight needed here.

The guy goes nuts about illegal immigrants; I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he said what he said.

[UALRBSofL]

33. Just let it sink

Is all I need to say

[40ozDonkey]

36. I saw this when it happened a few days ago...

...he went off on a rant that barely allowed him to breathe.

It was absoutely hilarious to me how angry he was, spewing that racial over-sensitivty prevented people from honestly and openly talking about racial issues on TV shows, then he goes and just about calls the politicians who kneejerk on racial issues, "Cottonpi-"

And then he stopped, blustered, and said something else.

He's not only an idiot, he's a hypocrite. If he advocates what he...advocates.. he would have said "These cottonpickin' politicians don't know jack squat" and then smiled triumphantly at a shocked and awed Wolf Blitzer. Of course, Lou's not serious, he's just outraged.

I wished I'd had Tivo or any DVR. I had no way to share that moment until now. Rock on. :toast:

[EffieBlack]

37. I'm no Lou Dobbs fan & I think his point was idiotic (yet typical) but I don't think this was a slur

I think he was getting ready to say "these cotton-picking politicians" - using "cotton-picking" as an adjective he and other probably often use - and then caught himself, realizing how it might be interpreted if he was describing black people this way.

Not a slur, just a slip.

[readmoreoften]

46. You're a lot more forgiving then I am, Effie.

I don't trust Lou Dobbs when it comes to racism.

[BeyondGeography]

39. He almost committed suicide there...dayum

If he had just added "pickin'" he could have been fired. You can almost see his brain send a message to his mouth: "you say 'pickin' and you'll really have done it now, fat boy."

[workinclasszero]

42. Mr "Independent" Lou Dobbs is just another racist rethugligan in disguise (nt)

[Coexist]

43. wow Lou, are you going to be attacked by the media

for a phrase that you wish you could take back?

Oh, the irony.

[Lou Queb]

44. This show is unwatchable...

Does he think he is a journalist ? All he does is ranting and rambling on the air. He's always right and the world is filled with idiots. He's very opinionated and ''xenophobic'', I disagree with his stance on immigration and immigrants accommodation. haw...enough

[readmoreoften]

45. That's fucking horrific, but why did you add...

"I know Hillary supporters are now big Lou Dobbs fans but this man is outrageous."

Why do you include all Clinton supporters in Dobb's racism? Why use a disgusting, racist statement to make a dig at another candidate's supporters? If a RW MSM host said "that bitch needs gang-raping" would it be okay to start the post with "I know that you Obama supporters like Host X but this is outrageous."

Dobbs is a racist asshole who needs to be fired IMMEDIATELY. But please don't insinuate that Clinton supporters are somehow connected to Dobb's comments. It's a cynical use of a hurtful slander that dehumanizes a whole swath of our population.

[goodgd_yall]

68. Hear, hear.

As a Hillary supporter, I'd like to say I detest the man's xenophobic rabidness.

[Romulox]

47. Niggardly, call-a-spade-a-spade redux...

We are at a point where the real sources of racial oppression are rarely discussed (for-profit prison industry, e.g.) But we are all waiting for a "GOTCHA!" moment where any word or phrase that can be mistaken as offensive can be seized upon, and the dictionary be damned!

This does not seem to me to be progress...

[The Backlash Cometh]

48. That's pretty scary. Even for us who understand the source of his

disagreement with dark skinned people of all cultures.

[Bread and Circus]

49. That seems really bad to me. I'm still puzzled why CNN is going for the "Archie Bunker" demographic.

Lou Dobbs should be off the air.

[1776Forever]

50. I have all ready sent a couple of emails for other comments he has made. He is a legend in his mind

He is going way overboard lately. I don't watch his show very often and when I do I don't stay long. He has said that he would consider running as an Independent for the Presidency. I think he is getting way too obnoxious in his thoughts lately! He is definitely anti-Obama and goes on and on about him in almost every show!

:argh:

[Willo]

52. Lou Dobbs makes it obvious he doesn't like Obama

which I found suprising. I've been on the fence about Dobbs since.

My own bias in that regard, along with the OP's post made it easy for me to listen to the clip and hear a racist comment.

But, I didn't. He was just about to swear is all. Even if he completed the words, replace them with f***ing, dumb ass, or stupid.

Believe me, I kinda of wanted to hear him say something racist just to confirm my suspicions. (I admit that)

HE SAID NOTHING WRONG. Nothing to see hear folks. Can we all just stop with this cheapshots.

[Celebration]

53. LOL

That was funny. Lucky for him that he caught himself. If he hadn't, he would be gone.

[goodhue]

55. He needs to go

Lou has long overstayed his welcome conventional wisdom pundit.

[Marie26]

56. Dobbs & Buchanan

Why are these racists still on the air? It's hard to say that CNN & MSNBC are any better than Fox News when they employ commentators like this.

[DemVet]

71. Racists equals....

...people you don't agree with.

[Marie26]

73. Uh, no

Racists are people who use public airwaves to spew hate-filled rants against people of a different race. Which is pretty much what Dobbs & Buchanan have based their careers on. What an ignorant comment.

[Danger Mouse]

77. Buchanan recently said that white people were the best thing to ever happen to black people.

And that being brought to America (AS SLAVES) was good for them, and they should be grateful.
YOU GOING TO TRY TO DEFEND THAT SHIT?

[olkaz]

57. He was going to say cottonpickin' which isn't racist.

I've heard people use that word for all kinds of things.

"I can't get my cottonpickin' shoes on!"

"This cottonpickin' piece of junk won't start!"

Seriously, there's a lot more stuff to go after him with than this manufactured crap.

[Freedom Train]

60. Exactly

And then he stopped mid-track as he realized on the fly that it could be construed as racist, especially since he was talking about Rice. Alas, it was too late. Construed it was.

I don't really fault Dobbs for it. I think the rest of what he said was good.

[TheDonkey]

61. It's racist.

All those pharses are racially tinged even if the person saying it does not realize it but calling a black person a "cotton picking" something something is EXTREMELY racist.

[DemVet]

70. Nope. Get over it.

[RememberWellstone]

66. It beats saying effin' on the air

I think we are little tooo touchy about this.

[Araxen]

58. Wow Lou is truly trying to be the left wing O'Reilly

racial slurs and all now. scary stuff CNN.

[cornermouse]

63. I suppose when it gets posted tomorrow, it will be said that

Dobbs has rabies?

[Cha]

72. Fuck off lou dobbs and take your

race baiting assholes with ya.

[Danger Mouse]

74. Captain Bigotry shows his true colors...stops himself but too little too late.

The hood and sheet were firmly in place.

[Catherine Vincent]

75. He should get suspended for that!

Even though he caught himself, it's clear that's what he was going to say. :mad:

[BzaDem]

76. Not all Hillary supporters like Lou Dobbs. n/t

[Andromeda]

78. Hurry, hurry, hurry...

and send an e-mail to that bad, bad Lou Dobbs and scold him for something he ALMOST said.

How lame.

[elixir]

79. Because he didn't say it. You Obamaphiles must be nervous or you

wouldn't be reading the tea leaves to get to this point. I guess I can relax knowing that Hillary has Obama on his heels.