I just trashed Condi on the post talking about potential VP's, but I was impressed with her on this point she made. Has Lou Dobbs any understanding of the long lasting effects of slavery, Jim Crow, governmental and institutional racis, discrimination, prejudice, etc.? The societal problems of today are descended from that. If nothin else, it created economic inequality that has made problems tougher to solve.

And today's blame the victim mentality where everyone conveniently dismisses the children who are cought in a cycle of poverty with little chance of being able to beat the odds of escaping it.

Lou Dobbs is so clueless about the real world its not funny. I agree that we have come a long way as a country and have a lot to be proud of as a country, but there is a lot more that we can make better.

Quiz for Lou Dobbs: How many black US Senators are there? What is the percentage of CEO's of Fortune 500 companies? What is the average salary for black workers versus white workers?

Lou Dobbs is a clueless moron. I remember when he was whining about the accounting firm Aurthur Anderson being put out of business because they covered up Enron's fraudulent accounting. What a joke this delusional moron is.

The only thing I would add to your comment, hammer, is that though Dobbs may be delusional, he is sincere. The man is exactly the same off-air, as on-air.

Sincerity is no excuse for stupidity.

to the editor:

So Dobbs is an arrogant, immflamatory, buffoon off the air also?

Listen, I have seen Dobbs do some decent reporting, but he is also all of the above.

If you would like me to say something positive about him, here: In the midst of all of the immflamatory sensationalistic "reporting" he is doing about illegal immigration (never offering workable solutions, by the way)he has repeatedly advocated for the release and dismissal of charges against the two US border agent, Ramos and Campion, who were railroaded by a misguided US attorney.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/17/Dobbs.July18/index.html

Lou Dobbs represents the middle class? He is a Harvard educated guy who has a daughter named "Buffy" (no, seriously, look it up)... He's a modern day William Jennings Bryan, or just another douchebag who is antiquated in his ideas. As Bill Maher said it best, in 20 years when his face is melting off of his head due to extreme climate change, maybe he will think "Maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time on the Mexicans."

Just a couple comments:

1. "Cotton pickin'" may have a racist origin (it seems obvious, although I don't know for certain), but the way I learned it was just as another way of preventing yourself from swearing. It was never used as a reference to any particular racial group, but simply a rhetorical equivalent of "gee whiz" or "darn blasted" or other such euphemism for swearing. That is clearly the manner in which he was using it -- to make it a potentially racist statement is quite a stretch.

2. Anonymous at 1:34 referenced "extreme climate change". I just think its funny that "they" don't refer to "global warming" anymore. I guess after one too many "global warming" summits, conferences, hearings, etc. got cancelled due to blizzards that they realized they needed to call it something else. Now, anytime the weather changes (it's hot! it's cold! it's different than yesterday!) somehow it's all because of (*gasp*) "climate change"! How amusing.

Calm down, liberal idiots:

"Cotton-picking was first recorded in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but the noun meaning "contemptible person" dates to around 1919, probably with racist overtones that have faded over the years."
--
source: Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=cotton+pickin&searchmode=none

There is NO issue here.

I am no fan of CNN, however, what he is saying was absolutely true. We do have a fear of recrimination over what we may say, not talking about a fear of talking about race.

This is a perfect example. some are calling him racist, saying he was saying this about Condie Rice. If you listen he wasn't. He was saying ANY politician that tries to define what you can say about race should not be a moderator in a discussion about it.

As another poster said on here, saying "Cotton Picking" is just another way to keep from swearing.

To the poster that said "It's not a stretch at all! In the southern U.S., there's only one word that follows the phrase "Cotton Pickin'"...

Dobbs basically called her a nigger without saying it aloud.". You must be living in a different south than what I am. I have lived in the south most of my life and I have heard many people say cotton picking and have never heard the word you seem to say is always after it be that word. I have heard it be anything from a car to the door on the house. But NEVER what you are saying.

> In the southern U.S., there's only one word that follows the phrase "Cotton Pickin'"...
> Dobbs basically called her a nigger without saying it aloud.

I've lived in the south all my life, nearly 50 years, and I have NEVER heard the "N Word" follow "Cotton Pickin'". And I'd have smacked anyone that DID use it. The only words I've ever heard following "Cotton Pickin'" is along the lines of "fur-bearin' varment", since, as one person pointed out, most people most likely learned the term from a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Please don't take what you THINK you know and try to make it historical fact, just to suit your own prejudices.

I think this whole thing is ridiculous. I dont know who Lou Dobbs is but if he is on CNN then he's probably a liberal. Buut seriously, despite the fact that I would love to see a liberal hammered for a racist remark, He stopped himself and probably because he thought that he would be pegged as a racist. Seriously cut the guy some slack.

Also, I am from the south and it is not until this moment that i equated "cotten pickin" with a racist remark in any fashion.

Also, would this even e a big deal if he wasn't white? I don't think so.

Lou as a Hispanic woman I stopped watching your show because of your racist views. Now with the Coni "cotton" oops remark, is a Gotcha!!

Brazil is more diverse than USA. Dobbs is wrong at least about that.

We are in an era where the outrage about what somebody thinks somebody said (or meant) far exceeds common sense.

In the interest of perspective, I think Lou is probably just a crackerhead.

I looked that up too and its true meaning is not related to race, but it probably is offensive to some white people who have been called crackerheads. I have been called a crackerhead and the person who said it seemed angry.

It doesn't bother me since crackerhead simply means somebody who says something stupid.

"Word Rage" is on!

I wasn't saying that Dobbs was correct, just that he actually believes what he is saying. I've heard several people say that the whole Dobbs-immigration thing is a ratings gimmick but he talks about this stuff all the time off-air as well.

The most amazing thing to me in this whole string of comments is that nobody has mentioned, or seems to have a problem, with the fact that CNN has published a "transcript" that obviously is BOGUS.

So much for "the most trusted name in news".

Hey Hammer,

in response to your question, 43 out of 525 members of congress (house and senate) are african-american. that's about 8% of our leaders in congress, compared to about 14% of the general population. clearly there are not as many as there could be, but there are a lot of people of black heritage who have successfully established themselves as leaders of our legislative branch.

Liberal idiots? I guess I am a liberal, whatever that means, but I am no idiot. I don't see what the fuss is about, anyway. It doesn't sound to me that he meant anything by it. As far as Lou Dobbs and CNN being liberal, ummm no. They are not. The whole idea of labeling people liberal or conservative seems silly to me. I don't know why it finds a place here in this conversation. There are opinions, and there are facts, and no individual faction owns the truth.

My thing about Lou Dobbs is that he lives in an elevated strata of society where he meets and works with professional black people every day, and everyone is civil, just like in any professional environment. He is not down with us regular people in regular jobs and neighborhoods where the divides and wounds on both sides are ignored until something comes alon to inflame them, like Jeremiah Wright's video clips.

He thinks the black underclass is there because they want to be, and that there is nothing to be done for that.

So his attitude is that the "ignorant blacks" are in the underclass because they want to be or brought it on themselves, and look at all these "clean, polit blacks here at CNN"....I don't see any problems with race!

Just the tone of his arrogant voice as he insisted there is "no problem talking about race here" spoke volumes. He really feels that he is enlightened I guess, and unfortunately he is like an ostrich with his head in the sand.

Also, I didn't concern my comments at all with the cotton picking thing. That was (sad)funny though. My main issue was with his arrogant statement trying to minimize what Condi CORRECTLY stated about the history of race in America.

To the guy with the Congress statistics, good answer, though I asked about the US Senat: one out of 100, or 1 percent, right?