Lou Dobbs was against alien amnesty before he was for it

In the surest sign yet that the newly former CNN talker seriously plans to enter politics, Lou Dobbs has already flip-flopped on the question of amnesty for people illegally living in this country.

Having created much of his fame and infamy out of controversial statements on the unacceptable presence of an estimated 12 million undocumented workers in this country and the federal government's ineptitude in addressing the problem, here's what Dobbs now says:

We need the ability to legalize illegal immigrants under certain conditions.

His surprising switcheroo barely two weeks after departing his network of nearly 30 years came during an interview with the Spanish-language network Telemundo, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Dobbs, a Texas native and graduate of Harvard, lives on a 300-acre farm in northwest New Jersey, where he could run for a U.S. Senate seat. 

Or possibly launch a presidential bid for 2012, trying to tap into the kinds of conservative populist anger that has confounded the Republican party and fueled so-called "tea parties" across the country this year, protesting taxes, spending and deficits.

"Whatever you have thought of me in the past," Dobbs told Telemundo's Maria Celeste the other day, "I can tell you right now that I am one of your greatest friends and I mean for us to work together. I hope that will begin with Maria and me and Telemundo and other media organizations and others in this national debate that we should turn into a solution rather than a continuing debate and factional contest."

The Garden State usually votes firmly Democratic. But earlier this month voters there rejected the reelection  Democrat Gov. Jon Corzine -- who had ample money and the frequent campaign support of President Obama -- and elected a Republican on a "taxes-are-too-high" platform.

The next U.S. Senate election in New Jersey comes in 2012, when incumbent Democrat Robert Menendez is up for reelection for the first time.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Screen shot of Lou Dobbs on CNN. Credit: Tony Pierce / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[P Revere]

What a surprise, the LA Times is trying to throw an American under the bus for his views on illegal immigration. It must be because your readership are mostly illegal aliens at this point. If they start actually enforcing the laws, your newspaper would just fold.

[mmaza]

Flip flopper.

[frank burns]

Good for him.

[Quacker McDuck]

Certainly a little sweet talk from Lou will make every latino in New Jersey foget about the past ten years of demagoguery and race-baiting.

[james huffer]

this the same dobbs who heartily approved of all the insider churning that put obama in the mess of trying to right the sinking ship created by the god fearing born again "conservative" repblicans. sarah palin has company in the americans are stupid fools school of thought. i went against almost all his grand advice and made a fortune just playing the republican criminal greed card. thanks lou, and fairwell as you drift into well deserved obscurity.

[Carlitos]

LOU:
I'm very sorry that CNN turned on you and forced you out for speaking your mind!

You have always stood up for the little guys but now you're looking at amnesty? Why would you do such a thing? 'Illegal' is simply that and nothing more. Please explain this to me so I can continue to support your honesty & integrity.

Thank you,
Carlitos

[Fuready]

Let's see what he has to say in an interview with Fauxnews.

[fredy]

I really don't know what to make of this whole thing, Lou Doubts now says he is a friend of what? after fueling and fanning hatred across the country all these years? you now claim to be the solution? I like all immigrants should treat this with all the contempt is deserves, he is a BIG LIAR and a HYPOCRITE, we know your intensions and where you are going to, you think you can PUSH AND PULL illegal immigrants at the same time?, now that you want votes, suddenly illegals are your friends? Hmm I didn't know it was that easy to make friends, particularly with hispanics, Good luck MR. DOUBTS

[PrattR]

In order for LD to have any credibility, he needs to give a reason for the sudden change of heart. For so many years, he has taken such a hard-line approach on this issue, and now flip, looks like nothing but politics, and not a real change of view on the issue. I must also state, LD as also lost even more credibility with issues like the birther garbage, and acted like a MAD-DOG, fighting for a bone. Personally, I like the guy, but on many issues, when it comes to credibility, if there is no “UPSIDE” to the fight, drop it and move on.

[HW]

He's just mastering one of the essential skills of politics: completely changing what you support to whatever is politically expedient. Lou is a populist hack. Here's hoping he goes nowhere.

[Buddesatva]

Lou Dobbs is an idiot without help from the LA Times. I suspect many other people are tired of the smarmy, sarcasm that has come to characterize what we now call the 'news media'. How about showing us something different?

[nickd]

Lou Dobbs 2012...........We are behind ya Lou....

[Jack]

Gee, what a surprise! Another biased liberal twiste from the Times. Who reads this rag, anyway?

[bob]

hahahahahahahaha let me laugh at Lou Dobbs 's face.Its interesting how some public figure in this country dont know how to let it go quietly.Simply retire.There is that streak for a need to overachieve.A lot of people in this country dont age that well mentally.
I suppose in the case of Lou Dobbs he may think he could have done a lot better in his life.In that case what did nt you run for President 20 years ago, joker.
Just go home and enjoy the short rest of your life....

[Tyred Ob'shat]

I used to like this guy. Now, well, now you find out he's a maggot. Just like all of the other lying vote whores. What a piece of crap.

[john]

Stupid right wingers

[lou]

I was a big fan of this guy until this shocking flipflop. Imagine how many voters he lost by condoning amnesty after being the leading critic for years.

[DJ]

Just by reading the title, I thought it meant extraterrestrials, haha.

[john]

Don't trust him. The fox changes his skin but not its habits.

[DemVet]

The next hypocrite narcissist politician in the making. Lou if you think you will garner any Latino support by lying about who you are to them you are sadly mistaken. Our fastest growing portion of the electorate is not a bunch of sheep that you can round up. To put it simply we don't forget and are proud of our support for the Democratic party of which you will never be a member. We don't want to join the Repugnicans that had fake Latinos at the Mc Cain convention with signs that read Latino for Mc Cain and when approached they answered with a southern twang I was just told to hold up the sign I am from name the Red State trailer park. You may run as an independent and I hope you do and blow through the entire 8 million CNN paid you to get you out of their hair. Senator Menendez is a bright articulate Cuban American who worked his way up out of the inner city all the way to the U.S. Senate by virtue of his hard work I am certain he will slaughter your bid for his seat but hey if you are bored go for it. The Hispanics know who has our backs and you sir are not even near that category. Obamanos!

[Ali]

Illegal aliens already HAVE the ability to legalize under certain conditions. Problem is, they don't want to follow those rules either. Why would we expect that they'd think they should wait until their U.S.-born kid is grown and can sponsor them? Why would we expect that they'd think they should have to go back to their home country and get their U.S.-citizen spouse to apply for a hardship waiver for them? And why would we expect that employers, who were given the chance to sponsor illegal aliens under 245(i) which ended in 2001, should actually be held accountable and responsible for legalizing the labor they claim they need so badly? Fact is, illegal aliens and those who hire them simply don't want to have to wait in line the way LEGAL immigrants do, and don't want to be held accountable for the fact that they chose to break the law.

[Lou Dobbs is part of the problem]

Thats great. Spend a decade dividing the nation, and THEN talk about patching things up and making it a better place to live. You can't make your career about dividing people and expect people to pay attention to you. You reap what you sow, period.

[Marty B. / Haslet,TX]

Lou Dobbs sounds like he would make a good politician, the very kind of politician he claims to loathe. Waffles on the issues ( Now wanting to befriend the latino community,when votes are at stake), and in reality because of things like this he is an example of the kind of government officials & leaders we DO NOT need. It didn't take long after listening to his show on CNN that he was a "wolf in sheeps clothing" while claiming to be an Independent.
I hope Mr. Dobbs just fades away !!!!!!

[Bruce Weik]

Dobbs is a has-been. He is no more sympathetic to Latinos than Rush Limbaugh would be. He has ranted and raved for years about how horrible it is that they sneak across the border and take our jobs and use our tax dollars. A Latino who would vote for Dobbs is a Latino that needs to go back to school Actually, anyone who would vote for Dobbs would be someone who could use a brain scan.

[Ron Powell]

Well Lou, How dare you! You spoke of these people as if they were disease carrying mosquitoes, you called them dangerous criminals who wanted to reclaim the southwest, a burden to our health care, you gave a forum to white supremacist groups like the minutemen, even the greasy- retard broken-English-illiterate-Nazi Joe Vento was your guess at one point. Now, to use your own lingo you come pandering the same people you made life miserable for. I question your integrity.

[Harvey]

This is absolutely ridiculous! Does this guy think that people will forget his repeated distortions and lies? He has made his career on demonizing Hispanic illegal aliens, while completely ignoring illegal aliens from Russia and the European continent. He advocated building a wall between North and South America, yet apparently saw no reason what so ever to build one between Canada and the USA even though every terrorist who entered this country either arrived on a plane from Europe or over the Canadian border. The man is a blatant racist!

[Vinnie Gibbs]

Illegal entry aside, there are many who've entered the country legally, have applied for work visa sponsorships or are beneficiaries of family visas. This group of immigrants has abided by the law and yet are still waiting years or even decades to get their green cards. Should they be put in the same boat as those who entered illegally? The backlogs and processing wait times are so extensive and long, that 15, 20 years later, they're still waiting to start their life. It's a waste of the intellectual, social and financial capital they bring to society, despite following the law. It's a loss to the US as a whole to not benefit from their valuable contribution. By denying immigration reform, you're rightfully punishing those who enter illegally, but wrongfully punishing those who have followed the law.

[Lou Dobbs a True American!!!]

Lou Dobbs stands for the middle class and what's best for America.

Question~ Why should illegals get to vote, have Driver's licenses, etc...

They are here illegally...We need to have borders and true rules....

God Bless America and Jesus Christ- Which obama is a muslim

[Carrie]

Dobbs is such a liar. If he said grass was green, I wouldn't believe him. Like so many other Republicans who have been fired, he now wants a government job. Go away, Lou. You are not fit to hold public office!

[Jen1]

Oh my.

Can't wait to see how the Hispanic population of NJ will react. All these years of hating Mexicans! He will be torn to shreds.

What a racist bastard he is. Now he needs the Mexicans. Hahahahaha. I guess he didn't think he would be begging Mexicans now did he. This is a fair warning to all immigrant haters.

[JMT]

I TAKE BACK EVERY GOOD THING I EVER SAID ABOUT DOBBS b/c it turns out that he is JUST another TRAITOR b/c of his CAPITULATION to ILLEGAL ALIENS & their supporters by joining their ranks just so he can win against an Hispanic in a run for political office. The evidence of his BETRAYAL is when he said TWICE that he NOW supports amnesty (oh, naturally he didn't use the EXACT word amnesty but that IS what he meant when he said that we need to "legalize illegal immigrants under certain conditions"...say it anyway you want Lou but it's still calling for AMNESTY.

SHAME ON HIM & SHAME ON US FOR BELIEVING IN HIM. Our family (immediate & extended) is made up of naturally born & LEGITIMATELY NATURALIZED citizens & HE SLAPPED ALL OF US RIGHT IN THE FACE!!!