CNN's Howard Kurtz Criticizes CNN's Lou Dobbs For Giving Airtime To 'Birther' Conspiracies

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 5:00 AM on July 27, 2009.

Last week, ThinkProgress noted that CNN’s Lou Dobbs is one of the most high-profile “birthers” in America, continuing to demand that Obama present a “long form” birth certificate to prove his citizenship. Dobbs’ focus on the story has been so bad that CNN President Jon Klein eventually sent an e-mail to staffers of “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” declaring that the “birther” story is “dead,” though he later backed down a bit. Dobbs has responded to his critics by calling them “limp-minded, lily-livered lefties” who don’t like that he had “the temerity to inquire as to where the birth certificate was.”

On his Reliable Sources show Sunday, CNN’s Howard Kurtz criticized Dobbs and others in the media who have given airtime to the “fringe of the fringe” that is the “birther” crowd. “These are ludicrous claims, there is no factual basis for them,” said Kurtz. “Why give the birthers any airtime?” He then specifically criticized Dobbs for not acting “responsible”:

KURTZ: Callie Crossley, Lou Dobbs on his radio show said, “I believe the president is a citizen of the United States.” But he keeps raising these questions, complaining about criticism from “limp-minded, lily-livered lefties.” Is it responsible for Dobbs and others to go on the air, talk about these claims, demand proof, when we have seen a copy of the birth certificate? When Hawaii officials say that Barack Obama was born there in 1961?

CROSSLEY: It absolutely is not responsible.

Watch it:

As one of the top media critics in the country, Kurtz has been criticized for not commenting on Dobbs’ birther obsession in his Washington Post column. As has been noted by many, the birther claims that President Obama wasn’t born in America are groundless.

Tagged as: fox, conspiracy, obama, conservatives, right-wing, lou dobbs, conspiracy theories, birthers, birth certificate

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.