Join MoveOn's Fight to Stop "Birthers"

Posted by Byard Duncan, AlterNet at 1:46 PM on July 29, 2009.

Overt racism from the right has taken an unprecedented spike recently. Rush Limbaugh on Monday told listeners that he believes Barack Obama is "an angry black guy;" and earlier this week Glenn Beck brayed to Fox News that Obama "has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture." As if the president's condemnation of racial profiling somehow exposed his secret plan to wipe out Anglo Americans with one sweeping stroke.

Still, what's more insidious than those proselytizing from racism's frayed edge are those whose views are acknowledged in mainstream discourse. CNN host Lou Dobbs has led a frothy-mouthed crusade, as persistent as it is unfounded, that supposedly calls into question President Obama's citizenship. Dobbs has repeatedly called on the administration to "produce a birth certificate" (which they have already done), and seems hellbent on asserting Obama's alienness -- in spite of tricky hurdles like "truth" and "facts."

It's time to let CNN know that giving voice to Dobbs is an act of irresponsible journalism and vicarious racism. Join many others who are asking the network to address its Lou Dobbs problem. 

You can do it here.

Tagged as: racism, rush limbaugh, glenn beck, cnn, lou dobbs, birthers