Lou Hannity loses his cool over immigration

Lou Dobbs, a guy I used to respect a great deal, seems to be a little past his prime these days.

On a recent show, he was discussing the immigration problem with several guests, including Air America's Laura Flanders. When she has the temerity to bring up the use of the term "illegal aliens," Dobbs blows his stack.

I think Flanders makes a pretty important point here. Not all of the people at these protests are "illegal aliens," and it's patently unfair to paint them that way.

From the transcript:

DOBBS: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you, Joe. Laura Flanders, let's talk about Mitt Romney at ...

LAURA FLANDERS, AIR AMERICA: I wanted to come back for a minute to the L.A. story, the last two stories. I think if Dr. King were alive today, he would be talking about what happened on L.A. on May 1st. When you talk about abuse, 240 rounds of rubber bullets and tear gas.

We've gone from legal punishment of illegal aliens to physical punishment, and it's not helped by language like yours, Lou, talking about these [marchers] as being illegal aliens...

DOBBS: Laura, Laura, Laura, that's ridiculous.

FLANDERS: They're not aliens, they're people. And the vast majority of people at these marches are utterly legal. They're not aliens, Lou. They're people, and you're dehumanizing them with that language.

DOBBS: And you're absurd to suggest such a thing.

FLANDERS: I don't think so.

DOBBS: You're being absolutely absurd.

Dave Neiwart has written an excellent and thought-provoking piece on the Dobbs dust-up.

I immediately thought of Sean Hannity when watching this clip - Dobbs behaves just like him (or BOR) by shouting over Flanders. It seems that CNN is leaning further and further right, by the hour. Dobbs' faux Fox grandstanding, as well as the ridiculous and absurd Glenn Beck are merely the latest examples. As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Hat tip to C&L for the story