Somehow Lou Dobbs managed to turned St. Patrick's Day into an excuse to make racist Asian jokes. Media Matters' County Fair blog flagged his rant today against "ethnic holidays" and in favor of "an American day, a we're all the same kind of day." But Dobbs gave the lie to his call for unity before he even got it out of his mouth. He preceded by ticking off a bizarre, presumably comic list of other would-be "ethnic holidays." He noted there's no holiday for Jews, the high holy days notwithstanding. And then brought it all home with this gem: "How about an Asian ethnic holiday? You know, St. Jin-Tao-Wow," he offered, in full mocking second-grader, pan-Asian accent. Listen for yourself, if you can stand it.
But then go back and read Ken Auletta's excellent 2006 New Yorker profile of Dobbs—and his calculated re-branding of his failed show into an anti-immigrant, angry-white-guy success. These racist rants are deliberate, and CNN should be held accountable for them.
—KAI WRIGHT