As the immigration "debate" picks up, various leftwing sources are trying to smack down Lou Dobbs in what may be an effort to counteract his opposition to any "reform" or what may be just a general attempt to support illegal immigration.

There was, of course, the recent Lesley Stahl/60 Minutes lame hit piece. And, the Southern Poverty Law Center - a group indirectly linked to the Mexican government - has run an open letter advertisement in the New York Times and other unknown papers demanding that CNN provide a correction to what appears to have been an inaccurate report that there had been 7000 cases of leprosy in the U.S. in three years. The apparent ad is in this PDF file: splcenter.org/images/dynamic/main/dobbsnew.pdf The letter is dated May 9, but when it appeared isn't known. A discussion of it is here. They take Dobbs to task for having "attacked" Mark Potok of the SPLC on his May 7 show; here's the transcript:

First of all, I've never said anything remotely resembling what you suggested. And of the numbers of reports, the hundreds and hundreds of reports we've done on the issue of illegal immigration on this broadcast over the past four and a half years, well, I decided to find out, and I asked our staff to compute how many of them dealt with disease or other illnesses and illegal aliens... By the way, the number, Mr. Potok, is three. That's three over a period of four and a half years. What happened to your "day in and day out"? ...And by the way, Mr. Potok, three of our reports covered rape or sexual predators in the context of illegal immigration in this country...

What an "attack". The letter also says:

[Dobbs] has repeatedly given legitimacy to individuals and groups who make unsupported claims like the Aztlan conspiracy theory, which asserts that Mexico is involved in a secret plot to "reconquer" seven states in the American Southwest.

Obviously, Mexico has an agenda, and - like any other state would - if we allowed them to gain political power inside our country, they'd take advantage of it. And, of course, they are taking advantage of our weakness in that regard. And, of course, it isn't clear which "individuals and groups" they're refering to, and Dobbs' reaction to their statements.

Minions are also involved, with "Obsidian Wings" taking Dobbs to task here, and Steve Gilliard's site offering a sleazy and violent parody here.