David Leonhardt/New York Times: illegal immigration supporting hack

Posted Wed, May 30, 2007 at 3:06 pm

David Leonhardt of the New York Times offers the much-linked "Truth, Fiction and Lou Dobbs". It discusses a few facts that Dobbs has gotten wrong, and to that extent it's worthwhile: everybody needs a fact-checker to keep them honest. However, one wonders about this bit:

He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans.

That kind of smear doesn't sound like fact-checking to me. According to Lesley Stahl, journalists shouldn't mix in opinion with their facts. Does that above sound like a fact? Should Leonhard be considered a journalist?

In fact, what's going on here is the that New York Times and most of our corrupt elite support massive illegal activity, something that Dobbs opposes. The NYT is simply striking back.

He also mentions the Southern Poverty Law Center, calling them a "civil rights group" without mentioning that they have an indirect link to the Mexican government. Shouldn't a good journalist disclose such links?

And, one of Leonhardt's statements doesn't exactly square with previous NYT coverage. He quotes "James L. Krahenbuhl, the director of the National Hansen's Disease Program, an arm of the federal government" as saying:

"It is not a public health problem — that’s the bottom line... You've got a country of 300 million people. This is not something for the public to get alarmed about."

However, one of those sounding alarms... was the New York Times back in February 18, 2003 with "Leprosy, a Synonym for a Stigma, Returns":

But, in fact, as cases of leprosy have been declining worldwide in recent years, the infection has actually been on the rise in the United States... While there were some 900 recorded cases in the United States 40 years ago, today more than 7,000 people have leprosy, or Hansen's disease, as it is now called. ''And those are the ones we know about,'' said Dr. William Levis, attending physician at Bellevue Hospital's Hansen's Disease Clinic. ''There are probably many, many more.'' ...the disease is now officially endemic to the Northeastern United States for the first time ever.

Wouldn't a good journalist have at least mentioned that earlier article? Leonhart's smears continue:

Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives.

I only see his show occasionally, but I suspect that Dobbs focuses more on illegal aliens themselves as symptoms of the former group, yet Leonhardt is implying that Dobbs focuses on the illegal aliens themselves.

Leonhardt's hack status is further entrenched with this chestnut:

There is no denying that this country's immigration system is broken.

The bottom line here is the bottom line: some people profit from illegal immigration, either monetarily or through obtaining political power. And, they're quite willing to defend their bottom line through lies and smears.

More to come, including Dobbs' response and a list of those who helped retransmit Leonhardt's smears.

UPDATE: Dobbs responds: "An answer for my critics".

I point out that I was one of the few people attempting to counteract this smear here. That helps illustrate why the MSM and politicians are continually allowed to spread lies and pro-illegal immigration propaganda.

The NYT article also contains this:

For one thing, Mr. Dobbs has a somewhat flexible relationship with reality. He has said, for example, that one-third of the inmates in the federal prison system are illegal immigrants. That's wrong, too. According to the Justice Department, 6 percent of prisoners in this country are noncitizens (compared with 7 percent of the population).

Bearing in mind that I'm not familiar with the statistics he cites, this site says:

Notice how Leonhardt has changed the subject. Dobbs was talking about federal prisoners, and Leonhardt is talking about the entire state plus federal prison population.

UPDATE 2: It's starting to get funny now. From the current NYT article:

Second, Mr. Dobbs really does give airtime to white supremacy sympathizers. Ms. Cosman, who is now deceased, was a lawyer and Renaissance studies scholar, never a medical doctor or a leprosy expert. She gave speeches in which she said that Mexican immigrants had a habit of molesting children.

Now, let's turn to this article from March 19, 2006:

Madeleine Pelner Cosman, a prominent writer, scholar and lecturer whose passion for what she called the "glorious order" of the past led her first to a career in medieval and Renaissance studies and more recently to wide public advocacy of tougher immigration laws, died on March 2 in Escondido, Calif. She was 68... Ms. Cosman took her work seriously. She could sing madrigals, play the lute and eat with her fingers off a trencher in the proper medieval style. Her house in suburban New Jersey was appointed with ornately carved period furniture. Arms and armor lay about, the walls were hung with Flemish tapestries, and the cellar was stocked with mead.

It goes on in its own laudatory way, with the only discordant note being the use of the term "anti-immigrant" to refer to websites that promoted her latter works. The source? Why (of course) the New York Times (link, copy).

Tags: 
southern poverty law center
new york times
lou dobbs
system is broken
immigration crime
immigration health
david leonhardt

Comments

expat (not verified)

Fri, 06/01/2007 - 01:35

_screamout.screamingvoice.com_ That's an even more absurd name for a website than lonewacko.com.

Richard Grabman (not verified)

Thu, 05/31/2007 - 02:33

Turn-about is fair play. I give you free PR as a nativist crackpot and reactionary fool. Thanks for the promise to list my site. http://mexfiles.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/be-the-first-on-your-server-to-get-on-the-lone-wacko-enemies-list/

eh (not verified)

Thu, 05/31/2007 - 03:43

Here [1] it says Leonhardt writes a "column", so regarding his work for the NYT it may be better to not see it as traditional objective 'journalism'. Anyway, using the link you can send him an email and ask how importing millions of Hispanics [2] who are 1) significantly more likely to be criminal, and 2) significantly less likely to do well in school (i.e. attend Yale like Mr Leonhardt, so I guess they're no threat to his job) can possibly be a good thing. Since he's such a smart guy, he ought to be able to verify those demographic facts, as well as provide the requested explanation.

Links:
------
[1] topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/david_leonhardt/index.html?inline=nyt-per
[2] blog.vdare.com/archives/2007/05/30/the-results-of-159-years-of-hispanic-assimilation-in-new-mexico/

llamajockey (not verified)

Thu, 05/31/2007 - 08:04

Great Job and AMEN BROTHER!!!! I posted the following in response to major Cheap Labor Lobby - Open Borders fanatic troll over at the Atlantic Website: pseudonymous in nc, First of all the blogger name is llamajockey not cameljockey. Cameljockey is a derogatory name for Arabic people that I would never use. llamajockey is my idea of an absurd phrase and therefore useful and whimsical blogger id based on the fact you can not ride a llama. You can not even look a llama in the eye for that matter with out risking it spitting at you. The name was inspired by a favorite Neil Young song "Ride My Llama". Next the only person using the "Dirty Mexican" term is you as you attempt to stifle the immigration debate by calling others racists. Like I have said before, more proof that you are completely full of shit with nothing to add to the discussion. Now the problem of Corporate America encouraging our Government to abdicate its duty to lookout for the public's health in its rush to import cheap labor is well documented. It is very common for workers from Third World and developing countries not to actually have the health insurance that was promised to them by third party contractors as a means of saving money and further underbidding wages, the great race to the bottom. A case in point I observed first hand. I worked for Sears Roebuck in suburban Hoffman Estates in 1994. Sears was very quickly beginning to hire Indian and Asian H1-B "non-immigrant" programmers through various contracting "bodyshops". A very earnest young Indian programmer fell deathly ill from what was a very serious illness. I was later told the illness was a chronic form of hepatitis he had contracted in his home country. Again the real issue was not the illness so much that the contractor responsible was not providing this man with critically need health insurance as promised. Chronic Hepatitis is very treatable but requires proper attention and HEALTH INSURANCE. The young man fell so sick at work that my co-workers alerted management. That weekend he could not fulfill his support duties so the project leader was contacted. The result was that the group manager, who had no idea that the contractor was so unscrupulous as to not provide health benefits, had to get involved so the man in question got proper medical attention at a public emergency room. Later this contractor folded up business shafting numerous Sears foreign "non-immigrant" consultants. We literally had one consultant sleeping on another programmer's couch until payment issues were resolved. So in this case the American taxpayer ended up picking up the tab. Eventually Sears had to revise its approved IT contractor list. The Indian man in question lost his job at Sears through no fault of his own. Now if you care to visit any number of sites that concern themselves with immigration matters you might learn that this sort of thing is not uncommon. Indian H1-B and

llamajockey (not verified)

Thu, 05/31/2007 - 16:53

lonewacko, I spent more time looking at your site this morning. Safe to say as a liberal I do not share many of your opinions outside of fighting against the Open Borders, Illegal Alien insanity and the loony left's incomprehensible support for Corporate America's Global Labor Arbitrage agenda. As a staunch Democrat and grass roots party GOTV activist I can tell you that a large majority of the base is becoming completely alienated by a relatively small minority of Far Left-wing Secular Globalists, MSM talkingpoint stenographers, DLC corporatists, left-wing Catholic Open Borders Fundamentalists, Latino militants and upper class So-called Liberals who hire illegal cheap labor. For years I worked part time for a catering service in Chicago on the very same 26th street you mentioned previously with a large number of African-Americans and Latinos. I know first hand that Blacks are deeply insulted by the "jobs Americans won't do" bullshit. Likewise I have met many free thinking Latinos who think that having racial identity groups like MEChA in the school system and increasingly dominating local politics is completely batshit. You have mentioned "Duke1676" over at Dailykos at this site. My opinion is that the Democratic party has been infiltrated by a large number of self-serving immigration lawyers who are former far far left wingers and some of which are now merely the very well payed tools of Corporate America. A prime example is the notorious DLCer Harris Miller, behind the scenes architect of Simpson-Mazzoli, well known buster of the farm workers union, mega rich founder of the ITAA, BFF of Hillary, Emmanuel , Schummer, DiFi..., and the Race Baiting loser to Jim Webb in the Virginia primary. Many other immigration lawyers have learned to prey upon Illegals and legal immigrants alike by shaking them down for legal fees and services that undermine the legal system and the original intent of the law. Lets face it the SPLC today pretty much functions as the same thing, a Corporatist Attack Dog. And to this add lobbyists and public relations goons who lurk at Liberal websites and pounce on anyone questioning their Open Borders agenda. I and other true liberals over at DailyKos suspect that "DUKE1676" is one of the latter. I have spent literally thousands of hours personally battling these dishonest paid advocates of the Open Borders agenda. It really is not hard making a strong NEW DEAL progressive liberal case against them. NumbersUSA does it every day. What is tough are the tens of thousands of well meaning folks who fall for this Corporatist PSY-OP propaganda. I keep trying to warn folks that in 2008 the Lou Dobbs Democrat vote will be huge. Old fashioned New Deal Progressive Liberal, party strategist and rising star David Sirota has basically gone on record saying the same thing. I have written numerous postings stating that in a national election pitting a Immigration Restrictionist social

expat (not verified)

Fri, 06/01/2007 - 01:40

Seriously folks, when even Ann Coulter and Mark Steyn are turning against the Bush-Kennedy bill it probably is dead. There just aren't enough far left lunatics and amoral businessmen to carry it over the finish line.

Mary (not verified)

Fri, 06/01/2007 - 14:38

Don't count the bill out...these morons inthe Senate have big money interests who are counting on them to SCREW the American people!

Robert Lewis (not verified)

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 22:05

www.webofdeception.com Lou Dobbs of CNN and what he pays in property tax: 14 acres for $26.03 annually 31 acres for $146.94 annually 30 acres for $238.08 annually 62 acres for $414.78 annually 43 acres for $368.28 annually 90 acres for $597.06 annually 270 acres for $1,793.27 equals $6.64 (six dollars and sixty-four cents) an acre for property tax