1115.org

On Tuesday I speculated that Lou Dobbs has just got tired of pretending to be a journalist. I conjectured that maybe he just doesn’t care any more whether what he peddles on CNN has any connection to the truth.

That post brought the Dobbs Brigade out in droves, defending he who they fondly regard as the staunch champion of their life, liberty and happiness. (Or maybe it’s their health and their wealth?)

But it is now clear that Dobbs has decided to make both it official on both counts. He is tired of pretending to be an journalist. He doesn’t care two shits about the truth. It will be interesting to see if the Dobbs Brigade still turns out in his defense.

Orcinus points out today that Dobbs didn’t just defend his leprosy lie in the heat of the moment during his 60 Minutes interview, he defended it later in cold blood on his CNN show. Clearly, he wasn’t kidding when he told 60 Minutes he had no interest in fact-checking the disputed claim:

On Lou Dobbs Tonight this past Monday, Dobbs said he stands “100 percent behind” his show’s claim that there had been 7,000 new cases of leprosy in the United States over a recent three-year period, and he further suggested that an increase in leprosy was due in part to “unscreened illegal immigrants coming into this country.”

Dobbs’ endorsement of the claim came after CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl challenged the leprosy figure during a profile of Dobbs on 60 Minutes this past Sunday. Stahl cited a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services document that reported 7,029 cases over the past 30 years — not three.

… The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the number of leprosy cases diagnosed in the United States peaked at 361 in 1985. The figure reported on Dobbs’ show is easily refuted with just a few minutes of research on the Internet.

Lou Dobbs, the proud managing editor of Lou Dobbs Tonight, a key member of the self-proclaimed best political team on television, is unbelievable. Literally.

Orcinus quotes The Southern Poverty Law Center on the source that Lou Dobbs prefers to trust over CDC, a source that Orcinus describes as “a far-right nutcase named Madeleine Cosman“. Can’t say they seem to have got that wrong:

In addition to writing about the prevalence of leprosy, Cosman, who died in March 2006, told an anti-immigrant conference in 2005 that “most” Latino immigrant men “molest girls under 12, although some specialize in boys, and some in nuns,” a variation on a speech she has given elsewhere. The Winter 2005 issue of the SPLC’s quarterly magazine Intelligence Report also contained a profile of Cosman, a lawyer who advised wealthy doctors on how to sell their medical practices and a member of the far-right Jews for the Preservation of Firearms. The piece pointed out that Cosman had lied about having a 1976 book she wrote nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

… Madeleine Cosman’s false claim that there were 7,000 cases of leprosy diagnosed in the United States from 2001 to 2004 was included in her article, “Illegal Aliens and American Medicine.” More than once, Lou Dobbs Tonight reporter (Christine) Romans repeated Cosman’s statistic, saying, “Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy.”

Cosman’s piece was published in the Spring 2005 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which represents private practice doctors. The journal is known as a right-wing periodical whose science has been the subject of harsh criticism.

Though the article notes her Ph.D., it does not say that the degree is in English and comparative literature. Cosman had no medical training other than as a medical lawyer.

But let’s let Lou and Christine take us home:

DOBBS: Christine, how did you like 60 Minutes last night?

ROMANS: I thought it was interesting.

DOBBS: Absolutely.

Last night on 60 Minutes Leslie Stahl profiled me and this broadcast. And I thought it was a terrific job. My compliments to all at 60 Minutes who worked on it.
[...]
And there was a question about some of your comments, Christine. Following one of your reports, I told Leslie Stahl, we don’t make up numbers, and I will tell everybody here again tonight, I stand 100 percent behind what you said.

ROMANS: That’s right, Lou. We don’t make up numbers here. This is what we reported.

We reported, “It’s interesting, because the woman in our piece told us that there were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years. Leprosy in this country.”

I was quoting Dr. Madeline Cosman, a respected medical lawyer and medical historian writing in the “Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons”.

She said, “Hansen’s disease” — that’s the other modern name, I guess, for leprosy — “Hansen’s disease was so rare in the America that in 40 years only 900 people were afflicted. Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy” — Lou.

DOBBS: It’s remarkable that this — whatever confusion, or confoundment over 7,000 cases, they actually keep a registry of cases of leprosy. And the fact that it rose was because — one assumes — because we don’t know for sure — but two basic influences — unscreened illegal immigrants coming into this country primarily from South Asia, and secondly, far better reporting.

And there you have it, folks. Lou Dobbs thinks the number of cases of leprosy has gone up due to far better reporting. I think that’s his modest way of saying that he’s personally responsible. Or maybe, since they have this whole team thing going on at CNN, he’s giving some of the credit to Wolf Blitzer too.

But let not get distracted from the most important thing Dobbs said to us there. He is not against illegal immigrants at all. After all, he’s just acknowledged working with them to spread leprosy throughout the land. He’s their best friend and partner.