Small data point suggesting there is a God...

Lou Dobbs - who has been promoting the "birther lunacy", as Randy has eloquently put it - is facing a ratings slide. Some folks including Bill O'Reilly, Dobbs' peer over at FOX, have suggested that Dobbs apparent fascination with the "birther" alleged-issue (hysteria over whether the President's birth certificate, which has been verified by the state of Hawaii, is a proper document) is a bit of calculated Cable Guy noise-making to get a ratings boost. The discourse over this is so stupid and the people engaged in what appears to be little more than code for racist hysteria over a black POTUS are so obviously lunatic fringe that it stretches credulity that even a race-baiting hack like Lou Dobbs would legitimatize it. So, yeah, it was probably a ratings-driven gimmick to re-inflate the exhausted Dobbs franchise. Dobbs' ratings had been sliding.

That Dobbs' ratings had been going down is good news, but it gets better. Since he latched onto the "birther" story, Dobbs' ratings have slid even more. The New York Observer reports:

Mr. Dobbs' first began reporting on Obama birth certificate conspiracy theories on the night of Wednesday, July 15. In the roughly two weeks since then, from July 15 through July 28, Mr. Dobbs' 7 p.m. show on CNN has averaged 653,000 total viewers and 157,000 in the 25-54 demo. By contrast, during the first two weeks of the month (July 1 to July 14) Mr. Dobbs averaged 771,000 total viewers and 218,000 in the 25-54 demo. In other words, Mr. Dobbs' audience has decreased 15 percent in total viewers and 27 percent in the demo since the start of the controversy. Arguably, interest in cable news has slumped across the board since early July when attention over Michael Jackson's death was still at a fever pitch. But, that said, Mr. Dobbs' ratings over the past two weeks, during the height of the "birthers" controversy, are also down significantly compared to his overall numbers during the second quarter of 2009 when he averaged 769,000 total viewers and 222,000 in the 25-54 demo. In summary, if Mr. Dobbs' affinity for "birthers" is a ratings ploy, it's a pretty ineffective one.

I don't believe that CNN should censor Dobbs, as a matter of principle. But I do believe they should take a look at that ratings slide and both do the right thing in terms of exercising good judgement regarding the direction they want to take their news shop AND make the smart business decision to drop a tired bit of "talent" whose ratings are tanking. If FOX wants to pick up Dobbs, fine and dandy. I would say that he's an embarrassment to CNN, but I can't forget that CNN gave birth to Glenn Beck's television career so they're obviously beyond embarrassment. But dropping Dobbs would be an opportunity for redemption.

Comments

[Akaky]

I wish someone would explain to me why people pay attention to the fever swamps and the noisome fumes emitted from them. Obama was born in Hawaii, a part of the United States. That makes him an American citizen. Obama's mother was an American citizen. Together that makes Obama an American citizen by any standard I've ever heard of. People who (like me) want to stop the oncoming train wreck of ObamaCare have more important things to do than indulge in this sort of racist quibbling.

[reg]

"oncoming train wreck"

You anti-health care reform guys make me laugh. To stretch the metaphor, we've got a bridge collapsed and you're telling me don't try to fix it because if I do the 3:10 to Yuma's gonna run over grandma. Quite a plan...

And despite my picking on Dobbs, I love the birthers. Anything that divides the GOP and decreases the number of people who take Mitch McConnell or John Boehner seriously is my friend.

[Akaky]

Wow, Reg, that's some championship stretching; you'd've gotten the gold in Beijing with that kind of stretch. The trouble with your metaphor is this: you're suggesting that the same people who run Amtrak should make health decisions for the general population. This, you'll pardon me for saying so, does not bode well for the overall health of the body politic.

[Randinho]

Akaky,

With respect, this argument is tiresome and disingenuous. Medicare works fine - and no one is even suggesting that this plan will rise to the level of Medicare.

Do you suggest that we privatize the CDC, Veteran's Administration, DOD, NIH, FEMA (post-Bush) and any number of other successful government operations?

What bodes well for the health of the body politic is to take the profit motive out of health care coverage.

[Jamie]

The merits of a publicly run option boil down to three very simple, essentially conservative economics points:

1) It would not replace private health plans, it would compete with them on a self-sustaining basis, much like the Post Office and Fedex. If any corporation can't compete with an operation run by beaurocrats, it has no business in the marketplace.

2) As tax payers, we will have to pay for it, at least initially. However, we already all pay for it. Because most American's healthcare is paid for by employers, our current system is an albatross around the neck of our global competitiveness.

3) Recision is a breach of contract that should be illegal.

"Obamacare" will not solve these issues, but it will be positive movement.

[Jamie]

As a sidenote I do respect Akaky's point that this "birther" circus is clearly a disenganuous distraction from actual policy debates, like health care, that have important consequences and about which reasonable people could disagree. However, the reason that someone is pulling some long strings to keep this absurd "birther" debate alive is because they know the majority of Americans agree with Obama on a majority of issues, health care included. The only way to sink his agenda is through racist innuendo, distracting histrionics and deception.