Dobbs: Let’s impeach Bush over salmonella
posted at 5:20 pm on June 20, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Does anyone still take Lou Dobbs seriously any more, or do most people realize he’s Keith Olbermann without the snark? Dobbs says that he’s heard plenty of offered reasons for impeaching George Bush, but he’s finally found one that he can support. The FDA’s failure to stop salmonella-tainted tomatoes from entering the country apparently outweighs those silly Code Pink concerns about foreign wars and bad intelligence:
You have to love Dobbs’ progressively rising voice and his teeth-clenching at the end. You have to love it to watch Dobbs, because he does it every day now. He’s either filled with righteous anger, or he needs to add some fiber to his diet.
News flash to Dobbs: the Constitutional bar for impeachment is “high crimes and misdemeanors”. If we want to start impeaching Presidents for incompetent bureaucracies, we’re going to start changing governments faster than post-World War II Italy. Hiring talentless food inspectors doesn’t quite reach the standard of a crime. If the problem is funding, then Dobbs really hasn’t read the Constitution, because that’s the responsibility of Congress.
Let’s ask the really important question: how can we impeach incompetent news anchors? (via Power Line)
Update: Ed Driscoll has some movie puns you’ll want to catch.
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That was funny Lou.
Maxx on June 20, 2008 at 5:23 PM
I’m more surprised that he didn’t link it to illegal immigration.
bj1126 on June 20, 2008 at 5:24 PM
Cue Algore thundering about no T for your BLT.
JammieWearingFool on June 20, 2008 at 5:25 PM
WTF is Lou talking about?!
The FDA hasn’t lost much of anything and got more funding when Mad Cow started up!
Wow, crazy!
upinak on June 20, 2008 at 5:26 PM
NAFTA! Dobbs has a legitimate gripe with the FDA, so fire them! As per Bush, blame him as he is part of this fiasco. But impeach Bush over Montezuma’s Revenge? Too much, too late. Fire the FDA Director and prosecute him, debunk NAFTA for its inherent flaws, and secure the border!
maverick muse on June 20, 2008 at 5:27 PM
This is what we expected from the Communist News Network.
jdun on June 20, 2008 at 5:27 PM
Yeah, Ed , there are some things I appreciate, and take seriously about ol’ Lou. In particular, his reporting on the border and his crusade to get Ramos and Compeon out of prison. He makes good points on a lot of things. His daily focus on illegal immigration specifically, in which he has done more than most, such as most of our elected officials.
Does he go off the rails now and then? Surely. But unlike you, I’m reluctant to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
tomk59 on June 20, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Knew that long ago along that Lou Lou Dobbels was a perpertually angry, mad at the world and everybody along with his drinking buddy Jack McCafferty.
Together they are two wild and crazy Olberdouches²
Kini on June 20, 2008 at 5:29 PM
May Lou Dobbs drink the water of a Creek and recieve Beaver Fever!
Heck he would try to impeach Bush for that too.
upinak on June 20, 2008 at 5:29 PM
Phew.
I don’t have to have a strange new respect for Herr Dobbs anymore. Yay!
VolMagic on June 20, 2008 at 5:29 PM
Dear Mr. Dobbs,
Tomato plant…..$1.95
Dirt………….just look around, you’ll find some.
Water…………daily (matos LOVE water)
Labor…………pick em yourself(wash your hands first)
Sunshine………Free…Not intellectual property (yet)
Apple Cider Vinegar…..great for keeping the critters off(dilute about 10-1 with water – spray at night)
When the tomatoes turn RED, pick em. That way carbon monoxide infusion isn’t necessary.
This process might save the taxpayers a whole bunch of money.
Limerick on June 20, 2008 at 5:30 PM
So will Olbermann defend Dobbs on this one?
cannonball on June 20, 2008 at 5:30 PM
High crimes and misdemeanors?
jl on June 20, 2008 at 5:32 PM
By the way, while I’d agree that his remedy for the shortcomings of the FDA is absurd, does anyone really wish to defend an agency that doesn’t seem to know what the hell is going on, it’s numerous shortcomings in it’s part of protecting the people? The only thing they seem to excel at is CYA.
tomk59 on June 20, 2008 at 5:33 PM
Now Bush can join Quayle in the Jeopardy category, Political Careers Killed By A Tomato.
Cicero43 on June 20, 2008 at 5:33 PM
Maybe he’s angry ’cause he got the runs from a bad tomato
SPCOlympics on June 20, 2008 at 5:33 PM
Cicero43; Quayle’s was killed by a potatoe…or is that potato…potatow? Ah, the hell with it.
tomk59 on June 20, 2008 at 5:35 PM
Oops. You’re right. Got my vegetation confused.
Cicero43 on June 20, 2008 at 5:36 PM
The Libs keep crowing about incompetent and ineffective government agencies but they howl for government run health care and now nationalized oil. What dolts!
brtex on June 20, 2008 at 5:39 PM
If the government can’t check on a tomatoe, what chances are there for a healthcare policy?
I think I would rather eat the tomatoe… if you know what I mean.
upinak on June 20, 2008 at 5:41 PM
After Space.com bottomed out, Lou redefined hismself as a Populist Hero. I don’t believe for a second that he agrees with the vast majority of hyperbolic excrement that comes out of his blindingly white chopper filled mouth.
AYNBLAND on June 20, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Someone tell me again exactly what Dobbs’ reason for being on TV is? CNN can find kooks like that at any neighborhood dive bar.
crosspatch on June 20, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Jackass.
phronesis on June 20, 2008 at 5:47 PM
If Obama is elected president, no tomato will be left behind.
Cicero43 on June 20, 2008 at 5:48 PM
Didn’t you know?
This is his audition clip for “Meet The Press” hosting
ToddonCapeCod on June 20, 2008 at 5:48 PM
much less a potatoe!
upinak on June 20, 2008 at 5:50 PM
Dobbs is an idiot. Throw him in with Olby, Matthews and Morning Joe Scarbourgh. The Mt. Rushmore of TV A$$wholes.
RobCon on June 20, 2008 at 5:51 PM
yea. The magazine, High Times, used to have these ads for an aquarium looking box with fourescent bulbs in them. And, actually, depending on the magazine, they were either growing pot or tomatoes.
Now, if they aren’t selling them anymore, I haven’t seen that mag since 1987, junior year of high school.
So, Yea, Dobbs, HIGH crimes, indeed…
Mazztek on June 20, 2008 at 6:02 PM
I was traveling on vacation and work the past 7 days so please help the ignorant out. Did anyone die in the past week to bad tomatoes? If I understand it correctly the ban has been lifted as well?????
I have given up on this country. For all the people who hate Bush I say you’re an idiot. The man has been saying the same things, doing the same things from day one of his election. He loves America, loves the people, thinks all of us can do whatever we CHOOSE to do without the governments involvement.
For all Bush and America hating friends please buy them a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Force them to read it all. I my self just reread those two wonderful documents and it made me sniffle for how proud I am to be part of this Union but sad as well on how far we have veered from those simple guidelines. Special interest groups on both sides of the aisle have abused their power. I suggest another revolution to get us back on board. Starting with the annex of CA to Mexico. Let them have it!!!!!!
Have a great weekend!
titleist123 on June 20, 2008 at 6:09 PM
Dobbs picked up the pamphlet and began to read:
The FDA guide to a better tasting ham, by Dr Emily Brady
……
Emily watched her mother prepare the ham for the oven by cutting off both ends of the ham.
“Why do you do that, Ma?”, asked Emily.
“Well, my mom taught me that, I’m not sure what it does though, I just know it makes it taste better”, her mom replied.
Emily walked over to the phone and dailed up grandma.
“Grandma?”, asked Emily. “Why do you cut the ends off the ham before you cook it?”
“Well, your great-grandma taught me that. Something to do with the juices I think but not sure”, he grandma replied.
Emily hung up and called her great-grandma.
“Nanna?”, asked Emily. “Why do you cut the ends off the ham before you cook it?”.
“Why honey, to fit in the pan of course”, Nanna replied.
Dobbs put down the pamphlet and began cutting through both ends of the ham.
Limerick on June 20, 2008 at 6:10 PM
We never miss Lou Dobbs and neither do family and friends.The FDA is doing a lousy job and there’e no debating the point.From tainted food they can’t trace the origin of to all the cheap unsafe junk and sea food from China independent orginizations catch but not the gvmt.No we’ll keep watching Lou Dobbs for his reporting on illegal immigration and being a watchdog for american citizens.
While the impeaching Bush stuff was a little off the wall and over zealous it’s just grand satnding to make a point in my opinion.I’m not to impressed with Mr.Bush who has been a mediocre president in my opinion especially for pushing amnesty.
PTN 39 on June 20, 2008 at 6:12 PM
This is so stupid. Believe it or not, this has nothing to do with Bush. The reason we have a dairy program in this country is that people used to get TB from drinking contaminated milk. People used to worry about getting worms from pork. And I am not talking about ancient history either.
People have turned into such prisses. They expect everything to be perfect all the time. If anything goes wrong, then someone has to pay. The truth is Americans have the best food producing system in the world. But the more people who leave the farms and the larger the producers get, the greater the chance of something like this happening.
Terrye on June 20, 2008 at 6:15 PM
Does anyone actually watch Lou Dobbs? Talk about your one-trick pony.
GarandFan on June 20, 2008 at 6:15 PM
PTN:
I disagree. Bush has been a better president than he has gotten credit for. Considering the fact that conservatives completely ignored immigration for years and nominated Bush to the job knowing full well what his views were, they are in no position to bitch about it.
Dobbs is typical of the kind of blowhard who has never had to run anything but his mouth.
Terrye on June 20, 2008 at 6:18 PM
Lou Dobbs needs to retreat to a tomato garden… and quit his show. That was a STUPID thing to say!
newton on June 20, 2008 at 6:21 PM
I don’t know how many times I have to tell youz all this…
Southern California, from Camp Pendleton on down, an dswinging inland up north through the deserts is REPUBLICAN.
It’s LA through San Fran that has to be broken off of the state and SANK.
Mazztek on June 20, 2008 at 6:27 PM
This is exactly America’s moral decay and why the 21st Century will not be an American century (and certainly won’t be a European one).
Was Margaret Thatcher the last democratically elected leader to win by telling the voters to stop sniveling? I don’t believe that she ever got more than 40% of the vote which shows that third parties do some good.
thuja on June 20, 2008 at 6:28 PM
Silly Lou. Everyone knows that impeachment is about peaches, not tomatoes.
faraway on June 20, 2008 at 6:29 PM
Idiot news.
Texyank on June 20, 2008 at 6:31 PM
Thanks, PTN39. Nice to see someone on this thread who can step away from the angry mob and look at things in their totality.
tomk59 on June 20, 2008 at 6:34 PM
Small garden in the back yard = more tomatoes than you can eat.
Anyway, does he want them to test EVER SINGLE ONE that comes through? Not possible and the whole shipment couldn’t have been bad.
Anyway anyway back the in the day no one would have been able to even have made the connection. They would have been all unrelated cases. Kinda like Jihad in America.
- The Cat
P.S. It did it’s job when the cases started to hit. The FDA is more of a reationary type thingage.
MirCat on June 20, 2008 at 6:36 PM
back yard = backyard
ever = every
back the in the day = back in the day
reationary = reactionary
me = outta here for now
- The Cat
P.S. You spell it tomato I spell it potatoe
MirCat on June 20, 2008 at 6:40 PM
Lou Dobbs is CNN’s bid to capture all the viewers that are big fans of CBS’s Andy Rooney.
My collie says:
Let’s just say that it’s a very small market.
CyberCipher on June 20, 2008 at 6:45 PM
3,000 people in 41 states got sick from Salmonella in their ice cream in 1994. Didn’t hear anyone trying to impeach Bill Clinton for it.
Capitalist Infidel on June 20, 2008 at 6:54 PM
One could make the case for impeachment for not enforcing the border, however. What’s the difference in tomoatoes picked by Mexicans in America or picked by Mexicans in Mexico?
SouthernGent on June 20, 2008 at 6:59 PM
How do we impeach Anchors?
ronsfi on June 20, 2008 at 7:02 PM
Clearly President Bush should be impeached for negligence in fulfilling his constitutional duty to protect us…from tomatoes.
gwelf on June 20, 2008 at 7:05 PM
Dobbs is on now doing more stalwart work on the borders, to be followed by a report on how, after 2 weeks , the FDA is finally going to look into what the source of the bad tomatoes was.
Now, you can watch and learn, or just pick up your pitchforks, relight your torches, and go back to spouting ‘hot air’ and making cute remarks about how completely worthless Dobbs is.
Gotta go for now, see ya all later.
tomk59 on June 20, 2008 at 7:14 PM
Methinks that Lou Dobbs is trying to say, in so many words, that he seriously needs a nice long vacation.
pilamaye on June 20, 2008 at 7:29 PM
If you watch Lou Dobbs’ IIllegal Immigrant Roundup, Wolfy’s Situational Ethics, and all of CNN News like a weekly comedy sitcom it all begins to make sense… Matter of fact, MSNBC’s HerdBallers too is like a badly-written sitcom! Serious news? Hardly. Bad comedy sitcom? Absolutely…
Treat them like sitcoms; change the station to something better written…
IntheNet on June 20, 2008 at 7:32 PM
Take away their show and time slot. Like what Roger Ailes did to John Gibson.
AprilOrit on June 20, 2008 at 7:32 PM
Was that SNL?
Wade on June 20, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Memo to Lou:
Remember the old adage: “Some days it’s just not worth chewing through the leather straps.”
viking01 on June 20, 2008 at 7:46 PM
Dobbs: “Why in the world has Congress been unable….”
Democratic Congresswoman who looks like Moe Howard: “It took 8 years to implement a Farm Bill….”
It is SNL….
AprilOrit on June 20, 2008 at 7:57 PM
A man of the soil. Thanks for the cider tip!
Rhinoboy on June 20, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Remember to dilute it and don’t spray it when the sun is on the plants (burn baby burn…either way).
Here is another one for you….next time you are at the beach bring those shells home. Crunch them up in a bucket and add about a cup to the soil around the tomatoes. The calcium will help prevent blossom end rot. Or you can spend some gas money at Home Depot and get some fancy calcium/nitrogen fertilizer mix.
Limerick on June 20, 2008 at 8:32 PM
Since this is a Dobbs-bashing thread, I might as well be the contrarian. Dobbs changed in the late nineties because he got corporatized by a sub-moron hired by CNN. Dobbs’ experience, success, and loyalty counted for nothing. Nothing.
Dobbs had time to rethink during his years in the wilderness. When CNN grovelled after they got rid of the rootless sub-moron, Dobbs came back. He took the job as an opinionated (read honest) newsman. The Corporate Slime don’t come on his show anymore, nor does he want them. You can disagree with his opinions, but he doesn’t pass himself off as an “objective” journalist.
Tomatoes aren’t the one reason to impeach. It’s more like the last straw for Mr. Dobbs. The FDA is doing exactly what management wants — NOTHING. Rep. Duncan Hunter floated the “I” word when that empty suit in the WH ignored 100 Republican Congressmen who wanted something done about the injustice inflicted on Ramos and Compean. I guess Duncan Hunter is just as crazy as Dobbs. Right.
Corporatism was not invented when Adam Smith was alive. There has been a merger between Big Business corporatism and Big Government. Don’t believe me? Look no further than Medicare Part D. Who is responsible for that disaster? Uhh…
Feedie on June 20, 2008 at 8:50 PM
People are prissy. My God, my parents lived through the Depression as children in Oklahoma. My mother’s people ended up picking peaches in California, they were Okies. My Dad had some neighbors who died of some unknown fever and left a couple of kids behind. They lived in a little shack and would come down to my Daddy’s place and work. My grandmother took care of them. They did not want to be thought of as charity cases so they always brought something with them. They had a garden and so they would bring turnips or green beans or something. Then the war broke out. My father told me that there was no government relief for them when they were kids, but by God when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor Uncle Sam could find them with no trouble at all. One of them was killed in the war. My grandmother took flowers to his grave every memorial day for years. Those people knew what tough times really were. Now people get upset if they can not afford cable.
Terrye on June 20, 2008 at 8:53 PM
Remember that tomatoes unfit for human consumption are still perfectly adequate for throwing at senators. Here’s a little more red for ya Biden and Reid.
viking01 on June 20, 2008 at 8:54 PM
fixed it for you.
Limerick on June 20, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Feedie:
No wonder Republicans are behind, they just love to eat their own. For one thing, the idea of calling Bush an empty suit is not only disrepectfull it is not accurate. Bush is most certainly not an empty suit. And believe it or not you can not impeach a president for not throwing out a jury’s decision. Duncan Hunter could not get anywhere in the primaries because people think he is the empty suit. BTW, wasn’t he the guy who was just sure that Dubai was a ploy to sell our ports to terrorists so that they could kill us all?
Terrye on June 20, 2008 at 9:00 PM
And as for Medicare Part D…. I work for a home health care agency.
The people getting that are paying for their meds. They are also on Medicare, which means that if they can not afford their medication and they get sick the tax payer has to pay. So it is in the public interest to keep them as healthy as possible. If their needs are great enough and they can not afford to buy their meds, they end up on medicaid which pays for everything. This program has not only costs less than its critics said it would, it has kept people from going on medicaid and costing taxpayers more.
And it is a popular efficient program. So snark all you want. The truth is without programs like this you are more likely to end up with national health care.
Terrye on June 20, 2008 at 9:06 PM
Republicans are behind because they have another incoherent, back-stabbing Bush in the form of McCain. Thank The Party again; that would be the same Party that nominated a competent grocery clerk to be President. Grocery clerk is an honorable job, but when you have the right family name and connections, you get to be governor and president.
There is a thing called a pardon. All one needs is a pen to sign the piece of paper. Chessani is to be retried. Ramos and Compean rot in prison. The grocery clerk won’t lift a finger.
Feedie on June 20, 2008 at 9:12 PM
People with good retirement insurance for drugs lost it, because Part D gave the corporate slime an out. Now these people must get an insurance broker and deal with the annual stress of constantly changing plans and corporate bean-counters pulling tricks. Good for some perhaps; not so good for others.
Feedie on June 20, 2008 at 9:19 PM
I understand the level of frustration that Dobbs is expressing. However, a man in his position must not let emotion trump thought. And, unfortunately, he’s sort of allowed that to happen. He’s a brilliant man and he understands and cares deeply for Middle America. Few do these days, unfortunately. He also understands perfectly the damage that internationalism has brought onto our nation.
Its troubling to see such a warrior descend. We really need him to snap out of this empirical rut he’s in. His eyes are on mankind and the physical. He’s not focused on the “true” solution. He needs to lighten up. Relax. Have some faith.
Put him on your prayer list! DD
Darvin Dowdy on June 20, 2008 at 9:52 PM
Feedie:
I know dozens of people on this program and not one of them has had the kind of problem you are talking about. No one has to get an insurance broker. BTW, my job changes plans every year..it has nothing to do with Part D.
Terrye on June 20, 2008 at 10:02 PM
And Feedie, Bush might pardon these guys. I am not going to tell him how to do his job, too many people are doing that already. Speaking of incompetent, if folks like you are so damn smart why is it you can not manage to nominate someone you don’t despise?
Terrye on June 20, 2008 at 10:04 PM
The Party gives unpalatable “choices”, then plays the lesser of evils game. This is a two-tier society. The top tier is the ruling-class: politicians and corporatists. Club Members of this tier give the other tier (American voters) “choices.” The choices are Club Members representing themselves.
So eff us on Open Borders, outsourcing, and any notion that this is an independent nation. Bush II tried to sell Texas sovereignty to the UN. Eff us on sovereignty. Eff us on jobs. Eff us on bad pharmaceuticals from China. Eff us on poisoned pet food. If fact, eff us period, because it’s good for the battum lannn.
This nation once fought a Civil War to stop the evil of slavery. The battum lannn of cheap cotton was not a consideration.
Feedie on June 20, 2008 at 10:22 PM
My guess is that Lou just lost a bundle on tomato futures.
whitetop on June 20, 2008 at 10:29 PM
It’s receive. I before E except after C. ;)
Anywho, I think Dobbs already had a glass or two of that creek water.
eanax on June 20, 2008 at 10:30 PM
Boy, am I glad I can blame Bush for everything.
Now I don’t have to take responsibility for a dang tootin’ thang!
Et tu Brute on June 20, 2008 at 10:30 PM
Big Lou may need to retire again…
d1carter on June 20, 2008 at 10:41 PM
All right! I’m planting this weekend!
Rhinoboy on June 20, 2008 at 11:21 PM
I still have to give Lou a pass for being the first to take a dump on the Dubai ports deal.
BL@KBIRD on June 20, 2008 at 11:24 PM
Yup. Checkin’ back in for a sec, and after a great discussion on another thread this afternoon, it seems, on this thread at least , that the urge to be mindless jackasses has reared it’s ugly head yet again. Still waiting for coherent replies to my earlier posts on this thread; and that includes you, captain ed.
tomk59 on June 21, 2008 at 12:29 AM
Oh, he’s not THAT bad, if for no other reason than this: with Dobbs, like with someone like O’Reilly, this is mostly a gimmick he’s using to sell his program / show, whereas Olbermann REALLY BELIEVES in the utter insane / inane drivel that is spewed out of his mouth on any given night.
O’Reilly’s gimmick is that whole family values “I’m looking out for YOU” crap, whereas Dobbs’ bread and butter these days is fearmongering, almost exclusively with regards to a) Hispanics and b) China, in that order.
Lou Dobbs basically turned my father – a lifelong Republican – against the Bush administration specifically and against most Republicans in general by simply playing up to my father’s inherent racism against brown people (i.e. Latinos). All Dobbs has to do is blame some problem of America on the Latinos or the Chinese, and his audience will eat it up. So it’s no wonder he’s taking this position, because he knows his audience and how well it’ll play with them, it’s just more of his “the government isn’t protecting you from those (non-white) foreigners!” gimmick.
Vyce on June 21, 2008 at 1:04 AM
Geezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….
Racism!!! Everywhere racism!!!!!
Hogwash….this is about Dobbs jumping off the pier yelling something about Bush and tomatoes. He had a brain fart not an epiphany or a seizure.
This place is getting nuttier and nuttier. The McNo’s can’t say no, the McYes’ can’t say yes, up is down and right is left. We get ‘ho’ thrown around like it means nothing and we get ’say-these-three-words’ or you are going to hell in a handbasket.
Just like the rest of America it seems that conservatives have turned into their own individual flavors of truthers.
Yet somehow everyone is convinced that Ronald Reagan will float down out of the sky and save us from ourselves.
Hand me another beer.
Limerick on June 21, 2008 at 1:21 AM
I’m a conservative…I’m ok with this! Cheney will do fine for the remainder of the term. He is far less clueless than our current President…sigh…
sabbott on June 21, 2008 at 7:11 AM
Limerick on June 20, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Best comment here!
bridgetown on June 21, 2008 at 7:13 AM
Lou WTF your trying to blame the President for a bacteria. If you are the best that CNN can put in front of us we are in serious trouble
mixplix on June 21, 2008 at 7:05 PM
Dobbs is an idiot, but there’s no question that the FDA has turned into a moving train wreck. Of course, he’s also referring to the problems with food imports from China. The FDA isn’t much better than no oversight.
bayam on June 21, 2008 at 7:28 PM
Limerick on June 20, 2008 at 8:32 PM
Seaweed makes a great fertilizer, too.
jackmac on June 21, 2008 at 9:22 PM
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