Lou Dobbs Joins Fox Business

[DToTheJ]

From the "who didn't see this coming" department: Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs will host a new daily program on Fox Business Network starting next year:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/459752-Lou_Dobbs_Signs_With_Fox_Business.php

How soon until he starts making a transition to Fox News?

 

[LKellerIII]

From the "who didn't see this coming" department: Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs will host a new daily program on Fox Business Network starting next year:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/459752-Lou_Dobbs_Signs_With_Fox_Business.php

How soon until he starts making a transition to Fox News?

What took him so long?

Actually, I'd speculate that Fox will keep Dobbs at Fox Business - they're trying to build a brand and provide some real competition to CNBC. Their strategy seems to be to hire big names, hence John Stossel, who is probably even better known than Dobbs, from his many high-profile years at ABC.

At regular Fox News, Dobbs and Stossel would just be 2 more right-wing fish in what is becoming a sea of right-wing pundits. At Fox Business, they stand out.

FYI: Dobbs recently appeared in a cameo role (as himself) on the CBS series The Good Wife.

 

[DToTheJ]

What took him so long?

Exactly.

To his credit, he hosted the old "Moneyline" show on CNN for years, so he does have a financial background. If you tune into his radio show, however, you'd think you were listening to a completely different character.

 

[LKellerIII]

What's interesting to me is - Dobbs could be considered conservative on immigration, but he is anything but conservative in regard to business, and especially big corporations. I've heard him say that he has become very cynical about corporations in America - because corporations out-source jobs overseas, and because they don't mind using (cheap) immigrant labor in America.

 

[dhett]

What's interesting to me is - Dobbs could be considered conservative on immigration, but he is anything but conservative in regard to business, and especially big corporations. I've heard him say that he has become very cynical about corporations in America - because corporations out-source jobs overseas, and because they don't mind using (cheap) immigrant labor in America.

Actually, Dobbs' position on business is consistent with the views of many conservatives. There's a divide between corporate conservatism and Main Street conservatism. Corporate conservatism favors pro-business laws and business-friendly government programs, and tends to steer away from social issues. It also opposes laws clamping down on illegal immigration, as businesses profit from such enterprise. Main Street conservatism, on the other hand, is uncomfortable with tax breaks for businesses, prefers smaller government, favors laws against illegal immigration and generally embraces social issues. While most want smaller government, some social conservatives champion increased government involvement to support "traditional family values". Pat Buchannan is a high-profile example of such a conservative.

Lou Dobbs sounds similar to Mike Huckabee in his politics.

 

[formeraa]

Lou Dobbs is a conservative tried and true. Fox Business is fitting for him...you know you'll only hear one side of the issue on Fox.

 

[LKellerIII]

What's interesting to me is - Dobbs could be considered conservative on immigration, but he is anything but conservative in regard to business, and especially big corporations. I've heard him say that he has become very cynical about corporations in America - because corporations out-source jobs overseas, and because they don't mind using (cheap) immigrant labor in America.

Actually, Dobbs' position on business is consistent with the views of many conservatives. There's a divide between corporate conservatism and Main Street conservatism. Corporate conservatism favors pro-business laws and business-friendly government programs, and tends to steer away from social issues. It also opposes laws clamping down on illegal immigration, as businesses profit from such enterprise. Main Street conservatism, on the other hand, is uncomfortable with tax breaks for businesses, prefers smaller government, favors laws against illegal immigration and generally embraces social issues. While most want smaller government, some social conservatives champion increased government involvement to support "traditional family values". Pat Buchannan is a high-profile example of such a conservative.

Lou Dobbs sounds similar to Mike Huckabee in his politics.

Yes - I realize all that. And in a sense, Main Street conservatives have a lot in common in that regard with left-wingers who are suspicious of business and believe that corporations are evil.

What I was saying was - Dobbs is not conservative in the typical conservative Fox News sense, which tends to be against all regulation of business, and blasts the Democrats and Obama for trying to increase regulations. I don't know how your Main Street conservatives or Pat Buchanan types hope to control the corporations they are so suspicious of. For example, how do you prohibit corporations from shipping jobs overseas, or keep imported goods produced by foreign cheap labor from eliminating higher paid jobs in America ? The only way I can think of is through laws, regulations, and tariffs - the very thing they want "small government" to avoid.

 

[dhett]

What I was saying was - Dobbs is not conservative in the typical conservative Fox News sense, which tends to be against all regulation of business, and blasts the Democrats and Obama for trying to increase regulations. I don't know how your Main Street conservatives or Pat Buchanan types hope to control the corporations they are so suspicious of. For example, how do you prohibit corporations from shipping jobs overseas, or keep imported goods produced by foreign cheap labor from eliminating higher paid jobs in America ? The only way I can think of is through laws, regulations, and tariffs - the very thing they want "small government" to avoid.

There's a difference between being suspicious of corporations and wanting to control them. That is the divide between conservative and liberal/progressive. The "Main Street" conservative, consistent with the desire for smaller government, limits its activities to removing special tax incentives and other government programs that favor businesses, especially large corporations.

As for Lou Dobbs, he is certainly not the villain he was recently made out to be with his illegal immigration comments, and should provide a common sense approach to business that both sides of the aisle can respect, even if they do not agree with him. Unfortunately, being OTA-only, I've never seen Fox Business, but I hope that they are not the same format as Fox News, where opinion journalism carries the day, and arguments are won by the person with the greatest volume.

 

[DToTheJ]

Lou Dobbs is a conservative tried and true...

But I thought he was "Mr. Independent"... :

Fox Business is fitting for him... you know you'll only hear one side of the issue on Fox.

Fox Business (like big brother Fox News) will occasionally have left/right representatives on to hash out issues. They don't call them "fair and balanced" for nothing...

 

[LKellerIII]

Lou Dobbs is a conservative tried and true...

Fox Business (like big brother Fox News) will occasionally have left/right representatives on to hash out issues. They don't call them "fair and balanced" for nothing...

You should have inserted a smiley motocon. You are kidding, right? A channel with news coverage skewed to the right, and 100% conservative pundits on the payroll does not become "fair and balanced" because they occasionally bring in a liberal pundit for a 3 minute guest shot. Conservatives on these boards are always trashing MSNBC for being so liberal, but at least they have Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchannan on their payroll.

As for Dobbs - I don't see him as a villian in any way. He's expressed a valid viewpoint.

 

[recto101]

How could Dobbs be on Fox Business when Stossel had exposed Dobbs back when Stossel was on ABC as a hypocryte and I thought Stossel is a registered Libertarian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HMjqQaWqes

Check out this clip of Stossel going after Dobbs on ABC

 

[LKellerIII]

How could Dobbs be on Fox Business when Stossel had exposed Dobbs back when Stossel was on ABC as a hypocryte and I thought Stossel is a registered Libertarian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HMjqQaWqes

Check out this clip of Stossel going after Dobbs on ABC

I don't see the problem. Dobbs and Stossel don't have to like each other to work for the same network. They both have lucrative multi-million dollar salaries to keep them warm at night.

And remember - Stossel's stock-in-trade at ABC were his segments and specials de-bunking popular notions:

Think the world's getting over-populated and polluted? Stossel will tell you why you're wrong.
Think out-sourcing jobs is a bad thing? Wrong again, and Stossel will tell you why.

Dobbs probably didn't take it personally.

And by the way, neither Dobbs or Stossel is a typical conservatives - they're both quite independent in their thinking, so they have that in common.

 

[dhett]

And by the way, neither Dobbs or Stossel is a typical conservatives - they're both quite independent in their thinking, so they have that in common.

Amazing how many conservatives are that way. Liberals too. I guess thinking people of all stripes tend to be independent in their thinking, as opposed to those who just regurgitate whatever their favorite talking head is saying.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

This must have been a few years ago when I watched CNN (before MSNBC), but didn't Lou Dobbs become openly critical of the war in Iraq ?

 

[LKellerIII]

This must have been a few years ago when I watched CNN (before MSNBC), but didn't Lou Dobbs become openly critical of the war in Iraq ?

I don't recall, but I wouldn't be surprised. As I said, Dobbs is not a typical conservative. What will be most interesting is how much he will criticize big business and corporations in his commentary on Fox Business. In the past, he's been very critical of big corporations for what he perceives as their lack of morality and lack of patriotism. CNBC's business commentators are generally conservative, though a few like Kramer portray themselves as nominal Democrats. But they are all pro-corporation and pro-business.