Monday, August 01, 2005
NAM on Dobbs Watch
Howard Kurtz writes this in today's DC Post Media Notes column: Lobbying groups can blog, too, it turns out. The National Association of Manufacturers has started an unusually personal one just to slam Lou Dobbs.The CNN anchor, who serves up his strong views on trade and immigration on his nightly news show, has his share of critics, but few are as harsh -- and monomaniacal -- as the "Dobbs Watch." The industry group's blog has called him "xenophobic" and "sanctimonious," assailing the "anti-trade, anti-immigration rants" of "a demagogue who stirs the basest instincts of a segment of the population in the interest of ratings."
Dobbs, whom CNN promotes as being on a "crusade," calls the Web site "silly. . . . The National Association of Manufacturers is not supporting American manufacturing but rather U.S. multinationals who want to outsource American jobs. Their pathetic blog is an expression of the corporate supremacists who are leading NAM but not representing their manufacturers. They use personal attacks because the facts don't support any of their faith-based libertarian economic philosophy."
Pat Cleary, NAM's senior vice president, is unapologetic about the blog he writes, saying its tone is "irreverent, tongue-in-cheek and a little subversive." He says that Dobbs "is wrong about trade" and that "his message runs counter to ours in such a persistent and fundamental way that I thought it was time to talk about that."# posted by ATN @ 2:26 PM 
