Lou Dobbs' House Hit by Bullet- Why We Must Defend His Right to Hate Speech
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 7:04AM 
Controversial CNN host and anti-immigration crusader Lou Dobbs claims that his house was shot at by someone upset with his position on immigrants.
Dobbs has made on going, anti-Latino inflammatory comments on both his TV and radio show - comments that many Hispanics find offensive and racist.
A national campaign has been launched by Latino activists to convince CNN to drop Dobbs from his powerful perch on CNN's prime time line-up.
While Dobbs is obnoxious, clearly it is un-American to try to censor him. In a democracy we must protect political speech - specially when we disagree with it. Without liberty of expression, we betray the core values of America and ultimately undermine our democracy.
Lou Dobbs' right to attack Latinos on his show, however repugnant his message, is a right worth defending.
But above all: violence must be rejected completely and absolutely. Whoever shot the bullet must be found and prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law.
Here Dobbs explains what happened:
Espuelas
The Huffington Post is posting a piece that seems to throw doubt on Dobb's version of the shooting story:
Interviews with the New Jersey State Police yielded a rather different assessment of the events described by Dobbs. In a phone interview conducted yesterday, Sgt. Stephen Jones, a NJ State Police spokesperson, chuckled out loud after he heard about Dobbs' account of the gunfire incident. Jones commented that he "wouldn't classify it [the gunfire incident] as very unusual." He also confirmed that there are hunters in the area, and stated that, "at this time of year hunter [shooting] complaints go up."
He observed that in the ongoing police investigation sparked by Dobbs' complaint, "nothing has been determined [regarding] what the intended target for this bullet was." Nor did Jones confirm whether the shots near Dobbs' house appeared to be an accident or intentional.
Another New Jersey State Police spokesperson, Sgt. Julian Castellanos, noted that "it's a wide open area and there are hunters in the area." Castellanos explained that the bullet had hit the house in vicinity of the attic; it "hit the vinyl siding and fell to the ground" without penetrating the vinyl, he said.
While Lou Dobbs' wife, Debi Lee Segura, was standing outside the house at the time of the gunfire, the bullet did not come close to her; it "struck at the apex of the house, near the roof," and thus considerably higher than a standing person, Jones observed.
Jones says he had not seen any mention of death threats in the reports about this incident. As Dobbs stated on his October 26 radio show, the CNN host had "decided not to report" "threatening phone calls" he says he has received.
The New Jersey police made no mention of the immigration reform groups Dobbs discussed in connection with the incident.
When asked to comment for this story, Dobbs disputed the New Jersey State Police's account, saying in an email that "there was no hunting season underway three weeks ago." However, an official at the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife Bureau of Law Enforcement confirmed in a phone interview that state hunting seasons were underway at the time of the gunfire incident three weeks ago.
Asked what he thought of Dobbs' version of the gunfire incident, Sgt. Jones stated, "I'm really going to leave Lou Dobbs' assessment to himself."
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Reader Comments (2)
Mr. Fernando Espuelas,
I think that some people here in America like to take their disagreements into their own hands even with the use of weapons. That is just very nice. I wonder who fired those shots at the house of Mr. Dubbs????, Was it.......Africans, Chinesee, Australians, Russians, Koreans, Indians, Hindus, Moslims, Canadiens, Europeans, Italians, French, I just don't have a clue what ethnic group might have done such a thing. I think it is againts the law. But I guess that certain people don't obey laws anyway. Well when you find out let us know.
Robert,
Why the racial stereotypes? I think that is a very retrograde filter through which to understand the world.