Lou's Blues

America's favorite floppy-jowled populist took aim at the gang at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition this week. Dobbs' reporter actually tries to deliver a straight news package. But Dobbs' of course doesn't do straight news anymore. And all this drug war capitulation talk nearly sends Lou into apoplexy. A few favorite excerpts from the broadcast:

DOBBS:…But despite the idiocy that surrounds border security, there is another idiocy rising up.

A group of law enforcement agents now say that effort is actually fueling drug trafficking and violence, and they say the answer is to end the war on drugs.

[…]

DOBBS: This idea of legalizing meth, Ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, what in the world are these people thinking about?

WIAN: Well, they say that the war on drugs has been a massive failure. That despite all the money that we've spent, the massive amount of resources, law enforcement resources and time, drugs are cheaper now than they've ever been, easier to obtain than they've ever been.

DOBBS: Right.

WIAN: More deadly than they've ever been and more addicts than we've ever had.

DOBBS: All that's true. But why in the world — you know, Casey, and you I have reported on that border. I've done reporting on that border for 30 — in that border in Mexico for more than 30 years. You and I both know that this country has never taken seriously either border security or shutting down those drug cartels. And that if we wanted to do it and we had the will to do it, we could do it, in short order.

Ah yes. Because it's only "lack of will" that's keeping us from winning this whole "drug war" deal once and for all.

Lou's closer is particularly weird:

And whether you're a libertarian, or whatever one might be, the fact is, we've got to get serious about not eating our young, which is what this nation is doing right now.

Setting aside the general creepiness of the analogy, I'd say that the wholesale feeding of young people into an unforgiving criminal justice system is a more apt description of "eating our young" than lacking the cojones to drop bunker-busters on Monterrey.

Entire transcript here .

Comments

[P Brooks]

" And that if we wanted to do it and we had the will to do it, we could do it, in short order."

Git'cher Gloves Off, Amurrica! We Got Us Some Work Ta Do!
Dobbs/ Buchanan '08

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Fifteen or twenty years ago, I actually thought Lou was a pretty smert guy.

[P Brooks]

"smert"?

Takes one to know one, I guess....

[Warren]

OK I'm backtracking on everything I said yesterday in the (day before yesterday) thread about the woman that wanted to cut off her own legs.

In Lou Dobbs case "He's nuts, he needs to be locked up for his own good", is perfectly sound reasoning and in accord with libertarian principals.

[Alex]

We have got to finally, for once and for all get tougth and fight a real drug war.

1) You get caught with any illegal substance, life in prison without parole, no appeals alowed.

2) You get caught dealing, or with amounts that are "intent to distribute", death penalty, to be carried out immediatly following trial, no appeals allowed.

3) You are suspected of using or dealing, all your, your families and friends possesions are taken away. 5 years in jail and you are no longer allowed to have a job or get welfare, social security or health care.

4) Randomly test everyone, you fail, life in prison.

5) Search everything entering the country.

6) Declare war on all source countries and bomb them all and kill everyone there.

7) Build 100s of more prisons.

8) Hire millions more cops and guards.

9) Finance everthing through slave labor in prisons.

10) Implant GPS devices in everyone to monitor blood chemistry and alert authorities if any substance is found.

11) Make all OTC drugs by prescription.

12) Ban alcohol, tobacco and caffeine.

13) Ban all opiate, and other prescriptions that may be addictive, even for medical use.

[diakron]

"smert"?

Lousy Smarch weather...

[Daze]

We must win the War on Eating Our Young!

[lunchstealer]

drop bunker-busters on Monterrey

Pfft. Everybody knows you only need bunker busters against hardened targets. Since they go off underground, you don't get enough area of effect. Monterrey's not a good application for those kinds of bombs. Daisy-cutters are the way to go there. Or, if that's "too extreme" for you a few cluster bombs, or wave after wave of incendiary bombs. And it's really for their own good too. Just think of the boom to their economy when they have to rebuild the entire country! Jobs for everybody!

[joe]

I don't think we can refute the unreasoning, horrified response that Dobbs demonstrates. We just have to socialize people out of it.

The power of the "All that's true, but..." non-argument lies in the perception that it is common sense which everyone agrees with. Once drug warriors realize that it is not, they will have to argue on the merits.

[de stijl]

Ronnie Dobbs has more on the ball than Lou.

[Lord Jubjub]

Dang, Alex, why be so lenient? Just carpetbomb the neighborhoods where they find drugs and leave it at that.

[doctom]

i avoid getting into these arguments by pointing out that there can be no debate as long as the rightous feel that "no price is too high" to protect our young from the dangers of illicit drug use.

it is amusing though that i originally thought of the line in the sand argument as a way to promote dialogue, but it turns out that many drug warriors are proud of the limitlessness of the "sacrifices" they are willing to make in the name of eradicating drug use.

mike

[Brad Warbiany]

Hmmm... We're eating our young by tossing bunches of them in prison for nonviolent drug offenses. And we're eating the others by taxing them to death paying to throw the "criminals" in jail.

If Dobbs wants us to stop eating our young, perhaps he should put down the fork.

[ChrisO]

Wouldn't have guessed that Lou Dobbs is a Funkadelic fan.

America Eats Its Young

[jimmy smith]

Lou, Lou, Lou, put down that coffee cup, NOW!! Everyone knows that caffeine is an entry level drug!! It comes from Columbia, maybe bankrolled by the dude from Venezuela. I've been sending my kids to the playground to buy a kilo now and then from the trunk of a car. If I get caught I'm going to rehab. Hey, I'm a white guy.

[Eryk Boston]

How many times must I say this? The war on drugs is not a failure. It's been one of the most successful government programs ever.

[Timon19]

Daisy-Cutters are Vietnam-era girly-bombs.

What you need is the MOAB.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Alex:

You have some excellent ideas, but they would cost tens of billions. No, what the government needs to do is engineer microscopic, self-replicating parasites that can reside in marijuana and opium plants.

Once these parasites enter into the blood stream, they make their way to the brain stem, and slowly grow. The host would become very susceptible to suggestion, making them open to anti-drug propaganda. However, by that time, it would be too late. As the parasite...crawls...the host would fall into madness. And then...death.

Yes, this is a bit icky. But make omelet, break eggs, yada yada yada.

[Larry A]

The power of the "All that's true, but..." non-argument lies in the perception that it is common sense which everyone agrees with. Once drug warriors realize that it is not, they will have to argue on the merits.

Not really. Drug warriors, like the war on guns, war on poverty, war on gays folks, cannot afford to argue on the merits of their positions. There are among them who know the truth and are hiding it for other motives, and those who will not allow themselves to see the truth.

What has to happen is for everyone else (or at least a significant minority of us) perceive that their arguments aren't "common sense."

[Edward]

Libertarians assume that our species is rational while unwittingly providing ample evidence that it isn't. We all cherry pick evidence to bolster our preferred orthodoxy and ignore everything that undermines it. Realism is the enemy of all ideology.