You know it's a town desperate for more/better/broader media outlets when a talk radio slimepit like KKOB can generate community "outrage."
And "cotton-pickin'" is one of the many folksy expressions thrown around my parents' house. I've never heard anyone use "cotton pickers" like Dobb, though. And the difference in meaning is completely noted there - ouch.
The use of "cotton-pickin'" always makes me smile, though, and is usually accompanied by the sight of my dad flinging stuff around their packrat garage that hasn't been able to fit even one car in it since it was constructed. "Dammit to hell, where is that cotton-pickin' drill?" Etc.
I think "tobacco-pickin'" would strike too close to home for him... you know, bring back all those character-building moments of his early life working in the tobacco fields in 95% humidity. Plus, it just doesn't have the ring that cotton does. 
Dobbs is an ass. Why people watch this man is beyond me.
Give you a kissin' cousin to cotton pickin' that always gets me; tar baby.
At least three times now on the show someone has used it in reference to some piece of legislation, and then a split second later this wave of utter panic flashes in their eyes as they are staring at me.
It cracked me up every time.
Funny how these things are used...or not.
Belshaw was money today. Good read.
Cotton-picking is used where I'm from also, and it should be noted that I'm descended from cotton-pickers myself. And there's nothing wrong with that by any stretch. But the way Dobbs used it, to refer to two African-Americans engaging seriously about racism and the legacy of slavery in the cotton-fields is simply beyond decency.
i remember stopping the car right outside of dallas and letting marjorie and her siblings crawl over a fence and pick some cotton. i have never thought about racism using that term...to lou's defense i don't think he meant it that way
Despite the fact that a jury found him guilty of criminal damage to property, I say Peter Lynch did the right thing and should be pardoned by Gov. Bill Richardson. After all, people have fought and died for our flag! That said, I invite all who feel the same way to join me in a new effort launched today.
Agreed, Childresses!
My family farmed tobacco and hogs, but I remember on the drives back from "the country" we'd stop at cotton fields and take some into show and tell at our "city" school. We were the coolest then!
For some reason it was always frowned upon to take fresh tobacco into school. Ha! But that smell still gets me every time...
But Mr. Childress... I do think Dobbs meant it that way, unfortunately...
Cotton picker, while completely innocent (what the heck else are we supposed to call people who pick cotton?), it comes with a wildly different meaning for some, eh?
If I were to defend anything about the Dobbs moment (just watched) it would be that he clearly caught himself by using only "cotton..." not the full term. Damage done, however.
So consider the fool a half re-constructed idiot who has some ways to go.
"Not a cotton-picking thing..." is a common phrase, like Maggie says, all through the South. I use it myself actually, currently. So, it really isn't about Lou using that phrase per se. It's about him using it in the context in which he used it...in his own words: "well, the heck with them" when it comes to "ridiculous politicians" being the "moderators" on race. He's speaking about two of the highest profile African Americans in politics, both of them on opposite sides of the political fence. When one chooses to enter the conversation due to what was considered a landmark speech given by the other on one of the primary fractures in our society...its really too bad that people like Lou Dobbs use terminology like that. And yes, he did catch himself...right in the middle of his tirade. What a moment.
Now see here just a cotton-picking minute. Dobbs is from Childress, Texas and I guess he'd say this ain't worth a hill of beans. However, he obviously doesn't know who the cotton-pickers were.
Ha!!!!! So good!
...with apologies to the good folk of Childress, well said.
back to lou...how can we think his comment was racist ....i searched all over the dmn this morning and not an article about it...no big deal on tv news shows....no one asking him to resign....i believe everything they say
I had the same experience Jerry. I noodled around out of curiosity to see how it's playing.
My guess is there are some who have Dobbs heartburn and have been laying in the weeds for a misstep, but, if one is to make a judgment on the reaction it appears he's getting the benefit of the doubt.
It was actually funnier than anything else. In the context of the rant he was on, it was as ironic as I've seen. I was watching it live. Didn't have my recorder running. Was just happy someone else caught it, and thought it was interesting.
We gave him a double red card, well, cause it was the first post in the series - had to have some sort of fake gravitas, no?
Ha!
Anywayz. It has no legs, 'cause it's one of the lesser of his offenses. I mean, the dude rails against human beings as "illegal aliens" every single day. He is truly a product of his times.
He's the pissed-off-white-guy-cause-all-these-brownies- are-taking-over "uncle" who says crazy shit...that everyone supposedly doesn't agree with...
Don't let him fool you...if it shows up on the news he's apt to think it's a bunch of hogwash.
lou is married to a mexican american and his in laws live with them...i wonder why he is such a racist....i guess its the generation he comes from
"Cotton-Pickin" is clearly a euphemism for black people, but in the South (especially Texas) its completely lost that meaning. For people from Texas, its equivalent to "gosh darn." Its simply a way of avoiding curse words. My Dad still says it quite a bit, and he grew up picking cotton in central TX. If one were to ever point out the racial connotation of it he would be completely mystified.
Lou Dobbs is a giant idiot though. Its very telling to me how people who self-identify as either conservative or liberal assume he's on the other side of that divide. I consider him a reactionary lunatic and my moderate conservative Dad calls him "that liberal Lou Dobbs." He considers Lou's protectionist anti-immigrant ranting to be a liberal populist position.
The only people I've ever heard of actually agreeing with him are outright and self-professed racists.
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