Isabel Macdonald vs. Lou Dobbs

Last night on Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC program, The Nation's Isabel Macdonald, and former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs appeared together to debate Macdonald's new article in the latest edition of The Nation, which chronicled a landscaping contractor who worked for Dobbs, who employed illegal immigrants. For those unfamiliar with Dobbs, he railed for years against illegal immigration while on CNN. The debate is very spirited yet remains very civil, although Dobbs does speak over Macdonald and O'Donnell more than a few times. Regardless, the fact of the matter is that Lou Dobbs entered into a contract with the landscaper, which makes him complicit in the hiring of illegals. Dobbs countered this by saying that he wasn't responsible for his contractor's actions, and that he could not demand proof of citizenship. Meanwhile, in 2007 Dobbs proclaimed on CNN that companies should be held responsible for their contractors' employing illegal immmigrants. Essentially, Dobb is holding them to an impossible standard, a standard he cannot adhere to himself. Does this make Dobbs a bad person? No. Just a hypocrite.