Lou Dobbs keeps the buzz going about a possible presidential run in next month’s issue of GQ. The former CNN anchor tells writer Jeanne Marie Laskas, “I never said I’m running for president” — but continues, “I’m not ruling anything out. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” He adds that his wife, Debi, is “probably more open to considering it than she’s ever been.”
Speculation that Dobbs might be interested in trying for the Oval Office — however far-fetched — began after he ended a 30-year run with CNN in November with a reported $8 million severance package. Dobbs and the network were at odds over his repeated blasting of American immigration policies and his reporting on the anti-Obama “birthing conspiracy,” whose proponents claim that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States. (Dobbs tells GQ the departure was amicable.)
But recently, the magazine reports, Dobbs has tried softening his approach, notably taking meetings with Sen. Charles Schumer to “talk illegal immigration, to compromise, to think through the problem together.” And he told Telemundo in November he supports a plan to legalize millions of undocumented workers.
Still, Dobbs was noncommittal about political plans: “Let’s just say it would be reckless to say anything other than ‘We’ll see.’ ”
Dobbs, who has his own radio show and has made guest appearances on Fox News, said he won’t work too hard to change people’s opinions of him. Appearing on less conservative networks is out of the question.
“Do you think they’d have the guts to bring an independent onto MSNBC?” he tells GQ. “Are you kidding me? Have you looked at their ratings? Have you looked? They’re scared to death. They have a corporate agenda. MSNBC is GE’s gift to the Obama administration! ‘And please, give us some more defense contracts. It’s all good!’ “