I'm with Lou Dobbs

Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs says he's mystified by an apparent "taboo" Republicans and the national media have as they continue to bury any question or news story probing the eligibility of Barack Obama to be president of the United States.

I'm with Lou Dobbs.

Last Friday night, on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on the Fox Business Network, the veteran broadcaster was having a political discussion with National Research founder Adam Geller.

"Let me ask you a question," Dobbs said to Geller. "Why aren't the Republicans talking about what was all over Drudge, which is from 1991 to 2007, a publisher's document talking about him being born in Kenya? I mean, there's like a taboo about it. How did this wall come up around that?"

He was referring to a WND story linked by the Drudge Report showing that Obama apparently never objected to being depicted as Kenya-born by his own publishers and literary agents – right up through 2007.

A video clip of the exchange can be found at Media Matters.

Dobbs has shown great courage and independence in raising this issue for years. He probably left CNN under pressure because of his persistence in raising it.

The New York Post, citing anonymous sources, said the beginning of the end of a long-simmering dispute came in July 2009, when CNN President Jonathan Klein told Dobbs' staff in a memo to stop reporting on lawsuits that demand Obama produce evidence he's a natural-born American citizen, as required by the Constitution.

"It seems this story is dead because anyone who still is not convinced doesn't really have a legitimate beef," Klein's memo said.

A source told the Post Klein's move incensed Dobbs.

Dobbs, who also hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, told his radio audience in July 2009 that "even though I said I believe the president is a citizen of the United States, I don't understand why he shouldn't produce a birth certificate. My God, you're talking about the third rail of American journalism, baby! That's it. I'm not going to back off."

And back off he hasn't.

But, if Lou Dobbs wants to understand the media's reticence to cover a story that has preoccupied the nation's attention since 2008, he probably should ask his new bosses at Fox, which has been as guilty as any news agency in creating that taboo.

It's the reason I am no longer welcome at Fox.

It's the reason WND's Jerome Corsi is no longer welcome at Fox.

In fact, my last appearance on the network came when I felt compelled to raise the eligibility issue – not with regard to Obama, but with regard to the problems potential Republican vice-presidential candidate Marco Rubio faces.

Corsi's last invitation to appear on Fox came at the behest of Mancow Muller, who asked him to be the first guest on his new weekend show on the network. When Fox producers got wind of the idea, they explained the taboo to Muller. Mancow offered that Corsi could talk about other subjects – but the invitation was withdrawn.

Fox didn't even mention the breakthrough stories last week about Obama using the "Kenya-born" description to promote his books through 2007. Not a peep.

And that's why Dobbs' comment last week is so astonishing by contrast.

What is it about this issue that makes it so frightening to the Big Media?

Is it because they missed the story in 2008 and 2009 and 2010 and 2011 – and now they are embarrassed?

Is it because they are afraid of retribution from the administration?

Is it because they fear the inevitable ridicule from colleagues and self-appointed watchdogs like the George Soros-underwritten Media Matters?

Is it because they believe the Constitution is some kind of anachronism in this enlightened age?

Is it a combination of all of the above?

Whatever it is, Lou Dobbs has proven once again that he is a man of integrity and curiosity – and unafraid of the consequences for pursuing truth.