Below the Beltway

Newsmaker: Feces? Feces is too good a . . .

If a charge is incendiary enough, Lou doesn't demand all that much by way of verification. Not long ago, his show suggested that illegal immigrants had recently caused nearly an eight-fold increase in leprosy here. Leprosy! That'll get your attention!

Unfortunately, this proved to be somewhat false, but only in the limited sense that illegal immigrants haven't caused a big rise in

leprosy in this country, inasmuch as the number of new cases has actually declined since 1988. Lou's source was a long-discredited report by a fulminating racist with no medical credentials. The woman, now deceased, also believed that most Latino male immigrants were child and/or nun molesters.

My favorite parts of "Lou Dobbs Tonight," however, are his polls. Like many TV shows, LDT has gone interactive, using the Web to instantly report his audience's views. The difference between this show and most others is that Lou's votes are never close. They reveal a startling unanimity of American opinion, always in agreement with Lou, usually by majorities of 95 percent or more. No one has gotten this kind of electoral support since Saddam Hussein.

How does such a thing happen? Lou's polls read like this:

Choice 1: I think we need to do something about illegal aliens with poor personal hygiene who run amok and rape decent American women.

Choice 2: I think it is good if illegal aliens with poor personal hygiene run amok and rape decent American women.

Okay, the show is starting now, and here's Lou. Hang on, I'll be back when it's over.

IT WAS A PRETTY TYPICAL SHOW. The main issue was the Senate's immigration reform bill, which had garnered surprisingly bipartisan support. But Lou hates this bill. He called it a "pathetic charade" and said that the senators who support it are "acting like clowns" and that their arguments are "just nuts." Then, to show his evenhandedness, he brought on both a Democrat and a Republican who oppose the bill.

Finally, his poll. Here's how Lou phrased the question: "Is a bad immigration bill better than no bill at all?"

Ninety-seven percent of the viewers decided a bad bill is . . . bad.

Gene Weingarten's e-mail address is weingarten@washpost.com.

Chat with him online Tuesdays at noon.