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Corsi, Obama, and threading the p.r. needle

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It’s the quintessential campaign conundrum: ignore an attack or respond forcefully. The prior denies the criticism oxygen, but campaigns generally don’t want to risk leaving an attack out there without a response. The latter gets the campaign’s message out, but it runs the risk of bringing attention to criticism that might otherwise go unnoticed.

With that in mind, there’s Jerome Corsi’s latest hatchet-job against Barack Obama, which we talked about earlier. The Obama campaign has barely uttered a word about Corsi or the book, but as Marc Ambinder noted today, “[D]on’t think for a minute that his aides aren’t paying attention, and don’t confuse the relative silence for a lack of action.”

Chastened by Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 refusal to respond quickly enough to Corsi and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads, the campaign is determined to discredit Corsi, quickly.

“We are aggressively attacking the factual errors in this book, and making sure that everyone knows about the deeply offensive things Corsi has said that will give readers of any political affiliation pause and ample reason to question the lies he’s written,” Tommy Vietor, an Obama spokesperson

kupbezrecepty.com

, said in a statement.

“This book is nothing but a series of lies that were long ago discredited, written by an individual who was discredited after he wrote a similar book to help George Bush and Dick Cheney get re-elected four years ago. This is his attempt to perpetuate those politics for four more years. The reality is that there are many lie-filled books like this in the works, cobbled together from the internet to make money off of a presidential campaign. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means necessary.”

In this case, it’s a delicate threading of the needle — quietly working behind the scenes to discredit Corsi and expose his lies with the media, which seems to be largely effective, since most reporters (whether they admit it or not) remember the Corsi’s Swiftboat smears from four years ago were largely a work of fiction.

I say “quietly” because we probably won’t see Obama addressing the subject personally, and the campaign probably won’t be distributing any press releases on the subject. But aides are already contacting news outlets covering the book, highlighting Corsi’s falsehoods, and arguing that this is a right-wing hack who isn’t to be taken seriously.

All of this, of course, is an example of the Obama team learning from what happened to Kerry, and preventing it from happening again.

“The idea that you can sit on something and hope it doesn’t break through simply no longer applies,” an Obama aide said.

Greg Sargent reported on what the pushback looks like at Obama HQ.

Obama advisers say that whenever they hear that Corsi has been booked for an appearance on a network program, they are quickly contacting the program’s producers to rebut the book’s charges in phone conversations and giving them a whole run-down of past Corsi quotes that are controversial.

Obama aides also vow to insist that the producers allow them to have on a campaign surrogate to attack the charges, and are expecting to recruit more campaign surrogates, well plied with talking points, to push back against the book.

Obama aides also say they’ll soon be blasting an extensive fact-check of the book to the campaign’s national press list. They’ve also created something called “Action Wire,” which is designed to use the campaign’s formidable email list to spread debunking of the book’s charges.

“Despite the fact that Mr. Corsi has no credibility, we understand the reality that it’s going to get covered, and are going to aggressively work to make sure people understand that this is nothing more than a rehash of already debunked lies,” an Obama adviser said.

That’s precisely the right attitude. The book is going to get some attention. It shouldn’t, and news outlets should ignore deceptive hatchet-jobs rather than help promote them, but the media is the media. The campaign has to run with the media landscape it has, not the media landscape it might want or wish to have at a later time.

In other words, ignoring Corsi’s book was never a reasonable option. That the Obama campaign realizes this, and is responding accordingly, is an encouraging sign.

Comments

  • Racer X

    says:

    I hope they also mobilize the millions of Obama supporters to boycott and harass any media outlet that refuses to allow them to get the truth out about Corsi.

    We can’t just ignore the creeps, because the media loves controversy. So it’s a battle, and we have to win it. Let’s remember that the media isn’t really in the bag for McCain, they’re in the bag for money, and if we push back hard enough they’ll realize they’re going to lose money if they keep letting the slimers have all that free airtime.

  • Little Dick

    says:

    Racer @ #1 – Great point about the media. It is about money & the power that accompanies it……

  • joey

    says:

    Why is there no push on the McCain books which expose his life. Corsi closes hi s eyes to his own candidates major blunders in life to riff over trivial insignificant points he twist to make into mountains. Registered Muslim from ages 6-10??? There is no innocent blood on Obama’s hands but McCain’s is drenched in blood. 134 fellow crew members burned to death as a result of his hot dogging, bombing villages from high above the ground, supporting and pushing war at every opportunity.

    By comparison Corsi’s attacks are meaningless…just a distraction to personality based discussions from discussions of substance and policies. Americans are so tired of this kind of political maneuvering, these gutter slime politics. If McCain were a dem this sleaze would already be writing a book about his black baby and AIDS. Don’t be fooled by #1 best seller as these conservatives have a network in place to buy huge volumes of the book(for distribution purposes) that they warehouse so it makes it jump to the “best seller” list. Individual sales are way down as no one is reading this trash, even for curiosity sake, due to Corsi’s last book of lies. In fact the only attention it is getting is from the talking heads of the conservative beltway express.

    Better title is Corsi’s Crapbook of Crap For Conservative Minds.

  • RonChusid

    says:

    I say “quietly” because we probably won’t see Obama addressing the subject personally, and the campaign probably won’t be distributing any press releases on the subject.

    The campaign also has sent out email with a long list of quotes from Corsi and debunking of his claims. They are definitely responding to him.

    (I also got an emailing from John O’Neil praising Corsi’s work. Guess which email looks more credible.)

  • Bubba

    says:

    How come no one is asking about accountability for the books publisher Simon & Shuster? What are their publishing standards? Do they have a position of public trust?

    I personally am tired of this crap and think it is high time that First Amendment jurisprudence be re-investigated and it is time for New York Times v. Sullivan to be overturned, there has to be accountability for defamation and the idea that the only way to get recourse is “actual malice” is ridiculous and disgusting.

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton)

    says:

    Can I suggest that, for those of you who patronize small, indepent bookstores — which should be encouraged at any time, btw — speak to the owner, if they have the Corsi book in stock, inform them of the lies and slanders in it, and simply ask them (making, ideally, these specific points) if, given their limited space, do they really want to use some of it on a book like this, and — especially if they tend to be somewhat liberal-minded — are they really comfortable with themselves profiting off of this.type of trash.

    I doubt if it would work with the larger chains — and the first argument is invalid for something like Amazon — but it is still worth trying with them.

    And, to answer a criticism I received when i suggested a similar thing for the Coulter screed — the anti-evolution one — this is NOT censorship. Bookstores have to make decisions on what they will carry all the time, because shelf space is limited. And decisions are not always based on pure economics — it sells, we carry it.

    Because of the importance of small bookstores, I wouldn’t threaten a personal boycott of them, but if you find it in a drugstore or supermarket, it might be worth considering.

    For a small bookstore, it might even be worth it — if you have the money — to ask them (or know in advance) what their profit margin is on a book like this, and write them a check for that times the copies they have — if they agree to return them and not to restock it. (Ideally telling the people who ask for it why they won’t carry it.)

  • TomB

    says:

    Wouldn’t you think that the better story for the media to cover isn’t the book, but rather the defamation in the book. Wouldn’t it be a more compelling story – and more useful to readers – to report on Corsi and his book as prime example of the type of low-road politics we should all reject vigorously? I think they could do that story without being or appearing partisan – and they should.

  • Caroline

    says:

    Hi All,

    I am writing to ask if any of you would be willing to participate in a study that I am conducting as part of my PhD research. I am interested in examining the ways in which blog users participate in political discourse.

    You can contribute to this study by participating in an email interview. The interview questions will ask you about how you argue with, persuade, challenge, or support each other politically; the ways in which you analyze, critique, or support candidates and their campaigns; the features/options you desire from political blogs; and the role that technologies such as blogs and websites play in civic processes, specifically a presidential election.

    If you are interested in participating, please email me at dadasce@muohio.edu

    Thanks,
    Caroline

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton)

    says:

    This sounds good, but it is a REALLY bad idea. Even now, corporations and organizations — Scientology is a master — can silence critics by filing libel suits against them. They know they’ll lose, but they have the money to pay their lawyers, when a small publisher can go broke defending the suits.

    And look at England, with laws like what you suggest. We celebrate Deborah Lipstadt’s victory against Irving the Holocaust denier, but Irving filed in London because it was where he had the best chance of winning, and people were surprised that he didn’t.

    We tend to forget, knowing the righteousness of our cause, that it is only in fantasy books and games that weapons exist that only the good guys can use.

  • Steve in Sacto

    says:

    I wish they’d push back hard on the “patriotism” slander too. It’s dispiriting when the other side is regularly b*tchslapping our nominee (and by extension his supporters) with treason-libels and there’s nothing in response from the candidate, surrogates, the DNC, paid media, etc. It’s like our battered spouse leaders accept it and don’t even care…

  • libra

    says:

    Howard Dean is on the case too. I had contributed to the Dem rapid response team after their Exxon/McCain ’08 ad and, this morning, received the following (sorry it’s so long, but I couldn’t find anything equivalent on a website):

    Tamara —

    This morning our team here sent this email to a group of dedicated supporters, but I’m sending it to everyone I know.

    In 2004, the media let right-wing crackpots like Jerome Corsi spread lies about John Kerry. Now Corsi is publishing another hit piece attacking Barack Obama.

    This year I’m drawing the line — we’re not going to let Corsi and the Republicans get away with it again.

    Scroll down to check out Corsi’s track record of ideologically driven lies and conspiracy theories, then sign up for the DNC Rapid Response Team and help keep these dirty tricks from ruining another election:

    http://www.democrats.org/rapidresponse

    I hope you’ll forward this email to everyone you know, too.

    Thanks,

    Howard Dean

    —– Original Message —–
    From: DNC Rapid Response Team
    Subject: A book of lies — your action urgently needed

    Friend —

    One of the most vile smear peddlers of the 2004 election has found a new target.

    Jerome Corsi just published a new book full of rehashed distortions and the same old lies about Barack Obama, and the right-wing noise machine is in full gear promoting it.

    In 2004, Corsi helped launch the Swift Boat smear campaign with a book of distortions and lies he wrote about John Kerry. Corsi was so extreme in his misrepresentations that even other Swift Boat attackers tried to distance themselves from him.

    We cannot afford to let Corsi get away with the same dirty tricks that fooled so many people in 2004. We can’t rely on the media to hold him accountable — in fact, the sheer brazenness of the lies is attracting even more coverage. The media have shown that they aren’t going to stop him.

    It’s up to you to spread the truth, so here it is. Below you will find the facts about Corsi and his desperate fabrications.

    Read the latest research for yourself (it’s almost unbelievable) and get this information to everyone you know who is following this election.

    Forward this message to your friends and family or use this online tool to get the truth out:

    http://www.democrats.org/bookoflies

    Together we’ll show Corsi, the Republicans, and John McCain that Barack Obama and the Democrats don’t back down from a fight.

    Thanks,

    DNC Rapid Response Team

    The latest research on Jerome Corsi:

    TOO CRAZY EVEN FOR SWIFTBOAT LIARS

    Corsi Was Dropped From Unfit for Command Promotions Because of His Anti-Muslim, Anti-Catholic Comments. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote in an editorial, “Consider the book “Unfit for Command,” put out by a collection of partisans who have now made it acceptable for veterans to attack each other’s war records. The current National Review carries a piece decrying the bookstores that fail to carry “John O’Neill’s book.” This is curious in that the volume has a second author, but Jerome Corsi has dropped from the marketing because he has been revealed as the author of religiously bigoted remarks published on a Web site. Corsi not only considers Muslims to be pederasts, but he took the trouble to slam Catholic priests and refers to the pope as senile. Rather than wonder whether a book written by such a man can be trusted, the marketing tactic has shifted to pretend Corsi doesn’t exist.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), 9/19/04]

    O’Neill Tried to Minimize Corsi’s Role in Unfit for Command After Bigoted Comments Came to Light. “In a bit of historical revisionism, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth founder and Unfit for Command co-author John O’Neill distorted Jerome Corsi’s role in co-authoring the book. O’Neill’s backtracking comes on the heels of Media Matters for America’s documentation of Corsi’s history of posting bigoted comments. During appearances on MSNBC’s Scarborough Country on August 10 and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Reports on August 11, O’Neill downplayed Corsi’s role in writing the book. When asked about Corsi’s involvement, O’Neill asserted, Corsi was “simply an editor and not really any sort of co-author.” But an MMFA item entitled “Unfit book materials show Corsi more than just an ‘editor,'” revealed Corsi to be much more than simply an editor of the anti- Kerry book. [Media Matters Press Release, 8/13/04]

    “Anti-Kerry Book Author Apologizes for Slurs.” “One of the authors of a new anti-John Kerry book frequently posted comments on a conservative Web site describing Muslims and Catholics as pedophiles and Pope John Paul II as senile. In chat room entry last year on freerepublic.com, Corsi writes: ‘Islam is a peaceful religion – just as long as the women are beaten, the boys buggered and the infidels are killed.’ In another entry, he says: ‘So this is what the last days of the Catholic Church are going to look like. Buggering boys undermines the moral base and the lawyers rip the gold off the Vatican altars. We may get one more Pope, when this senile one dies, but that’s probably about it’.” [AP, 8/10/04]

    ONE PARANOID BOOK OF LIES AFTER ANOTHER

    Corsi Wrote a Book Saying Bush’s “Globalist Agenda” Is Leading to a North American Union. “The real reason behind President Bush’s push for immigration reform, says author Jerome R. Corsi, is to unite the United States, Mexico and Canada by erasing borders and creating a “North American Union.” That is the theme of Mr. Corsi’s new book, “The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada,” which says the Bush administration’s ‘globalist agenda’ is leading to a merger of the countries through the implementation of policies and laws to open trade barriers and renovate the highway systems in anticipation of increased travel within the new megastate. Mr. Corsi said a growing number of Americans think the North American Union is being forced onto Americans. Government officials say the idea is no more than an unjustified conspiracy theory spread through the Internet. Mr. Corsi said the impetus of the plan was the creation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, announced by leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada at Waco, Texas, in 2005.” [Washington Times, 7/18/07]

    Conservative Human Events Writer: Corsi Isn’t “Any More Worthy Of Being Taken Seriously Than Those Who Think Jews Rule The World Or The ‘Truthers’ Who Think President Bush Is Responsible For 9/11.” Under the headline “There Isn’t Going to Be a North American Union,” John Hawkins wrote, “Yesterday, Jerome Corsi was prattling on about the North American Union again after Michael Medved deservedly spanked him for spreading conspiracy theories. While I don’t think Corsi is any more worthy of being taken seriously than those who think Jews rule the world or the ‘Truthers’ who think President Bush is responsible for 9/11, I thought I would respond to him one last time. (I think that’s about the fourth time I’ve said that.) Now, why respond again? What’s the point? Well unfortunately, a lot of conservatives consider this conspiracy theory to be so preposterous that they believe it’s beneath them to even bother discussing it, and that leaves Corsi and his ilk to dominate the debate. And since there are a lot of conservatives being taken in by this North American Union nonsense, somebody has got to step up to the plate.” [Human Events Online, 1/10/07]

    Editor of Human Events: “I Guess There Are People Who Believe In” Corsi’s North American Union Conspiracy, “But There Are People Who Believe In Bigfoot.” “Corsi plays on growing nationalist fears. He sees a scenario in which a North American Union is born and shares a currency, the “amero.” Even some right-wing standard-bearers regard the fears as over-blown. Jed Babbin, editor of the conservative newspaper Human Events, says: “I guess there are people who believe in [the plan for a North American Union]. But there are people who believe in Bigfoot.” [Newsweek, 12/10/07]

    Corsi Wrote a Book Disagreeing With Most Scientists That There is a Limit to Oil. “All his life, Jerome Corsi’s been told that we’re running out of oil. “I remember driving with my dad in a 1952 Plymouth and listening to him talk about the end of oil,” says the 59-year-old New Jersey author. “Hasn’t happened yet, and it’s not going to happen.” What makes him so sure? He doesn’t buy the fossil fuel theory–that oil comes from dead plants and dinosaurs. He believes it comes out of the ground naturally, and that there’s more coming up all the time…Eighteenth century Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov found biological debris in oil and concluded that it must have biological origin. “I’m at the point where the dinosaur theory seems silly,” says Corsi. “You take a pile of cats and you bury them, dig them up 10 years later and you don’t get oil.” “The truth is that there is so much oil around the world that it’s been easy to find,” Corsi says. “We’re awash in oil. There’s more oil today in proven reserves than ever before in human history.” [Western Standard (Alberta), 2/13/06]

    Corsi Wrote a Book Claiming Democrats Were Being Corrupted by Iranian Funding and Helping Iranians Get Nukes. “After their bitter campaign 2004 experience with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, John Kerry and his fellow Dems aren’t waiting to be shot at again. Yesterday, aides to Sens. Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy jumped all over literary mugger Jerome Corsi, co-author of the Kerry-bashing best seller ‘Unfit for Command.’ They knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the face (metaphorically, anyway) over his next Democrattrashing tome, ‘Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians.’ The book – which Nashville’s Cumberland House Publishing won’t release till next month – claims Democratic pols are being corrupted by Iranian money and helping the nuke-seeking mullahs in Tehran.” [Daily News (New York), 2/24/05]

    Corsi Wrote Unfit For Command Although He Was Not a Veteran. “Though not a veteran himself, Corsi co-authored “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.” [Boston Herald, 1/25/05]

    THE WRITINGS OF A PARANOID AND HATEFUL MAN

    To read more of his posts, follow this link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?name=jrlc

    HATRED AND INTOLERANCE TOWARD ISLAM
    • “Let’s see exactly why it isn’t the case that Islam is a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion? Where’s the proof to the contrary?”
    • “Islam is like a virus — it affects the mind — maybe even better as an analogy — it is a cancer that destroys the body it infects.”
    ATTACKS ON JOHN KERRY…WITH NO MILITARY BACKGROUND

    • “First let’s undermine the US in Vietnam. Then we can go for gay marriage. When you get to be Pres. JFK-lite, there will be no end to how much of America we can destroy.”
    • “Just don’t let anybody put a tablet with the Ten Commandments in front of the school where that girl wants to wear a Muslim scarf — OH, No — then the RATS would complain. Anti- Christian, Anti-American — just like their Presidential Candidate — Jean Francois Kerrie.”
    • “After he married TerRAHsa, didn’t John Kerry begin practicing Judiasm? He also has paternal gradparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?”
    • “Kerry has a long history of Communist supporters.”
    • “Kerry offers a clear choice. Anti-American hatred.”
    • “John F-ing Commie Kerry and Commie Ted discuss their plan to hand America over to our nation’s enemies.”
    DESPICABLE WRITINGS ON ISLAM SHOW BLIND HATRED

    • “The only good Mullah is a dead Mullah.” [12/21/01]
    • “Forget about democracy. Just get out the checkbook and put everybody in Iraq on the payroll. That’s all they want. Pay them first, democracy (or some b.s. Islamic version of it) will follow.” [6/18/03]
    • “Mohammed-al-Mohammed proclaiming guidance from his hate-god allah-i’ll-be-da*ned-allah kills another dozen women and children by convincing a teenager to blow him/her/self up for victory in another world. Haven’t we all had enough of this stupid “religion”?” [5/17/03]
    • “Another Mohammed-al-Mohammed Islam religion of hate maniac bites the dust. (Top Iraqi army official surrenders”) [5/17/03]
    • “Certainly can’t be one of the Islam is a Religion of Peace hijackers?” [Bus Hijacking Near Bremen, Germany] [4/25/03]
    • “One more Mohammed al-Mohammed el-Mohammed Mohammed iced — great. ” [Car Bomb Kills Egyptian Islamist in Lebanon Camp] [3/1/03]
    • “Let them build mosques — seems about all the Germans are worth these days.”( Germany’s Economic Woes) [2/6/03]
    • “Islam – the Legacy of Clinton.” (AFP: Two Chechens with belts of explosives stopped in Moscow) [12/24/02]
    • “Islam is like a virus — it affects the mind — maybe even better as an analogy — it is a cancer that destroys the body it infects. A throwback, Medieval, anti-modern, anti-science, anti-knowledge doctrine.” [11/26/02]
    • “Forget it — the only thing these Islamonazis understand is force — time to nuke the Temple of the Dome and send this “religion” back to Hell, the place it came from. ” [11/17/02]
    • “Go for the Oil Fields. Set the mad dog lawyers loose!!! Let’s ROLL!!! Take even the diapers from their heads. Remember — according to the Koran, Islam approves of lying as long as it is to non-believers. Saudis are lying killers who harbor killers.” [11/17/02]
    • “All-ah be damned. What took him so long?” [11/14/02]
    • “Islam is like a virus — it infects the minds of the believers. Islamonazis are, unfortunately, the logical extreme of the “religion.”” [11/13/02]
    • “Good plan — raise OBL from the dead every time we get ready to ice another Islamonazi — ON TO BAGHDAD. LET’S ROLL !!!” [11/13/02]
    • “Nuke the ISLAM-nazis and let’s move on. No more MUSLAMO-fascists!!” [11/10/02]
    • “Islam has declared World War III against everything non-Muslim. ” [10/28/02]
    • ” When will the liberal media wake up to see that Islam has declared a World War against everyting non-Muslim. May Allah be damned to the hell Muslims wish to create on earth.” [10/25/02]
    • ” Are there any Islamic “clerics” who aren’t violent?” [10/20/02]
    • ” May Islam join the garbage heap of worthless religions we have grown beyond. Any believers of Hermes out there?” [10/13/02]
    • “Muslims regularly trash religious sites holy to others. Jerusalem has a series of sites the Muslims have wrecked (e.g., the bus station they placed below the “Golgatha” site honored by many as an alternative location for the Christ’s crucifixion). Seems like the Muslim principle that it is okay to lie to infidels. Very different mindset — no respect for anything non-Muslim” [9/30/02]
    • “ALL Arab MUSLIMS lie (the Koran endorses lying to infidels, namely us) — none of these names are real — Abdallah is really Mohammad Mohammad Mohammad readily altered to include Atta or Haj or whatever else they decide to call themselves for the moment.” [7/10/02]
    • “Gotta love this stupid religion, ISLAM — Makes the Nazis look like a Sunday stroll in the park. ISLAM — it’s gotta be straight from HELL. Just the Devil in disguise — that seems to about sum it up.” [6/14/02]
    • “Arabs lie. ISLAM preaches lying to Infidels. Fingerprints don’t lie. Boo-hoo — time to demand IDs to check into hotels and passport registration for all foreign nationalists who want hotel rooms. Also, ID checks and passport registrations for anyone renting an apartment.” [6/5/02]
    • “Let’s get rid of all the Saudi Arabians — that would have gone a long way to preventing Sept. 11.” [6/5/02]
    • “Yet another violent raghead named Mohammad. What’s new? Islam looks like a cancer, a plague, a deadly virus. No doctor worries about the free speech rights of cancer cells.” [6/5/02]
    • “Yet another Little Islamic Man of Hate. Is there any other kind?” [5/31/02]
    • “The only thing the Islamic world understands is force. Let’s destroy a few of these hate schools and start targeting these mad preachers of hate.” [5/22/02]
    • “Let’s see — who is it not politically correct to profile? Islam the “Peaceful Religion” whose Fundamental believers are insane, suicidal killers that hate America and all democratic societies? Or Arabs whose racial hatred of Jews drives them to create secret societies of terrorists sworn to eliminate Israel and all states who support Israel?” [5/20/02]
    • “Finally a way to end Jihad. Maybe the whole Arab world will blow itself up — live by the sword, die by the sword — seems an ancient formula. Bye, Bye Jihad.” [5/20/02]
    • “I repeat: Muslims, cancer cells. It’s hard to tell the difference. No doctor worries about the First Amendment rights of cancer cells. The therapy is to eliminate cancer cells so the body can go on living. Great to repeat it — keeps the thread going. Let the Muslims stop preaching terror and I’ll revise my view. Meanwhile, Muslims, cancer cells is an equation that works.” [5/20/02]
    • “May all these Arab maniacs explode and kill themselves — next time, maybe they will take Arab*RAT with them. Best solution to the homicide bombers is that they eliminate themselves, with as little loss to civilians as possible.” [5/20/02]
    • “I repeat: Muslims, cancer cells. It’s hard to tell the difference. No doctor worries about the First Amendment rights of cancer cells. The therapy is to eliminate cancer cells so the body can go on living.” [5/19/02]
    • “Muslims, cancer cells. It’s hard to tell the difference. No doctor worries about the First Amendment rights of cancer cells. The therapy is to eliminate cancer cells so the body can go on living.” [5/17/02]
    • “File under the category “Islam is a worthless, violent CULT, not a Religion.”[3/28/02]

    CORSI HAS LOST TOUCH WITH EVEN THE FALSE REALITY HE LIVES IN

    FALSE: “We find there is even uncertainty whether Stanley Ann and Obama Senior were ever married in a church.” [p. 44]
    REALITY:CORSI ADMITS ON THE SAME PAGE THAT OBAMA’S PARENTS HAD A LEGAL AMERICAN MARRIAGE

    TIME Reported On Obama’s Parents’ Divorce Records. TIME reported, “On Feb. 2, 1961, several months after they met, Obama’s parents got married in Maui, according to divorce records.” [TIME, 4/9/08]

    Corsi Cites Time Story To Say “Divorce Papers Confirm…” Corsi wrote, “Other sources say divorce papers confirm that a civil ceremony was held on Maui, on February 2, 1961, when Ann was three months pregnant with Obama.” Corsi cites the April 9th, 2008 Time story for his reference to Obama’s parents’ wedding. [p. 44]

    EVEN A LITTLE BASIC RESEARCH DISPROVES CORSI’S FABRICATIONS

    FALSE: “Senator Obama could claim to be a citizen of Kenya, as well as of the United States. Obama can trace his heritage back to his mother, who was born in the United States and was an American citizen when he was born, and to his father, who was born in Kenya and was a Kenyan citizen when Obama was born.” [p 103]
    REALITY: OBAMA CANNOT CLAIM KENYAN CITIZENSHIP

    Kenya Does Not Allow Dual Citizenship Applications for People Over 21 Years of Age. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management writes of Kenya, “DUAL CITIZENSHIP: Not recognized except for persons under 21 years old.” The Kenyan Constitution writes, “A person who, but for the proviso to section 87 (1), would be a citizen of Kenya by virtue of that subsection shall be entitled, upon making application before the specified date in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament, to be registered as a citizen of Kenya: Provided that a person who has not attained the age of twenty-one years (other than a woman who is or has been married) may not himself make an application under this subsection, but an application may be made on his behalf by his parent or guardian.” [U.S. Office of Personnel Management; Kenyan Constitution]

    Even if Obama Had Applied for Dual Citizenship Before He Was 21–Which He Did Not–It Would Have Expired. “A person who, upon the attainment of the age of twenty-one years, is a citizen of Kenya and also a citizen of some other country other than Kenya shall, subject to subsection (7), cease to be a citizen of Kenya upon the specified date unless he has renounced his citizenship of that other country, taken the oath of allegiance and, in the case of a person who was born outside Kenya, made and registered such declaration of his intentions concerning residence as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament.” [Kenyan Constitution]

    INVENTING WILD CONSPIRACIES ABOUT ANYTHING HE CAN

    Corsi Wrote a Book Claiming Democrats Were Being Corrupted by Iranian Funding and Helping Iranians Get Nukes. “After their bitter campaign 2004 experience with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, John Kerry and his fellow Dems aren’t waiting to be shot at again. Yesterday, aides to Sens. Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy jumped all over literary mugger Jerome Corsi, co-author of the Kerry-bashing best seller ‘Unfit for Command.’ They knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the face (metaphorically, anyway) over his next Democrattrashing tome, ‘Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians.’ The book – which Nashville’s Cumberland House Publishing won’t release till next month – claims Democratic pols are being corrupted by Iranian money and helping the nuke-seeking mullahs in Tehran.” [Daily News (New York), 2/24/05]

    The DNC Rapid Response Team is a grassroots rapid response group for Democrats to push back on misleading media, spread the truth, and take positive action.

  • gruntsgt

    says:

    If I were Obama I would publicly challenge Corsi to a boxing match, with the loser having to admit that he’s a liar and to admit that he is in actuality a coward!

  • Corrine

    says:

    How does that old saying go, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” The American people have wisend up since 2004. Find something truthful and enlightning to write about Corsi. I know, why don’t you write a book about yourself. No, let someone else right a book about you. Now, that woulld be some good reading. Make sure the book is full of lies, Tthat really might make it a best seller.
    The only people that would by your trashy book about Sen. Obama are ignorant, trashy people like yourself.
    You’re a sorry excuse for a human being.
    What I really want to write about you and O’Rielly, and Hannity and let’s not leave out Rush, it would be censore material, so I’ll just say, ALL OF YOU MAKE ME SICK TO MY STOMACH. YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF IGNORANT BIGOTS.

  • Ace Armstrong

    says:

    I understand this book is #1 on NYT book list. How did this happen so quickly. Have a small number of people or groups purchase large amounts of this book to pump up it appearance of popularity?
    The presence of free speech always places the burden on education.

  • angry young man

    says:

    Eric Burns, once of Fox News Watch, was on Countdown tonight to answer that question in the affirmative.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/26209089#26209089

    If you look at the NY Times list this week (dated 8/17, published last week, and capturing sales from two weeks ago when the book first came out), next to its summary there’s a dagger (or, as Burns calls it, a dart). This indicates that bookstores reported bulk sales, so the actual consumer reach of the book can’t really be trusted.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/books/bestseller/besthardnonfiction.html

    I thought Burns’ more interesting point was that of the first 11 citations in the book, 9 are to Corsi’s previous writings.

  • bama guy

    says:

    There is sure a lot of concern over a book that you believe is just full of lies. The truth is that there is such a preponderance of evidence that supports what is in the book that you know the American people will question. You can call it all lies if you want but without real proof it falls on deaf ears. Your arguments don’t refute what is being said, it just tries to explain it away. That just doesn’t work. Plus, the more Obama speaks, the more he gets in front of the American people, the more we find out about his associations, the more we see just how foolish it would be to support him for President. So, go ahead and cuss and spit and do whatever you want. You can’t hide the truth. Its too easy to find these days.

  • Bruno

    says:

    Prup @ 11…

    I didn’t get what you meant … What in the post was meant for me?

    —

    I do know that the count down is on for chad and the other republican posters to start using the contents of that books as their talking points.

    After all, if it is in a book, it MUST be true.

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    I dunno – is a 40-page point-by-point refutation, sent to all news organizations and put up on the website over Obama’s signature still “behind the scenes?””””

  • Bruno

    says:

    wow bama guy beat me to my post about the republican trolls… he DOES believe it is all true. How predictable. Shows how little critical thinking skills they actually have.

    Then again, he obviously wants to vote for McCain, a person you don’t know from day to day, whether he’s flipping or flopping on an issue.

    According to Sean Hannity, you cant trust McCain to be the president, because he’s an adulterer. So… bama buy, you better listing to your Fox News celebrity…. Do NOT vote for an adulterer. You cant trust them. Hannity said it on the “fair and balanced” show, so it MUST be true. Right?

  • Nancy Irving

    says:

    The book is currently #2 on Amazon.

    The Obama campaign is absolutely correct to combat this vigorously.

    Anyone who thinks they can just ignore Corsi as Kerry did in 2004 is crazy.

  • Vicki

    says:

    I suggest that until the end of the year we all simply stop buying books published by Simon & Schuster and any of its imprints. The company’s executives decided to publish Corsi’s vicious and riduculous lies because they knew they’d make a lot of money doing so and they cared more about profits than ethics. I, for one, am sick of greed that ignores right and wrong. So why not let Simon & Schuster experience a little reality check? We are their profit center, you know, so we do have a voice. Collectively, our voice is a very loud one.

  • (: Tom :)

    says:

    22. On August 14th, 2008 at 11:37 pm, bama boy said:

    There is sure a lot of concern over a book that you believe is just full of lies.

    Actually, boy, the concern is that a book full of lies is being presented as truth by the mainstream media at the behest of their Republican’t masters.

    The truth is that there is such a preponderance of evidence that supports what is in the book that you know the American people will question.

    Except for the fact that the truthiness in this book has already been refuted, and that there’s no evidence that supports the smears and lies of Corsi’s piece of dreck. Some of the american people still believe the smears and lies in the Clinton Chronicles. And some of us are reasonably certain that Republican’t Putsch fellators such as yourself, son, will toss the smears into the conversation as if they had legitimcacy.

    Maybe it just takes longer for the truth to get to Massabama…

    You can call it all lies if you want but without real proof it falls on deaf ears.

    And you can call it truth, too, but without any real proof Corsi’s lies are only believed by the hard core 15 percenters still drinking the republican’t kool-aide. Like you.

    Your arguments don’t refute what is being said, it just tries to explain it away. That just doesn’t work.

    You mean refuting lies with the truth dioesn’t work for you? Funny how Corsi can’t respond to any of the refutations with, like, facts and stuff. For some strange reason, that doesn’t seem to be working out so well for him.

    Plus, the more Obama speaks, the more he gets in front of the American people, the more we find out about his associations, the more we see just how foolish it would be to support him for President. So, go ahead and cuss and spit and do whatever you want. You can’t hide the truth. Its too easy to find these days.

    And the more Johnathon Sidney McCain the Third tries to speak, the more he puts his foot in his mouth in front of the american people, the more all of america sees how foolish it would be to have a third term of the current Republican’t clusterCheney sadminstration in power. That’s real easy to find these days – and it doesn’t seem to be helping serial liar, adulterer, and spouse to trophy beer baroness wife Cindy Hensley very much.

    Funny – you seem to be able to find all sorts of smears and lies about Obama, but are singularly unable to find out the sad and dangerous truths about the MClueless old fart.

    Republican’t goggles seem to affect judgement even more than beer goggles…

  • ellen

    says:

    Obama never says why something is not true, he just says “It’s not true, or it’s a silly lie”. So tell
    me how can we really know what is the truth about Obama when he never offers proof of anything?

  • WN Swartout

    says:

    Kerry claimed at least 8 times that he had spent Christmas in Cambodia. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27211-2004Aug23.html

    That was a lie. So leftists attack the messenger in Corsi rather than liars like Kerry (our soldiers in Vietnam supposedly cut off ears and razed villages in the manner of Genghis Khan — all lies and presented under oath before congress) and his VP nominee Edwards. Obama’s quibbling/weak but lengthy response to Corsi says he is no leader and just the product of the very corrupt hard left Chicago political machine.