by Frank James
Jerome Corsi, author most recently of the "The Obama Nation," was on Larry King the other night with Paul Waldman of Media Matters for America. I didn't get to see it in real-time (the Olympics were on, after all, and I was probably watching beach volleyball since NBC is under the mistaken impression that the American appetite for beach volleyball is insatiable.)
Anyway, Media Matters sent around video of the Corsi-Waldman encounter and after viewing it, I would award the match Waldman who won because he had the most defensible case and defended it well. He also delivered a memorable soundbite. "You can put slime in the covers of a book and it's still slime."
Anyone who's been following the controversy over the book or who watches this Larry King segment or, better yet, who has seen the infamous New Yorker cover featuring the Obama caricatures, already knows pretty much all they need to know about the contents of this book. Through innuendo, it forwards the rumors that Sen. Barack Obama is a crypto-Muslim and that his wife Michelle is the spiritual twin of Angela Davis.
I haven't fully read Corsi's book yet; I've only skimmed it. Life is short and there are some other books I'd really like to get through this summer. (If you haven't read Robert Fagles's translation of the Iliad, you owe it to yourself.) But it seems that Corsi's "scholarship" leaves a lot to desired.
Take this exchange with King which occurred after King showed a clip of Obama swatting down the crypto-Muslim charges (Here's a transcript:)
KING: Jerome, if a man says he is a Christian, why doubt that?
CORSI: Well, I don't. I say in the book I can't read Barack Obama's soul. I can't look into his mind. If he says he's a Christian, he's a Christian. What I say is...
KING: So (INAUDIBLE).
CORSI: Well, but what I document Barack Obama just there said he was not raised as a Muslim. I very clearly document in Indonesia, when he was six to 10 years old, living with his mother and his Islamic stepfather, he did attend a public school where he received Muslim education. And he...
KING: But...
CORSI: ...it was the type of Islamic education that was for a person registered as a Muslim in that school, which Barack Obama had also been when he attended Catholic school in (INAUDIBLE).
KING: But Jerome, you know that Jewish kids go to Catholic schools. It doesn't make them Catholic.
CORSI: Well, he was registered as a Muslim. The documentation -- I thoroughly researched it from the Indonesian newspapers and Indonesian television. He attended mosque with his stepfather. The friends who were in school with him attest that he was then considered a Muslim. And that's the testimony of the people in Indonesia who grew up in those six years (INAUDIBLE)...
Corsi evidently places more trust in the Indonesian media than he does in, say, CNN. Which is all right, although I notice he wasn't trying to plug his book on an Indonesian media show.
Anyway, CNN actually sent a reporter last year to Obama's old Indonesian grade school. What did he find? That the school, though nominally Muslim (Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, after all) is a public school and quite secular. Here's an excerpt of that report:
But reporting by CNN in Jakarta, Indonesia and Washington, D.C., shows the allegations that Obama attended a madrassa to be false. CNN dispatched Senior International Correspondent John Vause to Jakarta to investigate.
He visited the Basuki school, which Obama attended from 1969 to 1971.
"This is a public school. We don't focus on religion," Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the Basuki school, told Vause. "In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don't give preferential treatment."
Vause reported he saw boys and girls dressed in neat school uniforms playing outside the school, while teachers were dressed in Western-style clothes.
"I came here to Barack Obama's elementary school in Jakarta looking for what some are calling an Islamic madrassa ... like the ones that teach hate and violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Vause said on the "Situation Room" Monday. "I've been to those madrassas in Pakistan ... this school is nothing like that."
Vause also interviewed one of Obama's Basuki classmates, Bandug Winadijanto, who claims that not a lot has changed at the school since the two men were pupils. Insight reported that Obama's political opponents believed the school promoted Wahhabism, a fundamentalist form of Islam, "and are seeking to prove it."
"It's not (an) Islamic school. It's general," Winadijanto said. "There is a lot of Christians, Buddhists, also Confucian. ... So that's a mixed school."
Now in the book, Corsi says CNN misses the point. He allows that Obama didn't attend a madrassa. But that doesn't mean he wasn't exposed to Islamic precepts and the Koran as a grade-schooler, writes Corsi.
In the book, Corsi leads us through a confusing (at least I was confused) exploration of exactly what neighborhood young Barry lived in when he attended this school or that. He claims Obama's autobiography, "Dreams of My Father" is unclear on the point. Then he gives two possible explanations, one benign, the other sinister.
"The truth is that we do not know for sure how many moves there were or where Obama was living when he attended the government run public school. Unfortunately, what Obama writes about his time in Indonesia is not precise enough, with regard to locations and dates, to help us to sort it out. Obama was young when he was in Indonesia and maybe some of the details of the experience are obscure, even to him. Or, maybe he is trying to minimize intentionally the extent to which the experience placed him in an Islamic setting where he received public school education in Islam. Again, we simply don't know."
And if you're Corsi, this kind of uncertainty, if it be that, is actually what you thrive on since it allows you to raise questions about Obama's truthfulness etc. Corsi admits to anyone who asks, as King did, if he is out to defeat Obama. Indeed he is, he said. He sees the senator from Illinois as "unfit for command" to use the title of Corsi's previous book on Sen. John Kerry. So he's not about to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. It's more like damning by doubt.
One of the best parts of the Corsi-Waldman match was when Waldman turned the tables on Corsi who has written some rather impolitic things about Pope John Paul II which Corsi later apologized for. First King took put Corsi on the spot:
Now, Jerome, in your books, you frequently make points about people using their own words. You, in the past -- in 2003, you blogged that "boy-buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is OK with the pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press."
In 2004, you described Muslim...
CORSI: And, Larry, these are all...
KING: ...as "worthless, dangerous, satanic."
You called Pope John Paul II senile.
Now you can say you're OK, now, but if you meant that then, we have a right to question you then, as you question Mrs. Obama at Princeton.
CORSI: Well, Larry, you should also report all the apologies for those comments. And I've clearly stated...
KING: Yes, but you still -- I mean...
CORSI: I stated they were not written to express my true views. They were intentionally written to be antagonistic or aggressive or provocative. The Catholic Church, I'm a good member. I was born and raised in the Catholic Church.
Are we to take from this that Corsi evidently believes you can say anything, so long as you apologize later? Certainly seems to be his position.
One of the discussion's best moments was when Waldman gave Corsi a taste of his own medicine.
WALDMAN: You put up on right-wing Web sites a whole series of bigoted and hateful posts in 2002 and 2003 that you later had to admit to when you got found out -- all kinds of really vile and malicious stuff.
CORSI: OK. If you...
WALDMAN: Now, you say that you've stopped that. You say that you've stopped that and you don't put up those kinds of vile, bigoted, malicious, hateful posts on right-wing Web sites. But all we have is your word.
I mean, do -- can we really trust you?
People who do that kind of thing, well, you know, they're not really very trustworthy.
CORSI: We have...
WALDMAN: So can we trust you?
Are you still doing that?
CORSI: You have more than my word. You've got the record of everything I've written since then.
WALDMAN: Can you prove that you're not doing it anonymously?
Can you prove it?
CORSI: I don't post anything anonymously.
WALDMAN: But all...
CORSI: And (INAUDIBLE)...
WALDMAN: But you just said -- well, all we have is your word.
CORSI: These... WALDMAN: You see what I'm doing here?
One of Corsi's claims to credibility is his doctorate in political science from Harvard University. His Ph.D appears after his name on the cover and title page of the book.
But a Ph.D. isn't necessarily proof that your worldview is well-grounded. Anyone who doubts that need only consider Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, a University of Michigan Ph.D in mathematics.
Comments
Why is the media digging deeper on Corsi than they are on Obama's communist and Marxist mentors?
Posted by: Mark | August 16, 2008 11:33 AM
Excellent article. Waldman articulately exposed Corsi as the liar and propoganda machine he is. CNN, is reflecting a serious attempt at finding the truth. Thank you
Posted by: Rufus | August 16, 2008 11:44 AM
McCain is like a Grumpy Elephant with no vision and a flip flopping memory! There is a reason this Elephant is silent on Jerome Corsi. His trainers are Rove & Schmidt at the circus! We know what to expect at McCain's convention a Grumpy Elephant entwining his trunk with 2 Rogue elephants in Bush/Cheney with two cheering trainers in Rove & Schmidt who are trying to sell the American People a 3 rd George Bush Term.
Posted by: RFK | August 16, 2008 11:51 AM
I didn't need to look under the cover of 'Obama Nation' to know that it is complete garbage. Corsi is a real piece of work. Personally, I'm very pleased that Obama received a well rounded education and was exposed to different cultures. Being open-minded is key for a good president.
Posted by: Daric | August 16, 2008 12:06 PM
Mr. Corsi is a retard!
Posted by: Ed | August 16, 2008 12:08 PM
Oh, how I love unbiased opinions. Don"t matter whose they are. Always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling deep inside. Tremendously improves my faith in American news media.
Posted by: old mo | August 16, 2008 12:12 PM
The basic fact is that Obama does not have a fundamentally American background. The book outlines that.
Posted by: Jay Carlson | August 16, 2008 12:14 PM
How low can we go, as a race? Corsi sets the bar very low in his personal expectations for his own conduct, and profits from promoting slime.
He can make outlandish, prejudicial, racist comments -- many are bold face lies -- yet expects us to just forgive and forget simply because he ask for forgiveness? Repentance requires you quit doing the evil you're perpretrating!
US voters are smarter than this. We're not going to be duped again. We've tasted the price of $4/gallon gas when we were PROMISED by the Bush Administration that Iraq would be able to pay for the costs of its own restoration. He was so confident of that, that he passed two huge tax cut bills into law and look what an economic disaster we have on our hands!
20 of 28 years waiting for the "trickle down" to reach the bottom but very, very little of it has. Our country is MUCH worse off because of these GOP policies, are these Karl Rovians techniques bring out the worst in us.
No wonder there are so many Obamicans that are going to cross over. Bote for Change We Can Believe In. Vote for Barack Obama.
Great sound bite, Paul Waldman.
Posted by: Andrew L - Des Moines | August 16, 2008 12:16 PM
Well that dows it. I will not vote into the presidency Mr. Corsi.
If Barack wasn't raised as a Muslim, why was he registered as one at the Catholic school?
If a Jew goes to a Catholic school wouldn't he be lying if he claimed he didn't recieve a catholic education?
Posted by: whatnow | August 16, 2008 12:18 PM
The Corsi pig slop passing itself off as a book is a disgrace to the memory of the old house of Simon and Schuster. Karl Rove's fingerprints are all over this unadulterated pack of lies. Mary Matalin is a stooge of the Rove School of the Big Lie and Smear and slimeball Corsi is her tool. All right-minded people should be outraged at this Swift Boat style attack. Obama campaigners need to strike back with a vengeance. A complete boycott of Simon and Schuster would be a great place to start. Getting out the full story about McCain and the Keating Five might be useful. One thing is certain Obama cannot stand idly by and let the RNC/Rove/McCain thugs get away with this assault.
Posted by: jefflz | August 16, 2008 12:18 PM
Nice to see in print that someone else has noticed that all we ever get at the end of the day from NBC is beach volleyball. I've been beefing about it all week. I haven't caught any swimming, fencing or gymnastics events at all since it started.
Posted by: Pam Waffle | August 16, 2008 12:26 PM
Re: Cursi How many showers does he take a day?? Obviously, not enough because all I see is dirt! ! ! ! !
Posted by: corkie murphy | August 16, 2008 12:26 PM
Today's paper states the McCain camp has "no comment" on the Corsi book. That's outrageous and disgusting.
Posted by: Pam Waffle | August 16, 2008 12:27 PM
You haven't read The Obama Nation and neither have I. (I'm waiting until after the DNC convention.) I think reporting on a book you haven't read is more than a little unfair. However, I did read your article and I have to pick at a few points in it:
1) Is there no reason to believe that things may have changed in the nearly 40 years since Obama attended the school? For example, Catholic schools 40 years ago were far more Catholic than they are today.
2) If he was registered as a Muslim, even at a secular school, that means whoever registered him considered him to be a Muslim. A Jew registered as a Jew in a Catholic school is still considered a Jew.
3) King and Waldman resorted to ad hominem attack on Corsi, rather than going after the facts presented. It's sad this is taken as evidence against Corsi when it's such a clear violation of logic.
And finally,
4) A Ph.D in mathematics has little to do with being the Unabomber. A Ph.D in political science has much to do with putting out a credible book about a politician.
Posted by: Ryan Gauger | August 16, 2008 12:30 PM
The book gets simple facts like Obama's wedding date wrong.
I wish I could see Corsi's punishment when he gets to hell.
Posted by: cb | August 16, 2008 12:37 PM
Dr Corsi presents his material in straight-forward fashion. Media matters spokesman only wants to discredit the author. It seems that larry and Mr Waldman wanted to stay away from the actual content of the book. Larry appeared to side with Mr Waldman which was curious for a news host.
Posted by: william | August 16, 2008 12:37 PM
Although I agree with your critique, your last paragraph doesn't win very many people: apples and oranges, and not much better than what Corso has already done.
Posted by: Rob Haskins | August 16, 2008 12:44 PM
Larry,
On over 50 circumstances in his book, Corsi wrote false innuendos and bold face lies....all of which had been previously and truthfully discussed, in plain English in Senator Obama's books....All Corsi had to do to rectify his lies and innuendos was read the Obama books, and copy down Obama's words...nothing more.
There is no question here of fact or slime...it's pure slime.
So far, John McCain's response has been that we all need a "sense of humor." He needs to wake up. Until McCain formally denounces Corsi and his book he is, by association, as guilty as Corsi. Unless he repudiates what Corsi wrote, he risks losing his reputation for integrity, ... and it will become obvious that he no longer represents either a respect for truth or personal moral standards.
Tom
Posted by: TomV | August 16, 2008 12:47 PM
Very simply, it's time to give McCain/Bush/Rove, et al, a taste of their own medicine. They deserve a barrage of distorted negative "facts" about McCain, innuendo etc. etc. That's the only way to put an end to the neo-con spin machine, supported by the "Religious Right". Lastly, the "Religious Right" is NEITHER !!
Posted by: ROSS DE GRUSSO | August 16, 2008 12:48 PM
Hey Mark, the media isn't looking for Communist and Marxist mentors to Obama because there aren't any. Meanwhile, Corsi appears to have a callous disregard for the truth.
Posted by: Steve C | August 16, 2008 12:58 PM
Will McCain speak out against this trash?
Or is he, like it, pond scum?
Posted by: pudentane | August 16, 2008 1:01 PM
McCain needs to unequivocally denounce Corsi's book... immediately. Most especially after he commented off-hand that the book is all in good fun.
Otherwise, he is swimming in the same slime as Corsi.
Posted by: Bitter Nation | August 16, 2008 1:02 PM
Larry siding with Mr. Waldman is curious for a news host? Either you don't watch Fox news or you're too biased to consider that. How do you respect someone who posted racist ideas anonymously and now writes about a black man? What reasonable expectation would there be for truth?
Posted by: richard broderick | August 16, 2008 1:05 PM
This slime ball should be put away.
Posted by: tom | August 16, 2008 1:06 PM
News media only gets excited about research when it attacks Obama critics!
Posted by: dave | August 16, 2008 1:11 PM
Mr. Corsi, I have heard from sources that you roam through your neighborhood at night stealing puppies, which you then cook and eat. Can you prove this assertion false?
That is the type of argument Mr. Corsi used throughout "Unfit" and in the few exerpts I have read of his newest screed: repeating unsubstantiated or invented rumors, and then suggesting that whatever is not proven false is most likely true.
It's intellectually indefensible, morally outrageous, and habitually used by smearmongers like Corsi since the dawn of debate.
Now about those puppies, Mr. Corsi...
Posted by: Cynic | August 16, 2008 1:15 PM
This man has admitted that he only wrote this book to stir controversy, not present facts.
That alone discredits him, and it tarnishes all Ph.Ds in political science. Most people already think political pundits are nonsensical, and this further disassociates the American People from trusting any news source other than those that reinforce their own beliefs and not the actual truth.
Posted by: Nimeet Shah | August 16, 2008 1:18 PM
It takes a second to tell a lie or a smear, but a minute to debunk it. With all the misleading crap in this book it's going to take a large effort by objective readers and skeptics to respond - which is exactly Corsi's objective - to waste peoples time questioning irrelevant things so they don't have time to think about things that really matter - like the trillion dollar disaster in Iraq - which, BTW is driving the economic mess in the U.S. Try actually listening to Obama speak on foreign policy - It's like a breath of fresh air compared to McCain's Bushy approach. Obama brings some much needed balance into the national dialog. Filter out the noise and listen to what they are really saying..
Posted by: Robert | August 16, 2008 1:19 PM
America should be relieved. Corsi scoured the world for mud to throw at Obama, and all he could come up with was the thoroughly discredited Muslim-schooling allegations and some gutter racial slurs. Nothing genuine, nothing substantial.
In fact, if that's the best that Mary Matalin's Republican smear machine can come up with, Obama is clearly the fittest candidate. He's not certified unethical (Keating Five), a flip-flopper (Iraq withdrawal, offshore drilling), peevishly negative (tire gauges) like John McCain. And the fact that McCain hasn't simply repudiated the Corsi book shows that he no longer even pretends to believe in "straight talk."
Posted by: reading-comprehension | August 16, 2008 1:22 PM
Whatnow, it wasn't a Catholic school.
Posted by: Dave Lipscomb | August 16, 2008 1:22 PM
Let me see. Waldman avoids discussing the substance of Corsi's allegations and goes directly to an ad hominem attack on Corsi. Kind of ironic for someone who is complaining that is what Corsi is doing to Obama. But media dimwits never see their own stupidity. This has convinced me to buy the book.
Posted by: Chuck Cardiff | August 16, 2008 1:29 PM
Wow!!! Corsi is just evil.I dont think the poor guy can be assisted.He sure is the devil's agent.
Mccain will be defeated and we will have a good economy under Obama.Every time Americans get a good candidate like Obama,the rightists malign them and Americans go back to suffering.NOT THIS TIME. OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT.GOD IS WATCHING AND HE LOVES AMERICA.
Posted by: wesley clinton | August 16, 2008 1:31 PM
The partisan exagerations are the problem here. All of us live compromised lives...ALL of us. Those who choose to rush to the fringe ARE the problem. A reasonable conversation about the presidential race is what we need. Those who opt for distortion and raise unfounded gossip are seeking to weaken the debate about what American policies will best serve the American people. Shysters crawl out of their holes to fire but can't stand the light of day when pressed to provide a balanced view of the race for the White House and the profoundly serious problems we have in this country as a result of the Bush/Cheney years. Could anything be more pathetic than the administration's flat footedness as Russia has successfully occupied a nation and Ms. Rice is shown to be a charlatan in her position? Could we please make our discourse more neutral with pros and cons without the distortions of the hacks who pretend to have something substantive to say.
Posted by: Brian Tippen | August 16, 2008 1:38 PM
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE, THERE'S FIRE ...
http://townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/05/13/palestinians_phonebank_for_obama
Posted by: Gina | August 16, 2008 1:39 PM
Corsi: A canoe without a paddle. A horse without a saddle. A brain described as addle.
Posted by: Bernie Krause | August 16, 2008 1:40 PM
Corsi is a desperate man. He doesn't care what he says as long as he cuts Obama off at the knees. He's as morally bankrupt an individual as I've ever seen. Lie, lie, lie, as long as it gets you what you want.
Posted by: Dorothy Madigan | August 16, 2008 1:43 PM
History is replete with evil men who have created "truth" to suit their own malevolent purposes...think Stalin and Hitler. Corsi is just a petty peddler of hate and lies. If it looks like slime, smells like slime and tastes like slime, it is slime.
Posted by: oaklynne | August 16, 2008 1:53 PM
I like Women's beach Volleyball. can't get enough!
Posted by: Sorry, Frank | August 16, 2008 1:55 PM
Why are we even listening to a dfraft dodger who got out of serving in the military during Viet-Nam by pleading that he had eczema?
He has spent his whole life sliming opponents of the right wing extremist branch of the Republican party.
Just look at his views on the 9/11 destruction of the trade center buildings in New York. He stated that he didn't believe any aircraft were involved.
The man is a nut case who is making millions by lies and distortion.
Viet-Nam veteran 1963-1968
Posted by: Lucas Gilmore | August 16, 2008 1:59 PM
Well done. I think people like this need to be called out and their approach and motives tabled like was done in that interview. I think a PhD means nothing. It is what people do with it that counts. What is being done with it here, in my mind, given this man's past behaviors, disqualifies the entire book and line of attack.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 2:06 PM
Why is this country so afraid of some diversity? Yet it was built on that very diversity, (much of it with the labor of Blacks and Hispanics actually). Jay Carlson you say that Obama does not have a fundamentally American background but I disagree. In many ways he is more quintessentially American than most White folk. After all he represents both genetically and intellectually the melting pot that America is, and I hope, proudly remains. Plus he is a good family man unlike Mr. McCain the flipflopping philanderer.
Corsi is an embarrassment to anyone's sense of decency, but he is simply reflecting the Republican ethos of taking what you can regardless of the cost to others. Survival of the fittest right (even though they preach Christianity)! And after all that attitude has only cost America several trillion dollars in debt to the Chinese. While we all recognize that truth can be relative, the numbers don't lie, and Repubbers, for the last 8 years, consistently have. What are your values America? I don't think they are being represented very well. And the values McCain and Corsi are showing belong in the gutter.
Posted by: Mike Robinson | August 16, 2008 2:07 PM
Sorry, obama supporters but truth keeps marching on! No more political wiggles kids!
Posted by: lynx | August 16, 2008 2:07 PM
Has Obama or the media ever attacked an anti-Bush or anti-McCain book. (insert crickets noise). No. The media gushes over and gives legitimacy to every wacky theory out there against Republicans. It is the height of hypocrisy that the ‘neutral’ media piles on Corsi like he is Hitler. The media does nothing but provide cover for Obama. Obama has some huge skeletons in his closet. Just look how closely Obama has embraced the white-genocide Black Liberation Theology. First through Trinity and Rev. Wright, and now even through Leah Daughtry. Obama can not win if the truth gets out.
Posted by: John Money | August 16, 2008 2:19 PM
The fact is Barack Obama did not register himself to that secular school, his parents registered him. In that society the man is not just the head of the household, but the ruler of the household. Therefore, it is not unusual to see the father's religion listed. Besides, Barack's mother was not a member of a church. Kind of a stretch to think that they would put down christian on the registration when neither of the parents considered themselves members of that religion.
Also, the analogy of a jew registered in a Catholic school is not a good one. Barack Obama was going to a secular school where they do not focus on religion.
Posted by: Jon Leaman | August 16, 2008 2:26 PM
Muslim not a Muslim, Christian ,Jew. ...does all this religious talk make REALLY any sense ???! For the first time there is a man that is not one of the rich professional politicians that is run for president... and all you are doing is putting them in the dirt. The worst is that most of the right wind super religious politicians are the worst kind of lairs and manipulators .... So before you cast a stone look at yourself...
Posted by: martin | August 16, 2008 2:31 PM
A political science degree has absolutely nothing to do with writing a biography. A PhD from the English Dept. might be useful though.
Posted by: Andre | August 16, 2008 2:32 PM
bloggers working for Obama????
LOL
Posted by: mak | August 16, 2008 2:55 PM
I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Why is being a Muslim wrong? I believe it's not a crime to practice the Muslim faith in this country, right? Plus, I know a few Muslims and they are perfectly fine human beings. Can someone please enlighten me on this?
Posted by: rhubarb | August 16, 2008 3:09 PM
I'm not about to waste my time by watching Larry King, so all I can do is comment on this report and its excerpts of the transcript.
And I didn't see Waldman refute anything that Corsi wrote about Obama. He just cast doubt on Corsi's character (which appears easy enough to do), but did not really address anything of substance.
The fact is, there are plenty of reasons not to support Obama, one of them being he has no qualifications for the job of President. Corsi's accusations really don't matter to me.
Posted by: Nick in Virginia | August 16, 2008 3:12 PM
In response to "Sorry, obama supporters but truth keeps marching on! No more political wiggles kids!
Posted by: lynx | August 16, 2008 2:07 PM"
I think you missed the point here, or perhaps you mean that the truth about Corsi and his motives can now march on. Really, if you think for a minute that what Corsi says or his book is even worth reading, you are mistaken. Your comment is just foolish noise. The truth indeed will march on and the McCain ship will continue to sink because it is riding on false waters.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 3:20 PM
Corsi and the rest of the radical republican slime squad will stop at nothing from perverting the truth. I have had a diverse education in Utah, it doesn't make me a mormon. I've lived in Turkey and married a lovely Turkish woman, but it doesn't make me a Muslim. And on the flip side it doesn't make her a Christian. We both have loath for religion because of its destructive influence on mankind. Our experiences don't make us what we are, they make us appreciate who we are. Corsi is the type of person who will find fault with anything and believes in the mantra that if you tell someone a lie long enough they will eventually believe it. Just because someone says pigs fly doesn't make it true...well except for Corsi.
Posted by: Ahsay | August 16, 2008 3:20 PM
I read the book when I first heard about it. Corsi has over 300 footnotes, showing that he has researched everything that he says. I don't understand people at all, how people can vote for a man who they know nothing about, who has no international or even national experience. He is just a few years short of handing out pamphlets on the southside. Wake up everyone and find out something about this man; he's friends with ayers, rezko, known anti-white, anti-semites, farrakhan, khalidi. If you think the book is all lies, what about these people? Everyone knows BO associated with them. It's a known fact. We can't afford to have an unknown quanity in the whitehouse. We need someone to dig us out of the slime we're in now and more slime will just drag us down into the sewer.
Posted by: suze | August 16, 2008 3:21 PM
In reply to the post "WHERE THERE'S SMOKE, THERE'S FIRE ... http://townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/05/13/palestinians_phonebank_for_obama Posted by: Gina | August 16, 2008 1:39 PM"
Indeed and in this case the fire has been started by an arsonist. It is a false fire and the smoke signals emanating therefrom are wafting back to where they came from. Corsi.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 3:23 PM
I like a good beach volley ball game! I also like a good political brawl. The gloves are off in this one. I wonder if Obama is taking notes for his next book tour, which by the way I think I heard will be when he releases in September his new book. The brawl continues at the realtime poll at http://www.bop-o-rama.com. the gallup poll doesn't come close to this poll.
Posted by: Alphonso Carponzo | August 16, 2008 3:29 PM
In response to "Let me see. Waldman avoids discussing the substance of Corsi's allegations and goes directly to an ad hominem attack on Corsi. Kind of ironic for someone who is complaining that is what Corsi is doing to Obama. But media dimwits never see their own stupidity. This has convinced me to buy the book. Posted by: Chuck Cardiff | August 16, 2008 1:29 PM"
Let me see. Corsi avoids finding anything with substance and anyway goes directly to ad hominem attack on Obama. Kind of ironic for someone who is complaining that Obama is doing what McCain is in fact doing. But right wingers never see their own stupidity. Let me see, so its okay for Corsi to attack but not for right thinking, smart people who see what is going on to question this guy? To make a mockery out of what he is doing. Which if it cannot be ignored (and no it can't), must be shown to be what it is.
Larry King is doing what makes sense. As is Waldman and the author of this article. It seems to me that this Corsi's intentions and character make him someone to discount completely. Where are the publishers on this (oh right they are the right wingers) that they should publish this as anything other than fiction?
I am glad you are buying the book, it will take another one off the shelfs and put it where no one can see it. It will also, once absorbed by you, put what is in it where it belongs, in a narrow mind, with no critical thinking and no daylight or sunlight.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 3:31 PM
I want some bad karma to come back and bite McCain in the butt. His repeated comments about needing a sense of humor need to come back around and bite him.
McCain said he would conduct a respectful campaign. Hogwash. McCain and his sidekicks lob one lying spitball after another at Obama. When questioned about the lack of civility of his campaign McCain responds time and again that we need to have a sense of humor. Ha!
Republicans want to hear this slime, that's why Republican politicians dish it out and it works for them.
I say it is time to dish it right back. Does McCain have a sense of humor?
Posted by: jukeboy joe | August 16, 2008 3:34 PM
In reply to the comment "News media only gets excited about research when it attacks Obama critics! Posted by: dave | August 16, 2008 1:11 PM"
If this were true, which it is not, it would still not apply in this case. Where is the research? Corsi has not researched, he has regurgitated all the low life comments, the lies, the innuendo and even created more. This is not research. His references are mostly to his own writings. How is that research?
You need to get a grip as do many other like you who want to call a work of fiction research.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 3:34 PM
In reply to the comment "Although I agree with your critique, your last paragraph doesn't win very many people: apples and oranges, and not much better than what Corso has already done. Posted by: Rob Haskins | August 16, 2008 12:44 PM"
I think you missed that they were trying to make a point that Corsi should not be doing that..... It was throwing back at him, what he is doing.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 3:36 PM
So, what is the point of all this? Bottom line is if you have the least connection to a Muslim, you must be a Muslim. And SO WHAT if he is? We have bought and sold the idea that anyone who is a Muslim must be an evil and disreputable person. So much for freedom of religion and respect for others in America the Free. My sister married a Muslim, my favorite nephew is a Muslim and many of my friends and family are Muslim. The are wonderful, loving, ethical people who, bottom line, believe they love God or Allah as much as we do. I have been a Christian my entire life but since I have had "connections" with "these people" does that prove I couldn't really be a good person. WAKE UP, America! We are all members of one race and that is human. There are good and bad in every culture but when we start to demonize, divide, slander entire groups of people, we are worse as a nation for it. I would be MOST proud to have a president who has lived in many worlds and culture, who is upstanding, intelligent and ethical. I wouldn't care if he were a atheist. The truth is, we need to get beyone such insane pettiness and work together for a better, more peaceful world. Whay don't we leave the judgment to a higher source and stop acting like greedy, hateful, angry children out to destroy each other!
Posted by: Linda Lutes | August 16, 2008 3:37 PM
In reply to the comment "Dr Corsi presents his material in straight-forward fashion. Media matters spokesman only wants to discredit the author. It seems that larry and Mr Waldman wanted to stay away from the actual content of the book. Larry appeared to side with Mr Waldman which was curious for a news host. Posted by: william | August 16, 2008 12:37 PM"
Well, let me see, the 9/11 terrorists also presented their material in a "straight forward fashion". Does that make them right? Larry appeared to side with Waldman - wouldn't you? Or does it make sense to side with Corsi or remain neutral when Corsi himself admits all the stupid things he has done. And admits his motives etc. You need to think before you post. Or, maybe you did and are a Corsi-ite.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 3:39 PM
Only people who are salivating over this book are the people that wasnt going to vote for Obama in the first place. Corsi
is held as a hero on the right,
with no counter points just rip
and run free, but at the end of
the day you Rep pulsives still
have Old John. How does that
feel?
Posted by: Kenneth Dillon | August 16, 2008 3:40 PM
Martin Luther King wasn't as big of an influence on Obama, so this author got that right. I watched a Cone interview and he didn't agree with MLK's support of Christianity in the sense that King supported it....to Cone it was a WHITE MAN take on it, so he combined Christianity and Black Power to come up with Black Liberation Theology. The Jesus in this religion is Black. Obama stayed in a church for 20 years where this religion was taught, by a man who Cone said followed his BLT teaching closer than any other church.
I wasn't surprised by Paul of Media Matters interupting this author repeatedly, not allowing him to talk about what is in the book. Paul wants to knock it down on the basis on the Swift Boat book, but he had nothing to knock it down on THIS BOOKS CONTENTS, and the Kerry SB book was based on what Kerry's own men said about him. I'm not surprised this book is #1, I plan to read it myself.
Posted by: The TRUTH HURTS | August 16, 2008 3:40 PM
Why is this country so afraid of some diversity? Yet it was built on that very diversity, (much of it with the labor of Blacks and Hispanics actually). Jay Carlson you say that Obama does not have a fundamentally American background but I disagree. In many ways he is more quintessentially American than most White folk. After all he represents both genetically and intellectually the melting pot that America is, and I hope, proudly remains. Plus he is a good family man unlike Mr. McCain the flipflopping philanderer.
Corsi is an embarrassment to anyone's sense of decency, but he is simply reflecting the Republican ethos of taking what you can regardless of the cost to others. Survival of the fittest right (even though they preach Christianity)! And after all that attitude has only cost America several trillion dollars in debt to the Chinese. While we all recognize that truth can be relative, the numbers don't lie, and Repubbers, for the last 8 years, consistently have. What are your values America? I don't think they are being represented very well. And the values McCain and Corsi are showing belong in the gutter.
Posted by: Mike Robinson | August 16, 2008 3:40 PM
"The basic fact is that Obama does not have a fundamentally American background. The book outlines that. Posted by: Jay Carlson | August 16, 2008 12:14 PM"
Get real. Obama is as American as you are. And fundamentally, he is will be the best choice for leading Americans and America in the right direction.
Actually, I think the basic fact is that what you have said is not a fundamentally American comment. The book is a piece of work. It "outlines" many things that only an ignoramus would say. A "book" written by a "PhD" does make necessarily mean anything in America anymore. This guy is bent, and is on a crusade against Obama. He is a great tool for the right wing. For McCain. In the end, he is not a very sharp tool. And will make McCain look a fool.
Obama is born in America, a Christian, an American Senator. He married an American woman and he is raising American kids as Christians. So Jay, what is your idea of a fundamental American. Is it something like a fundamental extremist?
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 3:46 PM
Rhubarb,
Some people think that Islam is evil and therefore hate Muslims. Call it ignorance and thank George Bush for perpetuating that belief. Muslims have gotten smeared the worst this election season.
The fact that people actually believe Corsi says America might not be ready for a Barack Obama. (I'm not talking about people who oppose his policy. I'm talking about the racists). I'm still holding out hope that there are fewer bigots than it seems.
Posted by: Olga | August 16, 2008 3:51 PM
Reverend Wright told us more about Obama than Corsi. Even the frightened self-loathing liberal white males that will vote for Obama because they figure they won't be called racist or get beat-up again understand in their mind that Obama is a racist just like his mentor. The problem is, they have no soul.
Posted by: Larry | August 16, 2008 4:00 PM
In reply to "I read the book when I first heard about it. Corsi has over 300 footnotes, showing that he has researched everything that he says. I don't understand people at all, how people can vote for a man who they know nothing about, who has no international or even national experience. He is just a few years short of handing out pamphlets on the southside. Wake up everyone and find out something about this man; he's friends with ayers, rezko, known anti-white, anti-semites, farrakhan, khalidi. If you think the book is all lies, what about these people? Everyone knows BO associated with them. It's a known fact. We can't afford to have an unknown quanity in the whitehouse. We need someone to dig us out of the slime we're in now and more slime will just drag us down into the sewer. Posted by: suze | August 16, 2008 3:21 PM"
I see Suze and did you check the footnotes? Most reference himself. If what he is saying is factually wrong, the footnotes do not count unless they actually point to factual evidence. They generally do not.
If you want someone to dig America out of the slime, and not someone to drag her down into the sewer, it would help if you start with someone who is not in the sewer already with the likes of Corsi. Your own post is based on what you read on the internet or in books by the likes of Corsi. Sorry. And those footnotes probably point to others out there on the internet and writing articles and notes. If you footnote all the crap that is out there, you could have a billion foot notes. All to lies.
You can keep trying, but it won't work. Your hate agenda, your lying agenda, your misguided views, will fail this time. Sorry. You can fool the American public sometimes but not all the time. Your time is up.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | August 16, 2008 4:00 PM
But a Ph.D. isn't necessarily proof that your worldview is well-grounded. Anyone who doubts that need only consider Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, a University of Michigan Ph.D in mathematics.
Can you say non-sequitur?
Posted by: erp | August 16, 2008 4:02 PM
May I ask, what is a "fundamentally American background"?
Is this code? Sounds like it to me.
How is being a self-made success, solely on the basis of merit and hard work and not his father's connections, not fundamentally American? Isn't that what we think of as the American way?
As opposed to skating through the Academy that dad got you into and dumping a disabled wife to marry a beer heiress who could fund your political career.
Posted by: athena | August 16, 2008 4:28 PM
Gina writes:
"WHERE THERE'S SMOKE, THERE'S FIRE ..."
Not necessarily, Gina. Frequently, where there's smoke there's a smoke bomb, set off by some miscreant to create a diversion so he can commit whatever crime he's contemplating while people are looking the other way.
Posted by: Cynic | August 16, 2008 4:28 PM
This book at first blush sounds like "FILTH" to me, though for now I'll reserve judgment until I know more beyond it's author's stated goal:
"One of the reasons I wrote this book is to keep Obama from getting elected."
OsiSpeaks.com
Posted by: KYJurisDoctor | August 16, 2008 4:41 PM
Suze says,"Corsi has over 300 footnotes, showing that he has researched everything that he says." And the footnotes refer over and over to him as the source! How did this guy ever pass High School English 101?
Posted by: Bodester | August 16, 2008 4:43 PM
Corsi's POV doesn't make sense but he wants appeal to bigots. What's the point of trying to prove he was a Muslim (proven false over and over) unless you are trying to get people who don't know much about Islam to believe there is such a thing as a "secret Muslim"?
Posted by: Joe Lee | August 16, 2008 4:49 PM
Yes you guys the book has over 300 foot notes about where he got the information.
Just go back and read the first 20. What is it like 14 of the first twenty footnotes are him quoting his source of... ... HIMSELF. He sources his own writing in the footnotes.
Also being a muslim isn't a bad thing (sure in the ignorant sense of most americans they translate muslim = terrorist). I saw a woman on Fox news being interviewed and she was quoted to say that Jesus would look upon these muslims and their religion and see them for the evil they are.
I wish fox news would have had the courtesy to remind the lady that Jesus is the most quoted prophet in the muslim religion. ... ... ...
This is a smear tactic which is common and not very surprising, what is surprising is the very rove style response from McCain whom I thought would step aside from those types of politics.
Like it or not being muslim is not something that should discredit you from running for office. In fact I would see it as a positive, someone who understands that part of the world a hell of a lot better than these idiots we have running the country now.
Posted by: Brett | August 16, 2008 5:00 PM
was it bad of me to cheat on my first wife after she became disabled, and then marry a booze heiress decades younger than me?
should i not call my newest wife a C***?
is it wrong to make fun of rape victims?
what we need now is another good WAR!
Posted by: Cheaty McAdultery | August 16, 2008 5:13 PM
I bought Corsi's book and it does an amazing job of telling about the real Obama - the one that Obama does not want you to know about. He tells how Obama is loose with the facts such as trying to connect himself with both John F Kennedy and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr in his fathers comming to America. Corsi says, "The problem is that the stories he told about JFK and about Selma to make the connections are fabrications: they are lies with no basis in fact or reality." Not only does Corsi tell this lie but he puts together a whole chapter on Obama's distrotions and lies. Andy Martin asks, "If Obama will lie about his parents, what won't he lie about?"
Corsi also brings to light Obama's communist mentor and shows how his ideology on taxation reflects his tutoring.
He goes into Obama's connections with radicals like Ayers and Dohrn and shows how these relationships where not casual as Obama asserts.
In fact Ayers and Obama both worked on the Woods Fund board and made grants totalling $75,000.00 to the Arab American Action Network. The co-founder of the group is Rashid Khalidi who new Obama well and sponsored a fundraising event in his home for Obama. This man is claimed to be supportive of Palestinian terror and reportedly worked on behalf of the PLO when it was labeled a terrorist group for its anti-western terrorism. Maybe this is why Obama thinks he can negotiate with terrorist states like Iran!
I think all should read the book Obama Nation by Jerome Corsi!
Posted by: Mike Smith | August 16, 2008 5:15 PM
The fact remains that Obama was registered at the school by his parents as a Muslim. PERIOD. CNN tries to debate that with... Lets ask the school if it's a Madrassas? and do they teach hate? Of course the answer is no. The fact remains, that he was registered as a Muslim by his parents.
Posted by: John | August 16, 2008 5:24 PM
Come on people! The only reason Barrack Husein Obama is where he is now is because he's black and a talented speaker. Forget Corsi's book, just look at his 20 year spiritual association with the biggest biggot of them all. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, now does it. That is the main reason I could never support the Obama Train.
Posted by: J Sisk | August 16, 2008 5:33 PM
Amen, Paul Stewart!
If I had answered Suze's post I would have said exactly what you did, word for word!
It is oh so sweet to finally see the American people fighting back. The numbers are growing daily in the great push back against the liars and the fear card players in our politics. Halleluiah!
John McGoo is allowing himself to be the GOP's puppet. Alright then, let him crash and burn with the sinking ship. The lying, the hate and the deceiving is getting too heavy to keep the ship afloat, I see.
There are so many Republicans jumping on board with the Democrats this year it is comical. Welcome aboard! We'll rebuild this country together which is the way it should have always been, a bi-partisan effort. I am so happy to see this cleansing of the scum that has plagued us for an embarrassingly long time.
Oh Happy Days!!!
Posted by: Alexandria | August 16, 2008 5:40 PM
Obama's own book is the footnote source for most references, not Corsi. When they say they are his own, they mean BO.
Posted by: John | August 16, 2008 5:47 PM
For Mr Waldheim to imagine he comes off as anything but an emotional irrational scream is an error. He is distasteful beyond the substance of the conversation from his pointless point of view. Why is he so afraid to let Dr. Corsi speak? I just ordered my book from amazon.
Posted by: Mike from FL | August 16, 2008 6:17 PM
Yep - even the right wing bloggers think Corsi is exactly what he has proven himself to be - a hysterical right win whack job! Check out this blog, and all the agreeing comments!
http://www.thenextright.com/jon-henke/jerome-corsi
Posted by: tried and true American | August 16, 2008 6:55 PM
Jerome Corsi of Swiftboat fame: His over $150,000 in judgments, his corporations and more
webofdeception.com
Posted by: Robert Lewis | August 16, 2008 7:08 PM
Corsi is completely lacking in any credibility but you whack heads continue to defend him simply because you are racist and you are arm chair haters.
Go back to sleep.
Posted by: owlafaye | August 16, 2008 7:36 PM
I hired Corsi to write this book.
I paid for it with my wife's beer fortune, and my soul...
Posted by: John McCain | August 16, 2008 7:59 PM
Maybe John is right. If Obama's parents believed he was a Muslim what is wrong with Obama admitting to that? Are Obama's parents not credible sources or are the going to be dismissed as crackpots like Corsi?
There must be a thousand allegations in Corsi's and all that are dismissed as lies are 50 of them? I agree with Mike Smith. Read the whole thing.
Posted by: Mikie | August 16, 2008 8:07 PM
Frank James,
It is you who is a a liberal slime
Posted by: WSF | August 16, 2008 8:22 PM
BEWARE! COMMENTS SUPPORTING THE STRAIGHT BS OF THIS BOOK ARE PROBABLY WRITTEN BY THE SAME 9 YEAR OLD!
Posted by: Rodney Podney | August 16, 2008 8:33 PM
Mike quotes Andy Martin as saying "If Obama will lie about his parents, what won't he lie about?"
Here's the story on his authority, Andy Martin:
In 1973 the Illinois Supreme Court refused to grant Andy Martin a license to practice, citing troubling conduct on Martin's part, including an attempt to have a parking violation thrown out because it had been "entered by an insane judge" and his description of an attorney as "shaking and tottering and drooling like an idiot."
His 1996 run for the Florida State Senate came unraveled when it was revealed that he'd named his campaign committee "The Anthony R. Martin-Trigona Congressional Campaign to Exterminate Jew Power in America."
Martin has been labeled a vexatious litigant by numerous federal and state courts. Federal judge Edward Weinfeld observed that he had a tendency to file "lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature." Federal judge Jose Cabranes noted that Martin had a tendency to file legal actions with "persistence, viciousness, and general disregard for decency and logic." According to Cabranes, Martin's practice was to file "an incessant stream of frivolous or meritless motions, demands, letters to the court and other documents," as well as "vexatious lawsuits" against anyone who dared cross him.
Yessir, that's the caliber of individuals involved in the persistent Obama smears.
Posted by: Cynic | August 16, 2008 9:30 PM
Maybe John is right. If Obama's parents believed he was a Muslim what is wrong with Obama admitting to that? Are Obama's parents not credible sources or are the going to be dismissed as crackpots like Corsi?
There must be a thousand allegations in Corsi's and all that are dismissed as lies are 50 of them? I agree with Mike Smith. Read the whole thing.
Posted by: Mikie | August 16, 2008 10:20 PM
At the age of 57 I've seen a lot of elections, but I've never seen one where the school the candidate went to as a CHILD was an issue!!!
Posted by: Mary Dawson | August 16, 2008 10:30 PM
You people need to quit calling names and getting all roared up. Treat these issues as adults. Was 911 an inside job or what? That's what this is really about. A 911 Truther #1 on the New York Times best seller list. Smear it as much as possible. It will ruin him. Just don't use any facts. Just call names. Like Socialist Nazi Bush loving Bin Laden freedom hugger What ever you fear or hate, label Corsi as.
Posted by: JE | August 16, 2008 11:21 PM
Killing the messenger will not make Obama's record go away. It only points out that the media will do anything to silence opposition for their manufactured icon.
Posted by: Tim | August 17, 2008 12:21 AM
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE, THERE'S FIRE ...
http://townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/05/13/palestinians_phonebank_for_obama
Posted by: Gina | August 16, 2008 1:39 PM
"Gotta keep your sense of humor" because this post is a joke....right?
Posted by: Martuni | August 17, 2008 2:25 AM
I am one person who is glad the Constitution Party is not very well known. If he is to believed, he was asked by his party leaders to run for presisdent this year.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | August 17, 2008 7:01 AM
Doesn't McCain also have outsider and sympathizer issues himself? Born in Canal Zone. No wonder he wants a weak immigration bill. He'd let this country be conquered under a mass of wetbacks. Same slime, no? C'mon get off it! These are potentially both fine men and I pray every day that the bitter experience of the presidential run doesn't harden their own hearts or allow them to countenance the evil of others done in the name of electing them.
Posted by: Yacko | August 17, 2008 8:45 AM
The author, Jerome Corsi, would be THIS guy, right?
"WND Exclusive ELECTION 2008
Group tied to al-Qaida backs McCain for prez
'They will do all they can to turn Kosovo into a jihadist camp in the heart of Europe'
Posted: March 02, 2008
9:07 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2008 WorldNetDaily "
I guess we can trust EVERYTHING he says!
Posted by: athena | August 17, 2008 9:09 AM
I am republican but I am convinced that Corsi and the MCCain camp conspired to write and publish this trash. They thought because it worked on Bush's favor against Kerry and so It could work against Obama for MccAIN. THis is total stupidity!
For this reason, I have discovered that Obama is the stronger candidate for presidency and despite reading this filth, I am voting for OBAMA and I am convincing about 500 ex-marines in my club who are tired of Mccain's lies and deception to VOTE OBAMA 08!!!!!!
Posted by: Jack | August 17, 2008 9:17 AM
At the age of 57 I've seen a lot of elections, but I've never seen one where the school the candidate went to as a CHILD was an issue!!!
Posted by: Mary Dawson 10:30 PM
* It's the LIES he's told that have made these the ISSUES we are focusing on. How can anyone support what a candidate is telling them when he lies on everything from the tiniest items on down. It's TRUST STUPID!