Obama Rebuts "Obama Nation"

[Fleet Admiral JD]

HONOLULU - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama hit back Thursday with a 40-page rebuttal to the best-selling book "The Obama Nation," arguing the author is a fringe bigot pedaling rehashed lies.

Jerome Corsi's anti-Obama book, "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," claims the Illinois senator is a dangerous, radical candidate for president. The book is a compilation of all the innuendo and false rumors against Obama — that he was raised a Muslim, attended a radical, black church and secretly has a "black rage" hidden beneath the surface.

In fact, Obama is a Christian who attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

The Obama campaign picked apart the book's claims in a rebuttal titled "Unfit For Publication," to be posted on the Obama campaign's rumor-fighting Web site, FightTheSmears.com. The title is a play on the book Corsi co-authored against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's military service called "Unfit For Command."

"Jerome Corsi is a discredited liar who is pedaling another piece of garbage to continue the Bush-Cheney politics he helped perpetuate four years ago," said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor. "His is just one of what will likely be many more lie-filled books rushed to print this election cycle, which are cobbled together from debunked Internet sources to make money and advance a partisan agenda. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal."

Corsi's book is off to a swift start and is No. 1 on The New York Times' hardcover nonfiction best-seller list, even though Obama's campaign would argue the book should be listed as fiction.

Point, counterpoint
Obama's campaign says the book is full of factual inaccuracies that include the wrong date for the Obamas' marriage. Corsi also writes that Obama left much of his family background out of his autobiographies — his father's polygamy and alcoholism, his sister's birth in Indonesia and that his then-fiance Michelle accompanied him on a visit to Kenya — but the campaign points out page numbers from "Dreams From My Father" where Obama discussed all those things.

In "The Obama Nation" — the title is a twist on the word abomination — Corsi catalogs various allegations that have haunted Obama on right-wing blogs and anonymous e-mails.

Corsi suggests, without a shred of proof, that Obama may be using drugs today. Obama has acknowledged using marijuana and cocaine as a teenager but says he quit when he went to college and hasn't used drugs since.

Image: Jerome Corsi
Getty Images file
Author Jerome Corsi
Corsi also dwells on Obama's mother marrying Obama's African father and later marrying someone from Indonesia — whom Corsi describes as "a second man of color to be her mate."

He claims Obama received extensive Islamic religious education as a boy in Indonesia, education that was only offered to the truly faithful. Actually, Obama is a Christian and as a boy he attended both Catholic school and Indonesian public schools where some basic study of the Koran was offered.

He accuses Obama of wanting to weaken the military even though Obama's campaign calls for adding 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines.

‘Voters can make up their own minds’
In an interview with The Associated Press, Corsi defended raising the issue of drugs without any evidence.

"I don't need more," he said. "I'm putting this question forward. I'm putting the evidence forward. Voters can make up their own minds."

Corsi writes for World Net Daily, a conservative Web site whose lead headline Thursday was "Astonishing photo claims: Dead Bigfoot stored on ice."


Hardball

In a series of Web posts several years ago, Corsi said Pope John Paul II was senile and unconcerned about sexual molestation of boys, referred to Islam is "a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion" and suggested Kerry was secretly Jewish.

Corsi apologized for the remarks and now says he didn't mean them and was simply trying to provoke discussion.

"Obama Nation" is published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster that is run by Mary Matalin, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Corsi readily acknowledges the political goal of his book. He considers Obama a "radical leftist" who should not be elected president. Corsi said he has no plans to work against Obama with groups comparable to 2004's Swift Boat Veterans for Truth but said he would be willing to consider it.

Link

A logical, reasoned rebuttal to such an obviously factually inaccurate book? I remember why I love this guy again.

I tried to get a link to the rebuttal itself, but Fightthesmears.com isn't working for me at the moment.

[Darth Wong]

America's libel laws need to be reformed. It's ridiculous that someone can make so much money peddling such obvious and scurrilous lies, and not have to suffer any negative consequences other than a rebuttal. There is no way this person did any serious research before writing this book; it would be virtually impossible to interpret it as anything other than a deliberate smear.

PS. The fact that it's #1 on the NYT best-seller list only confirms my worst suspicions about the voting public.

[Vympel]

This is actually a great article. It's not just repeating what the book says, it's actually completely discrediting it while it's reporting about it, and deservedly so.

[Executor32]

It appears to be working now. Linka

It saddens me that anyone at all takes this douchebag seriously, nevermind enough to take it to the top of the NYT best seller list, and kudos to the Obama campaign for an excellent rebuttal to his lies.

[Ender]

PS. The fact that it's #1 on the NYT best-seller list only confirms my worst suspicions about the voting public.

NYT rankings are based off of how many are sold to sellers, not how many are purchased from the sellers. If Del Ray uses its market position to make Banes & Nobel buy 1 billion copies of a book full of blank pages, and no one buys it, the book of blank pages will be #1 on the NYT bestseller list.

[Scottish Ninja]

Conservative PACs actually do this all the time; someone writes a thundering denunciation of The Evil Left, and then they buy up massive numbers of it and start handing them out to their supporters. Bestseller numbers in these cases rarely reflect individual people going out to buy individual copies for the majority of sales.

Of course, most people don't know that, so they look at the #1 and say, "Look! It's the best seller! It must have some merit!" when all it is is artificial inflation of the sales figures.

[Patrick Degan]

The fact that it's #1 on the NYT best-seller list only confirms my worst suspicions about the voting public.

In all likelihood, the only reason the book is on that list at all is through bulk-purchasing to inflate its numbers. Same strategy the Right have been using for years to get all their various screeds at n.1 on the bestseller list and boost their credibility. The Scientologists pull the same scam as a P.R. manoeuver.

[Vympel]

Which leads me to ask - why doesn't the NYT change it's standards to reflect reality as opposed to bulk-buying of worthless toilet paper?

[Elfdart]

Actually, they do. It's a little arrow symbol next to the ranking that denotes bulk sales. I guess they could knock it off the list entirely, though.

[Mr Bean]

Which leads me to ask - why doesn't the NYT change it's standards to reflect reality as opposed to bulk-buying of worthless toilet paper?

Because the NYT does things the ways they always done! The cheapest way possible.

[Elfdart]

The fact that it's #1 on the NYT best-seller list only confirms my worst suspicions about the voting public.

In all likelihood, the only reason the book is on that list at all is through bulk-purchasing to inflate its numbers. Same strategy the Right have been using for years to get all their various screeds at n.1 on the bestseller list and boost their credibility. The Scientologists pull the same scam as a P.R. manoeuver.

I used to work in a bookstore and the number of people who actually walk into the store and buy one of these neo-Nazi books is tiny. Most of the sales are bulk sales to right-wing groups. A number of right-wing magazines and websites will offer one of these books as a bonus to those who buy memberships. These are counted as sales.

[SirNitram]

The 'Bulk buy by a shell company' is how all those conservative hacks get on the Bestseller list. Once you're a best-seller the laughable media is happy to ignore the little mark denoting bulk sales and rush to give you all the attention and validation you could ever want. You get a brief uptick in real sales, enough to finance the goober's next crayon-scrawl, and then it's discounted to a penny or so.

I am not making this up.(Check the previous words for the Amazon links, look at the 'used and new' section.

[Darmalus]

HAHAHAHA! That just made my day. Not even worth the paper they are printed on! Looks like you could make some cash by buying crates of these at 1 cent each and taking them to a recycling depot.

[CaptainChewbacca]

HAHAHAHA! That just made my day. Not even worth the paper they are printed on! Looks like you could make some cash by buying crates of these at 1 cent each and taking them to a recycling depot.

Most recycling plants won't take hardcover books.

[Solauren]

So you take a few minutes to rip the covers off of them.

You should still make a nice profit.

[RedImperator]

Which leads me to ask - why doesn't the NYT change it's standards to reflect reality as opposed to bulk-buying of worthless toilet paper?

As Elfdart noted, the NYT marks books whose numbers have been inflated by bulk sales. If I had to speculate, I'd guess they do that because 1) the list is intended to be simply a list of which books have sold the most copies, full stop, and 2) there are legitimate reasons a book could have many bulk sales (it's popular with book clubs, for instance).

[Glocksman]

I was listening to Liddy this morning, and he was effusive in his praise for both Corsi and the book.
I was somewhat surprised because Liddy in the past has been somewhat of a 'maverick' among the right wing talking heads and actually has spoken positively about some 'liberal' issues such as the environment.
Not very often, mind you, but enough of the time for me to rank him higher among that group than Sean 'Parrot' Hannity or Rush.

It's good to see the Obama campaign isn't repeating Kerry's mistakes and ignoring the book.

[Glocksman]

Corsi readily acknowledges the political goal of his book. He considers Obama a "radical leftist" who should not be elected president. Corsi said he has no plans to work against Obama with groups comparable to 2004's Swift Boat Veterans for Truth but said he would be willing to consider it.

That tells me all I need to know about Corsi.
The only people that actually believe the 'radical socialist/leftist' crap are the certifiably batshit insane right wingers who believe things like the income tax is immoral 'because you're taking a man's hard earned money'.

[Darth Wong]

You have to admire the mental discipline it takes to claim that Obama is a radical liberal while simultaneously claiming that he's a radical member of the ultra-conservative Wahhabist sect of Islam, as if there is no conflict at all between those two claims. It's too bad this discipline couldn't be used for something constructive.

Of course, it's also possible that he has no mental discipline at all, and he's just dumber than shit, and relied on editors to ensure that the book had passable spelling and grammar.

[Azazal]

Ahh yeah, Corsi the 9/11 twoofer

Anti-Obama Author on 9/11 Conspiracy

Anti-Obama Author on 9/11 Conspiracy
By Sarah Wheaton

Among the follow-up efforts to Jerome R. Corsi’s “Unfit for Command,” which inspired the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on Senator John Kerry in 2004, is “Obama Nation.” But the conservative commentator’s book about Senator Barack Obama appears to have distracted him from another project he was planning in January: exposing what he calls the government’s inadequate explanations about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

A YouTube video making the rounds, especially among Obama supporters, mocks Mr. Corsi for a Jan. 29 interview on Alex Jones’s radio show, a forum for those who take a deeply skeptical view of government claims about the attacks. (Mr. Corsi also frequently talks about the “North American Union” and other threats from globalization during his appearances).

The clip has Mr. Corsi discussing the findings of Steven Jones, physicist and hero of the “9/11 Truth” movement who claims to have evidence that the World Trade Center towers collapsed due to explosives inside the building, not just the planes hitting them, during the attacks.

“The fire, from jet fuel, does not burn hot enough to produce the physical evidence that he’s produced,” Mr. Corsi said. “So when you’ve got science that the hypothesis doesn’t explain–evidence–then the hypothesis doesn’t stand anymore. It doesn’t mean there’s a new hypothesis you’ve validated. It just means the government’s explanation of the jet fuel fire is not a sufficient explanation to explain the evidence of these spheres–these microscopic spheres–that Steven Jones has proved existed within the W.T.C. dust.”

The complete interview is here.

The research is part of an ongoing history of assertions and rebuttals from conspiracy theorists and defenders of more conventional theories.

Mr. Corsi’s recent critique of Senator Barack Obama, which casts him as a radical liberal with “extensive connections to Islam,” will debut at No. 1 on The Times’s list of bestselling nonfiction hardcovers this week.

“Every day we learn something new that completely undercuts Corsi’s credibility,” said Tommy Vietor, an Obama spokesman, in light of Mr. Corsi’s remarks about 9/11.

[Connor MacLeod]

You have to admire the mental discipline it takes to claim that Obama is a radical liberal while simultaneously claiming that he's a radical member of the ultra-conservative Wahhabist sect of Islam, as if there is no conflict at all between those two claims. It's too bad this discipline couldn't be used for something constructive.

Of course, it's also possible that he has no mental discipline at all, and he's just dumber than shit, and relied on editors to ensure that the book had passable spelling and grammar.

I read it as a tacit admission that he's just doing it to malign Obama because he doesn't like what he represents.

Of course, given all the lying BS he's evidently spewed in his effort to discredit obama (including the "Secret Evil Islamic Terrorist" bullshit and playing that "Black Rage" card) I'm wondering if he's not another closet racist. He does look like a white conservative type to me at least.

Edit: I bet he's a fundie too.

Mind you, if he keeps coming off as a fringe whackjob, this might actually help his campaign further.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I used to work in a bookstore and the number of people who actually walk into the store and buy one of these neo-Nazi books is tiny. Most of the sales are bulk sales to right-wing groups. A number of right-wing magazines and websites will offer one of these books as a bonus to those who buy memberships. These are counted as sales.

I work in one, too, behind the notoriously conservative Orange Curtain even, and I'm pretty sure we've sold as many copies of The God Delusion as we have of The Obama Nation.

Of course, the publishers sent us a shit-ton of the book to make it look like there was more demand for it than there actually is.

[Guardsman Bass]

Ahh yeah, Corsi the 9/11 twoofer

Anti-Obama Author on 9/11 Conspiracy

Anti-Obama Author on 9/11 Conspiracy
By Sarah Wheaton

Among the follow-up efforts to Jerome R. Corsi’s “Unfit for Command,” which inspired the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on Senator John Kerry in 2004, is “Obama Nation.” But the conservative commentator’s book about Senator Barack Obama appears to have distracted him from another project he was planning in January: exposing what he calls the government’s inadequate explanations about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

A YouTube video making the rounds, especially among Obama supporters, mocks Mr. Corsi for a Jan. 29 interview on Alex Jones’s radio show, a forum for those who take a deeply skeptical view of government claims about the attacks. (Mr. Corsi also frequently talks about the “North American Union” and other threats from globalization during his appearances).

The clip has Mr. Corsi discussing the findings of Steven Jones, physicist and hero of the “9/11 Truth” movement who claims to have evidence that the World Trade Center towers collapsed due to explosives inside the building, not just the planes hitting them, during the attacks.

“The fire, from jet fuel, does not burn hot enough to produce the physical evidence that he’s produced,” Mr. Corsi said. “So when you’ve got science that the hypothesis doesn’t explain–evidence–then the hypothesis doesn’t stand anymore. It doesn’t mean there’s a new hypothesis you’ve validated. It just means the government’s explanation of the jet fuel fire is not a sufficient explanation to explain the evidence of these spheres–these microscopic spheres–that Steven Jones has proved existed within the W.T.C. dust.”

The complete interview is here.

The research is part of an ongoing history of assertions and rebuttals from conspiracy theorists and defenders of more conventional theories.

Mr. Corsi’s recent critique of Senator Barack Obama, which casts him as a radical liberal with “extensive connections to Islam,” will debut at No. 1 on The Times’s list of bestselling nonfiction hardcovers this week.

“Every day we learn something new that completely undercuts Corsi’s credibility,” said Tommy Vietor, an Obama spokesman, in light of Mr. Corsi’s remarks about 9/11.

So does that mean that in addition to believing that Obama is somehow a radical liberal (plus angry black man who seriously follows angry black christian teachings /end paranoia) and a conservative islamic fundamentalist, he also believes that Bush should have been president even though he also thinks the government was behind 9/11?

Christ. If somebody can find a third major contradiction that this guy believes in, then he may have a stool to properly balance his stupidity on.

[sketerpot]

This is the guy who co-founded Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. He's also written a book claiming that the Democrats are in a conspiracy to give Iran nuclear weapons. Another of his books states that oil is infinite, and the scientific doctrine of it being a "fossil fuel" that "runs out" is a conspiracy to enslave the American people. In other words, he's a typical Free Republic troll who has somehow managed to become a big deal. Check out what he believes, in his own words:

Isn't the Democratic Party the official SODOMIZER PROTECTION ASSOCIATION of AMERICA -- oh, I forgot, it was just an accident that Clintoon's first act in office was to promote "gays in the military." RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together.

From +http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-new ... 9/posts#10

You have to admire the mental discipline it takes to claim that Obama is a radical liberal while simultaneously claiming that he's a radical member of the ultra-conservative Wahhabist sect of Islam, as if there is no conflict at all between those two claims. It's too bad this discipline couldn't be used for something constructive.

Don't forget that he's also the wrong kind of Christian. And an atheist. And full of "black rage".

[CaptainChewbacca]

Dude, in emulation of Mike's 'Lightning list', I'm putting this jackass on my list of 'people to set aflame'.

I'll get to em all sooner or later.