Obviously, quite a bit has been made of Jerome Corsi’s book “Obama Nation.” (Which also happens to be kicking the crap out of Nancy Pelosi’s book). Or, should I say, much has been made of Jerome Corsi. John Henkebreaks down who Corsi is, including
- Jerome Corsi is a smear artist(e.g., he has claimed that “Hillary Rodham Clinton is a lesbian and Muslims worship Satan”). Â
- Jerome Corsi has advocated the hysterical, deceptive North American Union conspiracy theory.Â
- Jerome Corsi associates with white supremacists.
- Jerome Corsi is guilty of plagiarism.
- Jerome Corsi is a 9/11 Truther.
That is all well and good. But, what about his book? Jake Tapper
Much of what Corsi writes in his book is demonstrably false, irresponsible, and feverishly conjured. The book is indefensible, as are Corsi’s many bigoted remarks about Arabs, the Pope and others.
OK, a tiny blurb about the book (though, the point of Tapper’s article was more about Camp Barry overreaching in responding to Corsi’s book.) So, what about his book, Commentary?
As for the book: it seems to be riddled with factual errors–some relatively minor (like asserting that Obama does not mention the birth of his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, in Dreams from My Father; Obama does mention her), and some significant (suggesting that Obama favors withdrawing troops from Afghanistan; he wants to do the opposite). But more problematic, I think, is Corsi’s claim that Obama has “extensive connections to Islam†and his suggestion that Obama is a recent drug user. Those claims are, from everything I can tell, unsubstantiated. (When challenged to produce the evidence, Corsi counters with the “prove you’re not beating your wife†defense.)
That’s a little better. But, Commentary misses the point at the end that Corsi is not Republican, nor is he endorsed by the GOP. Matter of fact, as Corsi points out in the Preface, he is voting for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. If you don’t live in New Jersey (heck, if you do), you probably have never heard of either.
And, The Corner?
It’s too bad the same media that are so concerned about Corsi’s background have been so reticent to do their own homework on Obama.After all, Corsi wrote a book, Obama seeks the presidency. The liberal media were slow to acknowledge the existence of Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, and did so only after talk radio and bloggers would not let Obama escape his close relationship with both. The Chicago media did most of the heavy lifting respecting Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko. And there are many other miscreants and radicals who have played large roles in Obama’s personal and professional life. But the liberal media are not interested in looking into most of it, have begrudgingly and superficially addressed it usually after the new media pressed it, and then downplayed it as “guilt by association” — with few exceptions. Not so with their reporting on Corsi. They want to know about anything he has ever said or written and his associations. In his case, they are determinative. And if he got a date wrong here and there in his book, or was otherwise mistaken in some minor way, the entirety of his book is discredited. We are “learning” more about Corsi than we learned about Obama prior to the all important Super Tuesday primaries.
Now that makes a hell of a lot of sense to me, because people, Left and Right, are going mostly after Corsi himself, and his associations, beliefs, etc, rather then parsing his book.
Dan Riehl makes a good point:
When Jerome Corsi, whoever the hell he is, turns up on some ballot with an R behind his name … well, then maybe I’ll care.
Until that happens, I have a better solution – don’t buy his book.
Exactly. I have to wonder how many people, left and right, who are attacking the book have read it. Or, are they simply attacking the messenger (who rightly deserves it. Though, interesting how he holds many ideals of the Far Left, eh?)?
Me, I have not read the whole thing yet. I downloaded a sample from Amazon to my Kindle, along with David Freddoso’s The Case Against Barack Obama. So far, Freddoso’s book seems a bit better written, better researched, less accusational, and better detailed. I will probably pay for the full thing, rather then getting Corsi’s book.
But, Corsi, in the Introduction, makes a hell of a good point (along with many others)Â which cannot be dismissed: “Obama entered the primary season a virtually unvetted presidential candidate.” And he still hasn’t been, at least by the Credentialed Media. And a quote by John Fund: “Voters, unlike ‘political junkies,’ pay attention only in the fall, when the candidates are finally joined on issues of policy and ideology, not on issues of personality.”
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