Fast-moving watercraft head Obama's way

[Pangloss]

Jerome Corsi, who launched the swift-boating of John Kerry with his book "Unfit to Command", has begun the same process with his new book "The Obama Nation". (Speak the title out loud for the ugly double entendre.)

 

Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun-Times accuses him of racism:

 

Corsi's words are meant to warn skittish white folks that an Obama in the White House would be the beginning of the end.

 

According to Mitchell (I haven't read the New York Times book review yet), the Times is reporting that a number of the book's charges are "unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate."

 

Unlike with Kerry, there's a heavy religious angle in it this time around. In fairness, Obama has played up his faith to try and sway religious voters, but Corsi twists that in a pretty ugly way (according to Mitchell):

 

I was especially offended by Chapter 7: "Meet Reverend Wright," where Corsi talks about black-liberation theology as if he is talking about a gathering of Ku Klux Klansmen instead of a ministry dedicated to fighting injustice here and abroad.

 

It was mainly the black church that helped launch the civil rights movement, and the black church that gave blacks and whites involved in that movement a safe haven from the hordes of racists determined to keep America a separate and unequal nation.

 

To hear Corsi tell it, black-liberation theology is a threat to white America because teaching black people to worship a black Jesus sends a dangerous message.

 

Ouch.

 

Here's another particularly ugly line, as reported by CNN:

 

The book includes lines that some might consider racially insensitive, such as, "Obama's mother chose another Third World prospect for her second husband, a second man of color, to be her mate."

 

Wow.

 

Probably the most serious charge in the book is the accusation that Obama was actually registered as a Muslim and behaved as a Muslim in the early part of his life. This is from the same CNN story:

 

"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," he said on CNN's Larry King Live on Wednesday night. "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."

 

I'm not listening to radio at the moment but I have no doubt it'll be all over Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc. Really unfortunate.

[ecoli]

I go to a church once a month to work at a soup kitchen, but I'm not Lutheran evangelical.

[Sisyphus]

I would find this kind of thing incredibly insulting if I was a Republican, inasmuch as it not only insults their intelligence by making ridiculous claims, but also assumes that they're all basically racists by assuming this stuff will scare them into action. Sadly, it's already a best-seller, and the lowbrow political character assassination industry is booming as usual.

 

I'm not saying this is only a right-wing phenomenon, because it definitely isn't, but in this election, have we seen it go the other way on a comparable scale? Have any personal attacks on John McCain become best-sellers yet?

[bascule]

Looks like Obama's critics are doing much worse than just claiming he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

 

Retroactive correctness! Wait, that's not the phrase I'm looking for... "revisionist history"?

[DJBruce]

Although I have no doubt that as said this book will be blown up by the media I personally would like to read it before I take what the media says as absolute truth.

 

Although the book might make radical claims about Wright I have to say the Wright himself also made some very very radical claims.

[Pangloss]

I would find this kind of thing incredibly insulting if I was a Republican, inasmuch as it not only insults their intelligence by making ridiculous claims, but also assumes that they're all basically racists by assuming this stuff will scare them into action. Sadly, it's already a best-seller, and the lowbrow political character assassination industry is booming as usual.

 

I'm not saying this is only a right-wing phenomenon, because it definitely isn't, but in this election, have we seen it go the other way on a comparable scale? Have any personal attacks on John McCain become best-sellers yet?

 

Yes, I think people have a funny way of separate the message from the messenger on stuff like this. Many will see Corsi to be despicable, but still consider his message valid or at least worth considering. It's an unfortunate but very real aspect of the whole "swift-boating" technique.

 

Regarding McCain, nothing of that magnitude. Historically there've been a few ugly things said his way over the years, regarding for example his confession while under torture as a POW, or actions during the awful Forrestal fire incident in 1967, which happened right underneath his plane (130+ dead and him without a scratch suggests stupid stuff in the minds of some fools).

 

About the only thing substantive that's ever really stuck on him are the criticisms surrounding his temperament. But that's really more of a character issue (which I see it as a valid criticism that can be viewed as both a positive and a negative). The guy's a rare bird in politics -- someone who really seems to be what he seems to be. I'm sure there are folks looking for things to throw at him, though.

[waitforufo]

The purpose of books like Corsi's is to keep the public's attention focused on embarrassing moments in a candidate's life.

 

The purpose of "Unfit for Command" was force or permit the media to show ad nauseam John Kerry's winter soldier testimony before congress and the Dick Cavitt debate with John O'Neill. How many times did people watch John Kerry say…

 

"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

 

Did Kerry think the Genghis Khan reference would never come back to haunt him. Corsi's book made sure it did, and that it stuck.

 

The video showed him ill kept, wearing a ragged uniform, yet still doing his best Thurston J. Howell, III imitation. Every time it was shown people remembered or were directly reminded about how poorly GI's returning from Vietnam were treated. At the same time GI's are fighting in Iraq.

 

The purpose of "The Obama Nation" is to keep media attention focused on Wright. Every time this book comes up the media will be able to remind people how Obama compared Wright to his grandma in his now famous speech. In that compared to MLK speech he said that like his grandmother he could never abandon Wright. Then he did abandon him. This book provides media a reason to keep a focus on that event. You will see it time and again up to election day.

[iNow]

The purpose of books like Corsi's is to keep the public's attention focused on embarrassing moments in a candidate's life.

 

<...>

 

This book provides media a reason to keep a focus on that event. You will see it time and again up to election day.

 

Good points. I suppose they've had to figure out something else with which to distract the populace during election season since the issue of gay marriage is more or less off the table (thank you, governator).

 

 

Speaking of books, did anyone see the recent ad about McCain Economics?

 

I saw it over at Greg Laden's blog today:

 

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/08/the_new_obama_ad.php

[Pangloss]

Speaking of books, did anyone see the recent ad about McCain Economics?

 

I saw it over at Greg Laden's blog today:

 

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/08/the_new_obama_ad.php

 

Rofl. I was going to say something about the swiftboating of Obama, but then I was suddenly distracted by a drive-by video depicting actual, relevant, substantive points. When I was done I came back here to... wait... what were we talking about here??

 

[iNow]

Obama campaign provides 40 pages of rebuttal countering more than 50 claims in the Corsi comic book.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPEEMnfaUnU

 

 

 

 

EDIT: This page has the rebuttal in .pdf as well as summaries on the page:

 

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/corsi

Edited August 17, 2008 by iNow