Radical! Leftist! Socialist!

August 13, 2008 10:23 AM

Jerome Robert Corsi, Ph.D. has struck again. You may know him as the former Constitution Party presidential nominee, author of such gems as The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada and Showdown with Nuclear Iran: Radical Islam's Messianic Mission to Destroy Israel and Cripple the United States, or perhaps as columnist for WorldNetDaily, which, two days after September 11th, opined the following nuggets in one fantastic article:

• "Muslims might not be irrational when they consider America to be akin to Satan"
• "Is New York the head of the 'Great Satan'? All that is evil in the world can be found in New York: MTV, the United Nations, the U.N. abortion programs, the Council on Foreign Relations, New Age Church of St. John the Divine, Wall Street greed, Madison Avenue manipulation and of course more confirmed AIDS cases than the rest of America combined. Let's remember the filthy sodomite gay parade last summer in New York. Let's remember all the New York politicians falling all over themselves to praise this sick spectacle."
• "And let's not forget that New Yorkers elected--by a landslide--the openly Marxist, treasonous and abortion-mongering, occultic Hillary to a Senate seat."

[lede: buried]

However you know him, he has published his second attack book in as many election cycles: The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. "The play on words is fully intended," he assures us. (Thanks, Jerry)

It will, unsurprisingly, debut at the top of the New York Times bestseller list, and is best-selling book #8 on Amazon.com (where you can buy it, along with Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It for only $31.57 today!)

Of course, an Obama attack book important "piece of scholarship" (quoth the editor, Mary Matalin) such as Obama Nation shouldn't be concerned with something so ephemeral and subjective as truthiness, should it? Of course not.

Perhaps you'd like to know about Corsi's plagiarized other writings, his views not related to slinging mud at Democratic politicians?
No, you really wouldn't, but if you insist:

• on the NAU: "President Bush intends to abrogate U.S. sovereignty to the North American Union, a new economic and political entity which the President is quietly forming, much as the European Union has formed."^
• on Islam: "a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion"^
• "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"^
• on...?: "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."^
• On FreeRepublic.com, Corsi has, among other things, said that "ragheads" are "boy buggers"; referred to "John F*ing Kerry"; called Senator Hillary Clinton a "Fat Hog"; referred to her daughter as "Chubby Chelsie" Clinton; referred to Janet Reno as "Janet Rhino"; called Katie Couric "Little Katie Communist"; suggested Kerry was "practicing Judaism"; and expressed the wish that a small plane that had crashed into a building in Los Angeles had instead crashed into the set of NBC'S The West Wing, thereby killing actor Martin Sheen.^

All that was, of course, "a joke," taken "completely out of context!"

Sound like a guy you might want to, as they say, have a beer with? Go ahead and ask!

posted by jckll (70 comments total)

Seems fair and balanced to me...
posted by Ivana Shtup de Naparino at 10:27 AM on August 13, 2008

Me too!
posted by Anne Coulter's Butt Plug at 10:27 AM on August 13, 2008

impressive, but flagged as election filter
posted by yort at 10:27 AM on August 13, 2008

How does he fuel that much hatred for so many different people? Does he eat a crate of Powersauce bars every day?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:29 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

I would assert that Dr. Corsi is stupid. Further, I would argue, it can be said that he has a butt for a face. Is he also a noob, as many have claimed? This is speculation, and not for me to address.
posted by Damn That Television at 10:32 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

the openly Marxist, treasonous and abortion-mongering, occultic Hillary

I would have voted for her had she been a little more Marxist and treasonous and a little less occultic. Her abortion-mongering was about right.
posted by DU at 10:33 AM on August 13, 2008 [9 favorites]

And we're giving him all this attention and FPP real estate because.....?


Outrage Blue.
posted by availablelight at 10:34 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

yort: I saw there was one that was already posted, but deleted for apparent editorializing. My editorializing is hidden in a thousand links...much harder to spot...
posted by jckll at 10:35 AM on August 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

When you have the capability, use italics for book titles, not underlining.
posted by grouse at 10:35 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

They have totally convinced me to vote for Hillary if she ever runs again.
posted by oddman at 10:36 AM on August 13, 2008

"John Kerry is launching a website, Truth Fights Back, to defend Obama and other Democratic candidates against attacks.

The site, paid for by his leadership PAC, goes after the '80 lies'in a new book by Jerome Corsi, whose 2004 attack on Kerry's military record helped sink the Democrat's campaign, but whose Obama book seems likely to remain on the margins this year.

Kerry writes in an e-mail going out shortly to his (massive) list:

Pick up the New York Times this morning and read the headline: 'Book on Obama Hopes to Repeat Anti-Kerry Feat'

Yes, Jerome Corsi, the right wing fringe author who made his bones smearing the Catholic Church and lying about my military record, is back atop the best-seller list with an anti-Obama book chock full of lies.

If your blood isn't boiling yet, read this: 'This is a fact: Today Barack Obama is subject to what is probably the greatest concentrated attacks of smears, lies and innuendo in the lifetime of anyone who reads these words.'"^*

posted by ericb at 10:37 AM on August 13, 2008

And we're giving him all this attention and FPP real estate because.....

...innoculation and education are the only non-censorious ways to combat the Right Wing Noise Machine.
posted by DU at 10:38 AM on August 13, 2008 [6 favorites]

This guy is such an epicly psychotic dickhole it verges on impressive.
posted by The Straightener at 10:40 AM on August 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

To be fair, MTV is evil.
posted by Sailormom at 10:41 AM on August 13, 2008

And we're giving him all this attention and FPP real estate because.....?

Because the last time this guy took a massive steaming dump on a Presidential candidate, the "hold back and truth will out" strategy completely failed, and the person that should have been elected was unfairly tarred by lies that people that knew better did not vociferously denounce.

Because chilling out and saying "hey, don't worry about it, people don't really read this stuff" does nothing to address the Fox-Newsing and lazy journalism that propagates lies. If 2004 taught anyone anything, it's that this sort of bullshit needs to be smacked down fast, and smacked down hard on message boards, in op/ed columns, on television and on the streets, by debunking this shinola to your relatives and circulating e-mails to friends.

Because ignorance wins when knowledge is too busy being disdainful to speak up.

On preview, what DU said.
posted by Shepherd at 10:41 AM on August 13, 2008 [5 favorites]

is this thread closed yet? did i get in?
posted by msconduct at 10:42 AM on August 13, 2008

For a list of lies in the book check out: Unfit for Publication: Corsi's The Obama Nation Filled with Falsehoods (which is the "of" hyperlink in the FPP).
posted by ericb at 10:44 AM on August 13, 2008

I always vote a straight occult ticket. If I haven't seen the mark of the hoof of the beast on my candidate, I cannot, in good conscience, vote for them.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:46 AM on August 13, 2008 [4 favorites]

Wait so my post on the same thing was wrong and this one is right?
posted by ChickenringNYC at 10:53 AM on August 13, 2008

No one's written a book like this about Cynthia McKinney. Y'all should think about that. Think about it A LOT.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 10:54 AM on August 13, 2008

Wait, is Obama a radical Socialist hellbent on turning the United States into the next USSR, or a secret Muslim? Or is he naive and shiny like Britney Spears, or is he a manipulative Chicago operative. Oh wait, maybe he's going to tax us all to the bread line, or maybe he's going to give away too many tax breaks to seniors.

Jesus, the Republicans are having a hard defining this guy, huh?
posted by billysumday at 10:55 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

it's that this sort of bullshit needs to be smacked down fast, and smacked down hard on message boards, in op/ed columns, on television and on the streets, by debunking this shinola to your relatives and circulating e-mails to friends.

What is the sound of one echo chamber clapping?
posted by jason's_planet at 10:57 AM on August 13, 2008

How might one abortion-monger?
posted by ao4047 at 10:57 AM on August 13, 2008

Jesus, the Republicans are having a hard defining this guy, huh?

It's the spaghetti strategy of attack ads, they throw it all at the wall and see what sticks. Don't forget the Obama is the antichrist (seriously) ads.
posted by drezdn at 10:58 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think these liver spotted old white dudes realize that Cynthia McKinney will cut a motherfucker for talking shit on her so they sort of steer clear.
posted by The Straightener at 10:59 AM on August 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

Jesus, the Republicans are having a hard defining this guy, huh?

They know they've got a tough battle so they're throwing everything against the wall and hoping something sticks.
posted by turaho at 10:59 AM on August 13, 2008

Lavey/Baphomet '08: Vote as thou wilt
posted by kid ichorous at 10:59 AM on August 13, 2008 [3 favorites]

Is there still room in this handbasket? When do they hand out the tinfoil hats again?
posted by The Light Fantastic at 10:59 AM on August 13, 2008

dammit, beat by drezdn!
posted by turaho at 10:59 AM on August 13, 2008

What's Corsi's take on 4th-dimensional Annunaki lizards? Is he on record with that?
posted by octobersurprise at 11:01 AM on August 13, 2008

I'm even more excited to vote for Obama now that I know we're going to be doing magical sodomy. Thanks Angry Crazyman!
posted by Divine_Wino at 11:02 AM on August 13, 2008 [3 favorites]

"The Antichrist isn't going to be an American, so it can't possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania," the 82-year-old author said.

After his Middle East tour a few weeks ago, I heard Obama stopped off to see family in Transylvania. Can we afford four more years of blood-sucking vampire undead? Wake up, America.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:05 AM on August 13, 2008 [3 favorites]

According to the wikipedia link his PhD. is from Harvard; obviously another liberal elitist.
posted by TedW at 11:06 AM on August 13, 2008

innoculation and education are the only non-censorious ways to combat the Right Wing Noise Machine.

now what do we do to shut up the left wing whine machine?

the only people who take this bullshit seriously have no intention of voting for obama
posted by pyramid termite at 11:07 AM on August 13, 2008

I always vote a straight occult ticket. If I haven't seen the mark of the hoof of the beast on my candidate, I cannot, in good conscience, vote for them.


Why vote for a lesser evil? Cthulhu for President!
posted by juv3nal at 11:08 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Is Romania really that obscure? I say the antichrtist is going to come from Estonia, which is also where the Encino man is from. Coincidence? You tell me.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:08 AM on August 13, 2008

This sort of thing is not only predictable, but was predicted by several liberal commentators. The Republican party has for quite some time now [1] been working on the assumption that the most vicious and vile attacks they can make are their only chance for victory. Limbaugh, Coulter and their ilk are both the soul and leading lights of the Republican party [2].

However due to the changes of the 1960's they can't actually come out and say "Obama is a nigger so you shouldn't vote for him." So the upper level Republican spokestypes use coded language to imply that without outright saying it.

Thus we got: Obama wasn't born in America! Obama didn't register for the draft! Obama has dual citizenship with Kenya! Obama is a Muslim! Etc. Even the so-called liberal media has chimed in, and we get idiot talking heads complaining that "ZOMG Obama vacations in Hawaii, that isn't American enough!"

All of it, essentially, boils down to "Obama is a nigger and you shouldn't vote for him".

But it gets better. Since the Republican party depends on voter suppression to win elections, we've been seeing a growing meme that *ANY* sort of political participation is inherently fascistic.

So now we have a book linking the two big Republican party memes, resulting in: "ZOMG if you vote for that nigger you're a fascist!" That such a book would be published, and then discussed and promoted ad nauseam by the Republican talking heads, is as inevitable as gravity.

Obviously that kind of tripe has a certain appeal, otherwise the books wouldn't be selling. However I hold out hope that the appeal is limited. Racist attacks have been producing ever diminishing returns, especially once outright racism became verboten and they had to fall back to dogwhistles and coded language. And I'd like to hope that enough of my fellow Americans have gotten past that crap.

The idea that political participation == fascism, now that's worrisome to me. We've already seen Republican spokespeople, on national television, stating that Obama is like Hitler and no one has blinked. The meme that popularity, charisma, and likability are somehow inherently evil is not particularly questioned, much less attacked, by the talking heads, and that seems more important than the efforts of the Republican party to make this election about race.

[1] Even before Clinton, but that era did seem to produce a surge.

[2] I keep emphasizing "Republican Party" because there are, I sincerely hope anyway, people who vote Republican who haven't wholly bought into this notion.
posted by sotonohito at 11:09 AM on August 13, 2008 [6 favorites]

the only people who take this bullshit seriously have no intention of voting for obama

Potential Kerry voters took it seriously in 2004.

The Antichrist isn't going to be an American, so it can't possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania

I'd be interested in see a list of the Biblical references to the non-obscurity of America.
posted by DU at 11:12 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

This may be ElectionFilter/OurageFilter, but it's also a good post. Thanks, cklennon.
posted by homunculus at 11:14 AM on August 13, 2008

The meme that popularity, charisma, and likability are somehow inherently evil is not particularly questioned, much less attacked, by the talking heads....

...just shows how GOP talking points control the public square. Remember when popularity, charisma and likability were good things, like with W (I still don't see it, but that's the claim) and Reagan?
posted by DU at 11:15 AM on August 13, 2008

What, no "batshitinsane" tag yet?
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:15 AM on August 13, 2008

Wait. This guy earned a PhD?
posted by dunkadunc at 11:15 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Abortions, mmm. I can't get enough of them.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:21 AM on August 13, 2008

Dumbass also believes in abiotic oil. I would never trust a single thing he said.
posted by adamdschneider at 11:21 AM on August 13, 2008

Wait. This guy earned a PhD?

Harvard Polysci.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:23 AM on August 13, 2008

it's that this sort of bullshit needs to be smacked down fast, and smacked down hard on message boards

You had me until that little bit of neo-Ronpaulism.
posted by Krrrlson at 11:24 AM on August 13, 2008

Wait, guys who are too far to the right to be republicans might hold wacky beliefs?

This changes EVERYTHING!
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:25 AM on August 13, 2008

"And we're giving him all this attention and FPP real estate because.....?"

+1 on that comment...
posted by HuronBob at 11:28 AM on August 13, 2008

turaho: "They know they've got a tough battle so they're throwing everything against the wall and hoping something sticks."

You know, I mean this as an honest question: what the hell happened to the concept of honor within the Republican Party? Although I am well on the liberal side of things, I dislike partisan extremism on either side, so I really dislike the trend within my own thinking of demonizing anyone within the Republican Party ... but it's getting hard not to demonize them with the consistent immoral crap that's been going on. (Ironic, coming from a guy living in the town of the Machine.) But did all the Republicans who operated within the "my honorable opponent" mode of politics just lose or retire or something? Is there an upcoming generation that's not this bloodbathian?
posted by WCityMike at 11:35 AM on August 13, 2008

The Republican party is a criminal conspiracy.
posted by RussHy at 11:38 AM on August 13, 2008

+1 on that comment...
u r doin it wrong. u hafta click the link n00b
posted by bonaldi at 11:39 AM on August 13, 2008

WCityMikeMe: "You know, I mean this as an honest question ... "

By the way, I don't mean that as a favorite-whoring comment. I am honestly hoping that someone who knows more than I do about political trends and/or about the history and demographics of Republican Party will answer that question for me in one of those brilliant comments where you sit back and go, "OHHHHHHHH! Thank God I'm on Mefi because some of the smartest, most observant people are on here." I just want to know what the hell happened because this decline in morality and dignity really feels like it's recent ... and I just want to know what the hell happened and if it's going to continue to happen.
posted by WCityMike at 11:40 AM on August 13, 2008

Okay, I'm really going on a bit, but third and last comment of this "bit": I don't like being furious and outraged at Republicans. I prefer simply disagreeing with their policies. I want to know when I can stop A and go back to B.
posted by WCityMike at 11:42 AM on August 13, 2008

damn this post is ugly on the page; but it's explosively bad on Recent Activity
posted by bonaldi at 11:43 AM on August 13, 2008

But did all the Republicans who operated within the "my honorable opponent" mode of politics just lose or retire or something?

When Nixon started the Southern Strategy, he made bigots (or more precisely, their bigotry) the base of the party. You are looking at the inevitable result. Anti-minority, anti-foreigner, anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-woman, anti-gay.

(I say that's the "base" but of course the top of the party is still the same old robber barons.)
posted by DU at 11:51 AM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

I saw these books for sale yesterday, placed right by the front door at Books-A-Million. They've also been known to put copies of The Secret by the cash register, I suppose on the theory that blitheringly stupid people are more likely to be impulse shoppers. Yet I had to outright request a copy of The Great Derangement.

Bookstores should be the good guys, dammit.
posted by JHarris at 12:01 PM on August 13, 2008

DU wrote Potential Kerry voters took it seriously in 2004.

Exactly, and that's why we have to stomp that crap before it can grow. The fact that Obama has teams of volunteers scouting out and debunking rumors is good. Unfortunately if the corporate media keeps parroting known lies, it doesn't do much good.

A Democratic candidate must not only defeat the Republican candidate but also the entrenched media which does its utmost to tear down any Democrat in a vain attempt to prove that it isn't liberal.
posted by sotonohito at 12:03 PM on August 13, 2008

Wait so my post on the same thing was wrong and this one is right?

Yes. (I didn't see your post, but perhaps this one's massive number of links skewed the moderators' judgment favorably.)
posted by mrgrimm at 12:04 PM on August 13, 2008

For more on Jerome Corsi, check out his appearances on Coast to Coast AM.
posted by aftermarketradio at 12:09 PM on August 13, 2008

...the entrenched media which does its utmost to tear down any Democrat in a vain attempt to prove that it isn't liberal.

That's the generous interpretation. I'm sure the corporate ownership is just a coincidence.
posted by DU at 12:11 PM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

There hasn't been honor in the Republican Party since Richard Nixon. Even Barry Goldwater called him "the most dishonest individual I have ever met in my life."

The current Republican Party is merely the culmination of a Nixonian culture of innuendo, dirty tricks and movement towards a unitary executive.

hmmm...if you're looking for fascism, you could pick a worse place to start.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:15 PM on August 13, 2008

Or what DU said.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:15 PM on August 13, 2008

The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania

How about Panama?
posted by rough ashlar at 12:19 PM on August 13, 2008 [4 favorites]

The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania

Ooh, I know! Moldavia! This game is fun!
posted by blucevalo at 12:26 PM on August 13, 2008

The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place

Reddit
posted by kid ichorous at 12:29 PM on August 13, 2008

McCain Campaign Officially Endorses Lieberman's Claim That Obama Hasn't "Put Country First"

McCain Campaign's Double-Talk On Obama's Patriotism Largely Ignored By Press
posted by ericb at 12:34 PM on August 13, 2008

The Illuminati CFR- Myron C. Fagan inspired generations with his Satanic plot theories.
posted by hortense at 12:39 PM on August 13, 2008

How does he fuel that much hatred for so many different people?

Hatorade.
posted by GuyZero at 12:41 PM on August 13, 2008

Also, someone should tell this dude that no one from Canada wants your country. Really. There are absolutely zero Canadians in favour of such a scheme. Between dollar bills and miles per gallon, it's just not on.

Also, to paraphrase the kids today:

CRAZY MAN IS CRAZY.
posted by GuyZero at 12:43 PM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Why vote for a lesser evil? Cthulhu for President!

Nah.. he's a Water Being, which means he'll play well on the coasts, but won't be seen as having a tentacle on the pulse of Middle America.
posted by Graygorey at 12:55 PM on August 13, 2008 [1 favorite]