Matalin: 'Obama Nation' Attack Book "Good Piece of Scholarship"

Jerome Corsi, the right-wing pamphleteer who wrote Unfit for Command, and helped set the tone for the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry in 2004, is back. He's now trying to do the same to Barack Obama with Obama Nation:

Mr. Corsi has released a new attack book painting Senator Barack Obama...as a stealth radical liberal who has tried to cover up "extensive connections to Islam" -- Mr. Obama is Christian -- and questioning whether his admitted experimentation with drugs in high school and college ever ceased. Significant parts of the book, whose subtitle is "Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," have already been challenged as misleading or false in the days since its debut on Aug. 1.

The book is being published by none other than Mary Matalin, who released this hilarious defense of the book:

Ms. Matalin said in an interview that the book "was not designed to be, and does not set out to be, a political book," calling it, rather, "a piece of scholarship, and a good one at that."

Given that she's married to James Carville, I assume the woman has his rather impish sense of humor and that she held her hand over her mouth to conceal her laughter while she made this comment. Otherwise, perhaps she was on drugs.

I find it astonishing that this "piece of scholarship" otherwise known as a--dare I say it--"book" begins its life as number 1 on the NY Times Bestseller List. I've been struggling with the idea of whether or not to pursue writing a book myself. The fact that this jerk has written not one, but two of these execrable pieces of nonsense is galling beyond belief. There is no judge and there is no justice, is all I can say.

Comments

[Anastasia]

Writing a book about Obama (and Kerry) that is full of lies and distortions is one thing. Giving the book solid, 24/7 coverage on TV, is another.

It's the oldest Republican trick in the book; make wild accusations about your opponent, regardless of whether or not they are valid, and reap the rewards with of oodles of free publicity, and having Mary Matalin publish the book was a stroke of evil genius. It guarantees the book won't be ignored by her friends in the MSM.

[chosenson]

People who voted against Kerry based on "Unfit to Command" have reaped the rewards of a GW economy, and forced the nation to suffer for their folly.

[ShamusNYC]

So, does he endorse the same guy who said that Bush was trying to unite the US w/ Mexico & Canada? Really, Mary?

[Interested Party]

Canadians do NOT want to unite with the US not now and not ever if you re-elect McBush/McCain. We should put up a wall on our side. If our government even thinks of doing this we will throw them out of office - it's called a non-confidence vote. What happened to lawsuits? Slander? Isn't this how they won the last time? I hope no one tries to convince the American public this is a fair election. Wait, we haven't gotten to them disallowing votes of African Americans, student and the 'fixing' the ballot boxes. This is not funny it is tearfully sad. The once great hope of people all over the world is now a place to avoid. How sad for our neighbour to the south.

[roshni]

Can we move to Canada if these wingnuts are elected?

[OKC Mateo]

Will be in the $1 bin by Christmas!

[thereigoagain]

the election will be over then. that's sort of the idea.

[frappe]

"good piece of scholarship"? It's no wonder the country is in such dire straits.

[ShamusNYC]

Top 10 uses for Corsi's book:

10. Text book for Arya-n nation youth
9. Prop up short table leg
8. Kindling
7. Build a bitchin' fort
6. Soak up spilled oil from new drilling in Gulf
5. Physically throw at liberals (kinder, gentler physical assault)
4. Peace offering to Cheney gun shot victims
3. Massive bundle to form new New Orleans levee
2. no number 2 - writer busy making up "facts" for Corsi new 'scholarship' work "Elmo - Mullah of Young Evil"
1. Sorry, Limbaugh just ate the last copy.

[Shaff]

Love this!

[nevadagirl]

Number two...use the pages for number two.

[BetterDays]

Scholarship is defined as academic achievement; learning gained by serious study. You have to be kidding, Mary! Do you actually take yourself seriously?

[jackstpaul]

No, not academic, though a common mistake. Scholarship doesn't necessarily occur in academic setings. Scholarship is expert, methodologically sound, comprehensive research into a topic, with unbaised (which never truly exists) analysis and unbiased represention of the information and analysis. Conclusions may favor one perspective in terms of results and analysis, but that should be based on non-biased information and sound reasoning.

[IntExec]

Let's turn the tables on Corsi and investigate him and his family and then lie, mislead and make unsubstantiated claims.

[JKoos]

Ad hominem attacks are the refuge of those who do not have defensible arguments or positions.

[dagnew]

You probably wouldn't have to lie and mislead...­......

[new logic]

the chief editor of Threshhold Editions, the subsidiary of Simon and Shuster which has published it, is none other than Mary Matalin, a longtime Republican operative, and recently a senior staffer of the Vice-President Dick Cheney.

...'.nuff said......­.

[JKoos]

Guess there is nothing to say that will refute the substance of the book. 'nuff said....

[hydenorhare]

WAPO reviewed the book.
Acknowledges the author (and authors of the other anti-Bama books) admit they don't like Bama.
Couldn't find anyone to refute anything that was written.
Let's Bama's camp call it a lie without asking for examples.
Like E-dwards called the Enquirer story lies.

"The problem with running a campaign that's based on cult of personality is that cracks in the grandiose facade of O'bama's life become very damaging,"

How very true. Someone has to do what the MSM is refusing to do.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/13/AR2008081303959.html?nav=rss_politics/elections

[OBXartist]

In the WaPo article, did you not understand the phrase "Parts of the book have also been disproved by the mainstream media."?

Or regarding Corsi's hit book on Kerry, "That book was also widely disproved.­"?

Even if they are what you want to believe, an honorable person would acknowledge Corsi's obvious lies for what they are.

[hydenorhare]

Do you not understand the word "examples".
Saying it has been disproved is more effective when you can cite examples. Even one example.
So what are the OBVIOUS lies in the Bama book?

[2lib4oh]

I hope the right-wingers go broke buying up multiple copies of this piece of trash in order to keep it on the best seller list.

Matlin is part of the inner neo-con circle that is still trying to hold on to the last scraps of power. Even Karen Hughes got fed up and left town "to spend more time with her family".

Carville is part of the power cult but on the fringe. He lost all respectability with Democrats some time ago.

[PuppaX]

Wow...did you even read the WaPo article?

From the article:

"Corsi's "The Obama Nation" lacks major revelations and has been dismissed by Obama's campaign as a series of lies from a serial liar. Parts of the book have also been disproved by the mainstream media. In 2004, Corsi co-wrote "Unfit for Command," in which Swift boat veterans criticized Sen. John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record. That book was also widely disproved. "

And the quote you provide is from Corsi, not the WaPo's reporting.

[EgbertSouse]

Do you raise children with a mind like yours?

My advice: don't let your children get an education if you want to keep them close.

[whiteboyblues]

Yeah and America is better off because John Kerry was smeared. Isn't America happy that we have George W. Bush as our fearless leader?

[BlackWidowPilot]

"Couldn't find anyone to refute anything that was written."

Really? Seems like your understanding of scholarship mirrors that of Matalin's:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808040005?f=h_top

This book is a *piece* of something alright.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[SMP]

Good piece of TRASH is more like it........­..........­..

WE are a SMARTER AMERICA...­..........­..........­not this time...not this year

[hydenorhare]

How do you know it's trash?

What precisely was written that you can show is false?

[Crake]

The laughable claim that Obama still uses weed, which Obama says he stopped after high school.

[booker52]

Media Matters has already in just a few pages found over 80 lies. Do you need more proof???

[PuppaX]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808040005

[Crake]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808040005?f=h_top

[foxflood]

Claims Obama didn't thank his family in his book despite page thanking his family in Obama's book, every edition.

Claims Obama's father divorced his mother because of Sharia law, when in fact Obama's mother divorced his father, which Obama describes.

Claims Obama didn't mention birth of half sister in book, despite mention of half sister's birth on page 47 of Dreams.

Claims Obama drops mention of Community Organizer in Harlem job from Dreams, despite it's appearance on page 139 of Dreams.

I could go on. That's just a few. Oh, what was that about "scholarship"?

Mary Matalin, did you even get a factchecker to go through this manuscript? Does S&S have any lawyers for you? You might want to get a few.

[thinklib]

It's simple. If the book is a 'pack of lies', then disprove the lies one by one.

If it's not a pack of lies, just do what Johnny Cochran would do: if you don't have an argument, abuse the plaintiff.

[bugsbonzai]

Why not do both? Corsi deserves all the retribution he receives, and none of the acclaim. He's a proven liar and a fiend. He should be living in a slum in disgrace. Our pathetic media is giving him air-time. Air-time=L­egitimacy. The only way to combat this is to shame the outlets to such a high degree that they will think twice before bringing these Un-american liars on the air again. The media wasn't shamed enough after "Unfit for Command", so here we are again, with a "best-seller" fabricated by conservative front groups bulk-purchasing a useless waste of tree to prop it up. This should be pointed out again and again and again until it can' be ignored by our shallow, disgusting, useless media.

[PuppaX]

As requested:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808040005

[foxflood]

The lies are on display and disproven here:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808040005?f=h_top

So, you're right. It's simple. You can thank David Brock.

[RaraAvis17]

You left yourself wide open on that one. How can you can tell a Rethug is lying? Either by watching their lips move or what they write down on paper to publish to make money off of more lies. So simple.

You people need to wake up as Americans. Why the name thinklib? Evidently it's not something you can do. You should change it to Idon'tthin­kformyself­, because you let others do it for you.

[Beninn]

The Lie

==In exploring Mr. 0ba.ma’s denials that he had been present for the more incendiary sermons of his former pas'tor, the Rev. Jer.emiah A. W'right Jr., Mr. C0r.si cites a report on the conservative Web site NewsMax.com that Mr. Oba.ma had attended a sermon on July 22, 2007, in which Mr. W'right blamed “the ‘white arrogance’ of America’s Caucasian majority for the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks.”

Mr. 0b.ama, however, was giving a speech in Florida that afternoon, and his campaign reported he had not attended Mr. W'right’s church that day.

WiIIiam KristoI, a columnist for The New York Times, had cited the same report in a column, and issued a correction. “There is a dispute about the date, and KristoI chose to side with 0ba.ma,” Mr. C0r.si said. “We can nitpick the date to death,” he added, saying his “fundamental point” was Mr. 0ba.ma’s close association with someone ascribing to “black liberation theology.”­==

[Freesia2]

It strikes me that accepting with any seriousness a thumbs up review for a book like this from Mary Matalin, or any other Republican apologist, is in perfect synch with this administration's idea of oversight in general.

I mean, if they allow federal agencies to set their own standards and decide for themselves whether their project is hurting the environment ("the polar bears aren't running out of ice....the­y just felt like going for a refreshing swim 24 hours a day. Now go pollute some more.") then it's a hop skip to the kind of logic that says Mary Matalin can be unbiased about an anti-Obama book that she published. I guess Mary is simply following the Bush idea of "self regulation".

[Godfearing]

Is this the same Mary Matalin who was Dick Cheney's assistant and an agent of the religious right?
Also, a friend of Dr. James Dobson who is praying for God to send rain on Senator Obama's speech in Denver? It's time to read the words from:

[e-mail]

[SMP]

YES

[Freesia2]

She's been an assistant to W and served as a counselor to Dick Cheney. I'd say she's pretty impartial wouldnt you? :-)

[Mayoyo]

Mary who???
Just because you are on the opposite side of the aisle does not give that very unattractive woman the right to publish garbage and smear the good name of a fellow american..­..
this is a disgrace.
Why isn't the Faith of Barack Obama not # 1 on NYT?
Go figure.

[elleebelle]

The reason Faith of Barak Obama is not #1 is because individuals buy it one at a time. The reason the anti-Obama is #1 is because it has been bought in gigantic bulk by the right wing. The copies will all end up in a dumpster somewhere.

[klosskid]

Actually, the book came to life in a dumpster. Garbage in... garbage out.

[gerireig]

Good one.

[WillCooney]

I wonder if Judith Regan (the OJ book) will be invited to join Mary Matalin's company. Lieing seems to be the only resume requirement.

[4Hope]

Matalin's credentials are that she was a hairdresser, o.k.? She inhaled chemicals & scrubbed dirty scalps. Her idea of scholarship is a gossip magazine. Please don't pay any attention to this silliness. And please stop comparing Barack Obama to John Kerry's swift boat issues.
The People of the Lie will not prevail this time.

[WoodyCPM]

Don't bet on it. Try not to blind yourself to your own wishes and desires. Pay attention to the swill of ignorance that rules the American mind. Tread carefully. Most people have a head full of fictions. I hope you're right,, but right now it looks pretty grim. Obama ought to be walking away with this thing and he doesn't seem to be doing that. Will the debates turn it around for him?

[thelonegunman]

matalin also thinks BoR is a good (cough cough) journalist­... and Rove is a good guy... a Bush / Cheney good, ethical "leaders"