McCain Needs to Be Asked If He'll "Repudiate and Denounce" Jerome Corsi

We all remember how a pack of journalists insisted that Barack Obama reject Louis Farrakhan's endorsement - an endorsement he never sought. That culminated with Hillary Clinton's demands, after the moderators brought the topic up yet again during a debate, that Obama formally "repudiate and denounce" Farrakhan. He did so immediately.

Enter Jerome Corsi. He's the professional liar who co-wrote the "Swift Boat Veterans" book Unfit For Command (despite not being a veteran). Corsi has a history of highly bigoted and offensive comments. He has spread 9/11 conspiracy theories. He also believes that George W. Bush has a "secret plan" to lure us into a "North American Union" which will "erase the USA" and "erase our borders with Mexico and Canada." (Blame Canada!)

Corsi's inflammatory hatchet job on Barack Obama has just been being published by Mary Matalin - who, in an ongoing arc of moral decline, has now apparently added "professional smear merchant" to her resumé. And despite the fact that Corsi says he's retracted his most inflammatory statements, he's now scheduled to appear on an avowedly "pro-White" radio show whose host has stated that "interracial sex is white genocide."

There's far more legitimate reason to ask McCain about Corsi than there ever was to ask Obama about Farrakhan. The Democrat and the Nation of Islam leader had no history together, despite the rumor-mongerers. Corsi and the GOP, on the other hand, have numerous ties. Corsi worked with the "Swift Boat Veterans," who were heavily funded by GOP contributors (1). And his new book is being published by a longtime Republican political operative who had no previous publishing experience before launching Simon & Schuster's conservative "Threshold" subsidiary in 2005.

(In fact, Corsi's book is the imprint's first real best seller - although it's been helped in that effort by the Right's longtime practice of bulk-buying certain books to spike ratings. Without this practice - which is yet another example of "affirmative action for conservatives" - the book would have gone the way of its other efforts, like "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck.)

Question for the press: Why was Obama barraged by media demands that he renounce Farrakhan, while McCain has not been asked if he will disavow Jerome Corsi? Since Corsi's book has been extensively refuted (most recently by the Obama team itself), McCain should be asked to specifically state whether he believes the book to be true or false. No equivocation or evasion: Is it true or false?

The media, which continues to tell us of the Senator's decency and "maverick" personality, should be pressured into demanding a statement from the Republican one way or the other. I hope they're right, and that John McCain is the good man they tell us he is. But, given their treatment of Barack Obama, they have the moral obligation to put the question directly to him: Will he "repudiate and denounce" Jerome Corsi, and disavow his lies?

They may not do it on their own. If not, some prominent Democratic leader should insist that they do it. It should be somebody who has the public platform to give the issue great visibility, somebody who has the determination and grit to follow through forcefully. I know just the right person for the job:

Hillary Clinton.
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(1) From this well-documented Wikipedia entry:

"According to information released by the IRS on February 22, 2005, more than half of the group's reported contributions came from just three sources, all prominent Texas Republican donors: Houston builder Bob J. Perry, a longtime supporter of George W. Bush, donated $4.45 million, Harold Simmons' Contrans donated $3 million, and T. Boone Pickens, Jr. donated $2 million. Other major contributors included Bush fundraiser Carl Lindner ($300,000), Robert Lindner ($260,000), GOP contributor Aubrey McClendon ($250,000), George Matthews Jr. ($250,000), and Crow Holdings ($100,000)."