Despite what I wrote recently about people creating their own truths, it’s still difficult to believe that even the most hardcore delusional conservatives still believe anything Swift Boat loon Jerome Corsi has to say. Nonetheless, conservative organizations have placed enough bulk orders to scam the system and put his latest book at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
Also among the top seven are the latest Dick Morris “non-fiction”–also a beneficiary of the conservative bulk sale gimmick, and books about Tori Spelling, Madonna and the Bush administration’s embracing of torture. Calling Corsi’s works non-fiction, of course, brings to mind the phrase “based on real events” used for bad TV movies. One of my favorite related headlines: “Jerome Corsi’s Anti-Obama Book Makes James Frey Look Like Plutarch.”
I won’t spend a lot of time on the subject, because there’s plenty to read about Corsi elsewhere on the Web. Suffice it to say in short that he is an inept researcher, a liar, a bigot, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, an apparent plagiarist, and an egotistical fool who has been adopted by some conservatives simply because he shares their disdain of Obama. In the words of historian and blogger Joseph Palermo, “Where does the Republican Right find these people?”
Corsi has no credibility with any network other than Fox News, though even Fox kept him off the air for a while between his 2004 and 2008 campaign hatchet jobs. Fox apparently was less enthused about Corsi’s allegations that George W. Bush was creating a secret North American government and should be impeached. Yet today even one-time smear victim and Corsi critic John McCain (criticized by Corsi for his getting campaign funding from supposed liberal billionaire George Soros and Teresa Kerry), is letting things slide this time, further demonstrating the desperation of his own campaign.
I spend a lot of time around people with doctoral degrees (and of course have one of my own), and I can assure you that having a Ph.D. doesn’t make you any less inclined to be a wacko. It just means some other wackos are more likely to listen to you.
Sept. 16 update: FactCheck.org is the latest of a long list of credible sources to call Corsi’s book a fabrication.
For your viewing pleasure: a couple of clips of Corsi in action:
James McPherson's Media & Politics Blog 