Jerome Corsi, the writer of "Unfit for Command," which provided the basis for the Swift-Boat-Vets attack on John Kerry, is out with a new book that has the same lofty goals, but this time, the target is Barack Obama.
Today's New York Times has a run-down on the book, and the paper reports that Corsi is planning to work with some conservative groups to run Swift-Boat style ads against Obama, and the wingnut noise machine is already going full throttle, with talk-show hosts promoting the heck out of it. The chief editor of the publishing house behind the book is GOP operative Mary Matalin.
The Times piece offers a glimpse of several of the specific lies in the book that will no doubt be used on the Illinois Senator when the Swift-Boating gears up. Here's a quick rundown of the lowlights:
Corsi's book says that Mr. Obama had "yet to answer" whether he "stopped using marijuana and cocaine completely in college, or whether his drug usage extended to his law school days or beyond." Corsi even adds, "How about in the U.S. Senate?" But as the Times points out, Obama has written his memoir that he "stopped getting high" in the early 1980s. That's lie number one.
Corsi's book, amusingly, uses Newsmax.com as a source for the falsehood that Obama was present at a sermon in July of 2007 where Reverend Jeremiah Wright faulted "the 'white arrogance' of America's Caucasian majority for the world's suffering, especially the oppression of blacks." In fact, Obama wasn't at that sermon. Even conservative columnist Bill Kristol issued a correction after trafficking in the same falsehood. That's lie number two.
Corsi says that Obama failed to dedicate his book "Dreams of My Father" to his family, an apparent effort to suggest that Obama lacks family values. But The Times reports that Mr. Obama did dedicate the book to several family members in the introduction. That's lie number three.
At any rate, these are some of the lies we'll be hearing this fall. Oh, and not to hit you all with something so depressing first thing in the morning, but Corsi's book is set to hit the Times best-seller list this weekend. The non-fiction one.