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August 14, 2008 4:17 PM

Obama Camp Vows To Hit Back Hard At Corsi

The Obama campaign is determined not to let Jerome Corsi's anti-Obama bestseller have the same impact on Obama that Corsi's 2004 book "Unfit For Command" had on 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry.

As CBS News Chief Political Correspondent Marc Ambinder notes, the Obama campaign said in a statement that they are "aggressively attacking the factual errors in this book, and making sure that everyone knows about the deeply offensive things Corsi has said that will give readers of any political affiliation pause and ample reason to question the lies he's written."

The statement goes on to say, "This book is nothing but a series of lies that were long ago discredited, written by an individual who was discredited after he wrote a similar book to help George Bush and Dick Cheney get re-elected four years ago."

The Obama campaign, Ambinder reports, "is quietly shopping around research to anyone who wants it and is encouraging allies to look into Corsi's background."

It has also been less quietly pointing reporters to stories that seem to discredit Corsi, such as this New York Times post on Corsi's apparent belief in 9/11 conspiracy theories, which the campaign emailed to its media list this afternoon.

Talking Points Memo, meanwhile, reports that the Obama campaign has "plans to dig more deeply into the author's past statements, plans for increased surrogate action against the book, and stepped up pressure on high-level media executives to let the Obama team have air time to rebut the charges."

"Obama advisers say that whenever they hear that Corsi has been booked for an appearance on a network program, they are quickly contacting the program's producers to rebut the book's charges in phone conversations and giving them a whole run-down of past Corsi quotes that are controversial," writes Greg Sargent.

Kerry, who has railed against Corsi and the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth who attacked him in the 2004 campaign, has launched a Web site this time around to push back at the "smear machine." Four years ago, the Massachusetts senator initially resisted responding to the Swift Boat Veterans' ads for fear of giving them credibility.

Corsi says he plans to get involved with ads this time around as well.

UPDATE: Late this afternoon the Obama campaign released "Unfit for Publication," which it says "outlines a sampling of the lies, half-truths and misleading statements in the book 'Obama Nation,' by Jerome Corsi..."

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Tags:
barack obama ,
jerome corsi
Topics:
Barack Obama
August 13, 2008 2:04 PM

Kerry: Let's Push Back Against The "Smear Machine"

Sen. John Kerry today announced he is "launching a new website that empowers you to fight back" against the Republican "smear machine."

"The Republicans have nothing to run on, no ideas to push, no solutions for America," Kerry writes. "They'll run a campaign of laughable gimmicks and outright distortions and lies. But we can fight back with the truth - and the truth can win this time."

The Web site, TruthFightsBack.com, allows people to "report smears when you see them to keep us on track on what the smear machine is up to at every moment."

Kerry ties the launch of the site to a New York Times report today that Jerome Corsi’s “The Obama Nation,” which paints Obama as a radical liberal with ties to Islam who may presently be using drugs, will soon come in at #1 on the Times bestseller list. Corsi wrote “Unfit for Command,” which attacked Kerry's military record when he was the Democratic nominee in 2004.

"The book is being pushed along by a large volume of bulk sales, intense voter interest in Mr. Obama and a broad marketing campaign that has already included 100 author interviews with talk radio hosts across the country, like Sean Hannity and G. Gordon Liddy," according to Corsi, who told the Times, "The goal is to defeat Obama."

As the Times notes, Corsi's book on Kerry "included various accusations that were ultimately undermined by news reports pointing out the contradictions." As for the new book on Obama, the newspaper writes that several of its accusations are "unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate."

"We've seen this movie before," Kerry writes in his release. "The Republicans, without ideas, start running a negative campaign filled with personal attacks and misleading ads. The attacks get condemned, but they get lots of attention and get played on TV endlessly. We've got to fight every way we can."
Tags:
john kerry ,
jerome corsi ,
barack obama
Topics:
Democrats

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