Has the traditional media worm turned? Is it possible that Jerome Corsi is the occasion when what we have called the main stream media has finally had enough? Today I offer an example that may provide a hint.
Scot Lehigh of The Boston Globe is the centrist voice of that major publication's stable of op ed writers. And today's column, addressing "Doctor" Corsi's latest opus is entitled Doctoring the facts against Obama and is a major takedown of Corsi's Obama Nation. In his first paragraph he describes the book as a "revelation." Lest that scare you, it is intended as a sarcastic remark, which he quickly makes clear by noting how often Corsi reminds us he has a doctorate: on the cover, on the title page, in the author bio (which tells us it is from Harvard), in the preface, and
Oh, yes, and as a header on every other page throughout the book.
Unfortunately for Corsi's, um, scholarly reputation, the last high-profile work he was involved with didn't withstand independent scrutiny
You should now be relaxed enough for the rest of this review.
After reminding us of the nature of Corsi's most recent effort, which as Lehigh reminds us turned "swift boat" into a synonym for "smear," he twists the knife again:
Nor is it good news when one's co-author in ambush quickly feels compelled to distance himself from you, as O'Neill did after bigoted comments Corsi had made about the Catholic Church and Muslims came to light.
Lehigh then turns to the current opus, which he informs us is dedicated to the intent of portraying Obama as a
crypto-radical. crypto-radical. Start with Obama's use of the word "change." Now, in politics, a call for change may seem innocuous enough - until, that is, you apply the shrewd interpretive power of Jerome Corsi, Ph.D.
Lehigh then examines several examples. This is a relatively brief column, which you can read in a few minutes, so I am not going to summarize all the examples. Let me just offer a couple of snippets from this part to whet your interest:
About one of Obama's campaign bloggers (!!!)
In his Harvard suite, he hung "a Communist Party flag that he and a roommate brought back from Russia." Further, the same future blogger's bookcase "included titles by Karl Marx and Howard Zinn. . ."
And this midstream assessment of what one encounters reading Corsi:
Students of history may recognize this as in similar vein with the kind of investigatory work once pursued by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Lehigh is about as centrist as they come. That he found it necessary to slam Corsi and this book is, IMHO, a good sign. Yes, it is unfortunate how available the book is. And as a teacher I know the tendency of some of my students to argue that something must be true because they read it in (a) a book (b) a newspaper (is the Washington Times really a newspaper?) (c) online. And also yes, not that many people read op ed pages, even of a paper as significant as The Boston Globe, although it is the major regional paper in New England - although remember that it is the paper of record for the more populous part of NH, in the southern part of the state.
Still, I think seeing something like this is an indication that this cycle will be different. We can only hope.
So let me close as does Lehigh, and so I have to add nothing to his final words, let me now offer my usual final salutation:
Peace.
"Scholarship" like this fairly takes your breath away. No doubt Corsi will find a following among confirmed Obama-haters, but for fair-minded readers, his latest effort only proves one thing: Doctoral robes aren't enough to disguise a character assassin.