On Cunningham's radio show, Corsi touted dubious "documents" he claims will "prove" Obama "made a pact" with Odinga
SUMMARY: Jerome Corsi claimed on Bill Cunningham's radio show that he "came out of Kenya" with "documents" proving that Sen. Barack Obama "made a pact with this radical leftist politician [Raila] Odinga who is perfectly happy to expand Islamic Sharia law in Kenya and have tribal violence to get power." But the only "documents" Corsi has thus far provided -- purported emails listing the contact in his Senate office to work with Odinga -- do not establish that Obama "made a pact" with Odinga, and they "appear not to have been written by a native English speaker," as Politico's Ben Smith noted.
During an appearance on the October 9 broadcast of The Bill Cunningham Show, Jerome Corsi, author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, claimed that he "came out of Kenya" with "documents" proving that Sen. Barack Obama "made a pact with this radical leftist politician [Kenyan Prime Minister Raila] Odinga who is perfectly happy to expand Islamic Sharia law in Kenya and have tribal violence to get power." Specifically, Corsi said: "Tomorrow, in WorldNetDaily, I'm going to publish Obama's email listing the contact in his Senate office to work with Odinga. I can prove that Odinga signed this agreement to expand Sharia law, that the Muslims voted for him and I can prove that Obama knew about that agreement." He later added: "I can show that again Obama continued to work to get Odinga in power even after the tribal violence." However, the emails to which Corsi referred, posted in an October 10 WorldNetDaily article, "appear not to have been written by a native English speaker," as Politico's Ben Smith has noted.
Corsi did not reveal whether he obtained any other "documents" from Kenya besides the emails he mentioned. As Media Matters for America has noted, PolitiFact.com wrote on August 20 that Corsi's claim that Obama "openly supported" Odinga during his 2006 bid for the presidency of Kenya is "false," as Politifact "scour[ed] the public record for evidence that Obama supported Odinga" and concluded that "Obama has remained neutral in Kenyan politics."
Based on the alleged connection between Odinga and Obama, Corsi asked: "Is Obama going to expand Sharia law in the United States when he gets into power? Is he going to, in fact, engage in tribal violence and other -- or other kinds of violence in order to advance his goals?"
The two emails Corsi purportedly obtained while in Kenya -- which he claims were sent from Obama's Senate email account to Odinga's Yahoo.com email account -- were published in an October 10 "WorldNetDaily Exclusive" by WND news editor Bob Unruh, titled "Proof Obama backed ruthless, foreign thug." Unruh reported: "One e-mail purportedly from Obama, dated Dec. 22, 2006, read, 'I will kindly wish that all our correspondence [be] handled by Mr Mark Lippert. I have already instructed him. This will be for my own security both for now and in future.' " The second e-mail stated, "Thanks for contacting me about Mr Lippert through email. Contact him through mark_lippert.obama.senate.gov." Lippert was described in July by The New York Times as "Obama's former Senate foreign policy adviser" and by Newsweek as "Obama's longest-serving foreign policy adviser." The email address contained in the second email, "mark_lippert.obama.senate.gov," does not appear to be valid, because it does not contain an "@."
In an October 10 post on his Politico blog, Ben Smith wrote of the emails Corsi purportedly obtained in Kenya:
After a bit of a lull, the viral emails and general nuttiness is cresting again, and my favorite "scoop" of the day is Jerome Corsi's WorldNetDaily report on secret emails between Obama -- personally -- and a Kenyan political leader.
A small glitch: These emails, [pictured] above, appear not to have been written by a native English speaker, unless 'I will kindly wish...' is a phrase I'm just unfamiliar with. They have the unmistakable flavor of solicitations from dying African princes, who need only your bank account details to make you wealthy beyond measure.
At least the Bush National Guard documents were written in the right language.
Notwithstanding the question of whether the emails are in fact from Obama, they do not support statements made by Corsi on the Cunningham broadcast that "I can prove that Odinga signed this agreement to expand Sharia law" or that "Obama knew about that agreement." Nor do they show that "Obama continued to work to get Odinga in power" or that "Obama's been supporting him," as Corsi also claimed.
Rather than challenge Corsi on the veracity of his assertions, Cunningham, whose show is based at Cincinnati radio station WLW, said to Corsi at the conclusion of the interview: "God bless you. That's Jerome Corsi. The truth will set you free. America will hook up with Kenyans and have an Odinga-Obama administration controlling this country? Are you willing to fight like a warrior poet or will you succumb and simply fall over dead? Be a wolverine in the high ranges of the Rockies."
From the October 9 broadcast of Clear Channel's The Big Show with Bill Cunningham:
CORSI: Well, the press conference was explosive, because I could show a link that Obama and Odinga had been in touch since 2006, even through Obama's Senate campaign office. Tomorrow, in WorldNetDaily, I'm gonna publish Obama's email listing the contact in his Senate office to work with Odinga. I can prove that Odinga signed this agreement to expand Sharia law -- that the Muslims voted for him. And I can prove that Obama knew about that agreement. I can also prove those tribal violence -- Odinga lost in December 2007 -- the Luo, his tribe -- Obama's tribe -- killed 1,000 Kikuyu. They burned down 800 -- 800 churches destroyed, some of them burned down.
And I can show that, again, Obama continued to work to get Odinga in power even after the tribal violence. So, this guy Odinga's a very bad guy, and yet Obama's been supporting him despite evidence of how bad Odinga is. So, you know, it raises questions. I was gonna raise questions in the press conference. Is Odinga -- does Obama -- are they both for the expansion of Sharia law? Is the tribal violence to gain power OK with both of them? Because I can show the documents and prove that what I was saying in The Obama Nation is true, and everything I wrote in Chapter Four was more than validated.
[...]
CORSI: Now, I came out of Kenya at least with the documents, again to prove what I wrote in the book is true, and that Obama made a pact with this radical leftist politician Odinga, who is perfectly happy to expand Islamic Sharia law in Kenya and have tribal violence to get power. You know, is Obama gonna expand Sharia law in the United States when he gets into power? Is he gonna, in fact, engage in tribal violence and other -- or other kinds of violence in order to advance his goals? I mean, this is very, very radical behavior, and I can document it with what I came out of Kenya with, despite the attempt to suppress me and arrest me.
CUNNINGHAM: Well, Jerome Corsi, WorldNetDaily.com and also The Obama Nation. I read -- I look at your website every day, several times a day, and it's great work, and I'm glad your safe. Hey, do you look forward to your next trip to Kenya?
CORSI: The final immigration officer closing the door, said, "Don't ever come back to Kenya and see you in hell." I said, "Boy, they oughta appoint you minister of tourism under an Obama administration."
CUNNINGHAM: Jerome Corsi, you're a great American.
CORSI: Thank you, Bill. Great honor to be with you.
CUNNINGHAM: God bless you.
CORSI: God bless you.
CUNNINGHAM: God bless you. That's Jerome Corsi. The truth will set you free. America will hook up with Kenyans and have an Odinga-Obama administration controlling this country. Are you willing to fight like a warrior poet, or will you succumb and simply fall over dead? Be a wolverine in the high ranges of the Rockies. Do not give up the fight to keep hope alive.
Corsi must have gone to that same guy who writes all the Nigerian sob story letters.
Wait a minute, why would a "leftist" promote Islamic law? I thought we were "godless" or "secular progressives" (I love being an SP).
"But the only "documents" Corsi has thus far provided -- purported emails listing the contact in his Senate office to work with Odinga " MMfA
"How long can he tease this out. " eweston
Doesn't matter &/or as long as they want....... the rightwing has already proven that 'guilt by association' is a worthy defense for their way thinking and are more than willing to use it as a way to claim that Obama / any other Democrat / liberal / centrist / moderate / or basically anyone not conformed to their sleezy ways of reporting their kind of fanatical truth!
"or basically anyone not conformed to their sleezy ways of reporting their kind of fanatical truth!"
I didn't finish my thought....... should have ended with.....
"or basically anyone not conformed to their sleezy ways of reporting their kind of fanatical truth are either liars, un-American, hang with terrorists, will do whatever to gain power, or do whatever to have said power!"
The corporate owned rightwing media and a McCain/Palin presidency will kill off what's left of our country...... the Constitution? Forget about it, old news.
If any one thing needs to change about the media it's this..... the government (that would be: We the People) needs to pry non-media compainies from being owners of the media... in other words, GE should not be allowed to own NBC, etc, etc and make an ironclad law that says that the media needs to be non-profit!
Or in laymans terms.... TV, radio, movies, magazines, book publishers, internet need be owned only by themselves and not by a parent company that gets government contracts or have nothing to do with media and are in it for only profit or simply to skew the news in their favor....
Pre-Reagan there was over 1000 media companies.... after Clinton there was less than 50..... less than four months to the end of Bush and there are less than 10.... this is not healthy for a democracy, if it wants to stick around!
Yes, and I'm sure Corsi researched this with the same veracity he applied to his books.
That is to say... none.
This is the kind of hard-hitting, relevant journalism this country needs in this time of crisis. Thank you Cunningham and Corsi for bringing this issue to light. If we had not found out about Obama's desires to implement Sharia law in Kenya, we would have had perilous times ahead. Now, we can rejoice in the knowledge that a major piece of the puzzle that is our future political and social direction in this country is in place.
Wonder who underwrote Corsi's trip over there ? Ailes ????
Let alone the possibility of his having connexions, open and secret, with document forgers themselves having weird and unwholesome associations.
What's more, document forgery is all the easier thanks to word-processing and document programmes both properitary (Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word) and open-source (OpenOffice) being capable of creating documents so authentic-looking, even police specialists in forgeries and questionable documents can be fooled as to authenticity.
The plot just gets thicker all the time. Obama works his tail off in America all his life to get to where he is today, standing on the verge of the presidency, and now we're finding out that his entire life has been a nefarious plot to get himself impeached for treason after he's sworn into office. The right-wing professional liars have got Barack's date with destiny all figured out it seems.
CUNNINGHAM: Jerome Corsi, you're a great American.
CORSI: Thank you, Bill. Great honor to be with you.
CUNNINGHAM: God bless you.
CORSI: God bless you.
CUNNINGHAM: God bless you. That's Jerome Corsi. The truth will set you free. America will hook up with Kenyans and have an Odinga-Obama administration controlling this country. Are you willing to fight like a warrior poet, or will you succumb and simply fall over dead? Be a wolverine in the high ranges of the Rockies. Do not give up the fight to keep hope alive.
Downright inspirational, ain't it...? ;>)
It's frightening. These people are crazy, and I say that without exaggeration.
"Be a wolverine in the high ranges of the Rockies."??? --Cunningham
WTF? This guy is no Braveheart to begin with. How could anyone seriously believe this stuff besides maybe AA? Does anyone remember how Clinton was going to make us all commies because he visited Russia in the late sixties? Do these morons ever audit their previous predictions/speculation?
That exchange is just scary. Warrior poet? Does he mean Wolverines like Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen? And why is he quoting Jesse Jackson? Is he always this incoherent?
You know, it'd be hilarious if we find out Corsi voted for Obama in November
It's highly unlikely we will. But he did say that he was not voting for either McCain nor Obama and that he was voting for one of the 3rd party ones.
It would be hilarious if it weren't so sad. I know most of you have probably seen this stuff, but it's amazing. McCain having to rein in the fear and hate after planting the seeds. For anybody who hasn't been around a teevee in the past couple of days;
The grown man who's "scared" about bringing his children up in this country under a president who "cohorts" with terrorists, and the old lady who's scared because Obama's an "Arab".
The spin on Fox News today is admiration of the decency of McCain in explaining to the wild wingnuts that Obama is actually a decent human being who isn't scary. Like giving an award to Dr. Frankenstein for eventually chaining up his monster.
Of course, McCain's rally attendees can be heard booing him as he tries to backpedal on the demonizing and dehumanizing of his opponent.
Is the Republican base finally taking off the mask?
I agree completely. We're supposed to congratulate him on "standing up" to the bigots in his own party that he is simultaneuosly courting?
Can't wait to find out that these guys were plants anyway, put there to let McCain stand up. ;)
I'm willing to believe that grampy had an attack of conscience, but at our local house district meeting today, a fellow traveler said that Norm Coleman had just pulled a political stunt along the same lines (ostentatiously declaring his was pulling all his attack ads against Al Franken) So maybe this is their latest strategy, since the dirty stuff isn't working.
Corsi then declared, "I have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department. . . ."
Radical socialist ideology? Now who is promoting that, pray tell? Not Obama.
I think you might talk seriously to St. Peter, though. He had some real radical socialistic ideology going on, if the Book of Acts is accurate.
I'm going to admit it, Mary. Marglaw had me going for a while. I thought it was serious until Dick Morris popped up as a source.
That's the hazard with doing wingnut parody. It seems easy, you can be almost as crazy as you want to be, and it's hard to distinguish from actual wingnut posts. But then you get complacent, and do something over-the-top like citing a complete nutsack like Morris to bolster your argument.
You flew too near to the Sun, Marglaw. The link placed right in the middle of a sentence is a tip-off, too. That just looks psycho. Nice try, but even the goofiest wingnuts do a better job than that.
Thank you for a bit of weekend levity, marglaw.
The one thing that l have never got any rightwinger to explain to me is just HOW THE F*** ARE THEY GOING TO IMPLEMENT SHARIA LAW IN THE US ANYWAY?
What, am l supposed to believe that in all the 50 States of the US, with all the legal and illegal firearms, with all the patriotic (or conspiracy believing, batsh*t crazy) people, with all the patriotic military they are all just going throw their hands up and say "Okay, fair enough, set up a new Muslim World Order here, we can't possibly stop you". Just how far do you think they would get in Denver or Mitchigan? I shouldn't really comment on this because it's just so f***ing stupid.
In Michigan? Pretty far actually, since there are a lot of Muslims in Michigan. The rest of the country, not so much. Not to mention we'd have to re-write the entire Constitution, ratify it, and then implement it, which would never happen.
People in the US are seriously Batshiite crazy.