On his radio show -- broadcast from the anti-immigration organization Federation for American Immigration Reform's “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” legislative advocacy event -- Lou Dobbs interviewed WorldNetDaily staff reporter Jerome Corsi, who Dobbs described as “a pretty good guy to talk to” about immigration issues. Corsi is a consistent promoter of the conspiracy theory -- previously advanced by Dobbs -- that President Obama has yet to produce a valid birth certificate; the author of falsehood-laden books about Obama and Sen. John Kerry that Dobbs' CNN colleagues panned as “discredited;” and has a history of making bigoted comments, some of which he later apologized for.
At “hate group” event, Dobbs embraces discredited birther Jerome Corsi
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
Dobbs lauds Corsi's expertise, plugs his books
From the September 15 edition of United Stations Radio Networks' The Lou Dobbs Show:
DOBBS: Welcome to the broadcast, Jerome Corsi. We're going to be talking about, obviously, illegal immigration, we're going to be talking about border security. And to do that, Jerome Corsi is a pretty good guy to talk to about all of that. Amongst other things, he is the author of Obama Nation. He's also a staff reporter for WorldNetDaily. Jerome, it's great to see you here. I want to get all these books now sorted out here. You've got a new book coming out, called America for Sale, you can pre-order that on Amazon.com, and you have out right now Why Israel Can't Wait: The Coming War Between Israel and Iran.
Jerome Corsi, birth certificate conspiracy theorist
Obama campaign posted online a “fake birth certificate.” On Fox News, Corsi claimed that Obama's presidential campaign “has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website.” In fact, the Hawaii Department of Health has confirmed that the birth certificate posted online by the Obama campaign is “a valid Hawaii state birth certificate” and has called the speculation about Obama's citizenship “pretty ridiculous.” [Fox News' Fox & Friends, 8/15/08]
"[T]he Obama campaign refuses to release the original birth certificate." In a radio interview with Corsi, G. Gordon Liddy stated: “Now, the Daily Kos, which is a blog, a leftist blog, published a certificate of live birth -- purportedly from Hawaii. Giving a date but having the serial number redacted, blocked out. And, from what we're told, heavily Photoshopped. ... It's not a birth certificate. It's something that is issued after there has been a birth -- and supposedly attests to the fact that, well, yes, there was a birth in the past and it was on such and such a day, but it's not a birth certificate such as you and I have.” Corsi agreed, stating: “It's a registry of birth. It's -- you know, you come into the office afterwards, and you register the birth. The birth certificate is issued by the hospital. It's not something you go in and request.” Corsi then said that a lawsuit alleging that Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen “would seem to be -- to have some credibility to it, because the Obama campaign refuses to release the original birth certificate.” Liddy and Corsi then agreed that Obama should “release” his birth certificate to settle the matter. [Radio America's The G. Gordon Liddy Show, 9/17/08]
Corsi travels to Hawaii to "do what digging I can on the birth certificate." During an appearance on the October 22, 2008, broadcast of Liddy's radio show, Corsi said:
I'm headed out to Honolulu. I am not convinced that Barack Obama is going because his grandmother is sick. I appreciate that his grandmother is sick and he wants to be with her. I do recall that Barack Obama's mother died of cancer, and he didn't go to be by her side when she died. He relates that in his autobiography, Dreams From My Father. And I'm going out to do what digging I can on the birth certificate.
Corsi later added:
I think I'll accomplish something in Hawaii, too. Obama's headed out there, and I believe there's a court challenge that if Obama does not dodge, he's gonna be forced to produce a birth certificate, and there's gonna be something damaging on that birth certificate, because even at the eleventh hour, Obama refuses to show us the hospital-generated birth certificate when he was born.
Dobbs' CNN colleagues have slammed Corsi's “discredited” books on Obama, Kerry
Corsi books filled with falsehoods. As Media Matters for America documented, Corsi wrote a widely criticized and falsehood-laden book about Obama during the 2008 election and a similarly factually challenged book about Kerry during the 2004 election.
CNN's Yellin: Corsi book “includes lines that some might consider racially insensitive”
YELLIN: The book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and scored an article on that paper's front page.
It alleges, Obama is on the extreme left of American politics, and has extensive connections to Islam and with radical racial politics, this despite the fact that, for months, Obama's been explaining he is not Muslim.
OBAMA: If you get one of these e-mails that says I'm a Muslim, not true, that -- never been a Muslim. This -- this is just stuff that is designed to make people suspicious.
YELLIN: It includes lines that some might consider racially insensitive, such as, “Obama's mother chose another Third World prospect for her second husband, a second man of color, to be her mate.”
Obama supporters charge, Corsi has been discredited. In 2004, the Associated Press verified he posted comments on a conservative Web site describing Islam as a religion in which the “boys are buggered and the infidels are killed,” and calling Pope John Paul II “senile.” [Situation Room, 10/13/08]
Campbell Brown: “Discredited” Corsi book “riddled with pretty much every unsubstantiated rumor you've ever heard about Obama.”
BROWN: There's a new book out about Barack Obama. It's number one right now on The New York Times bestseller list. I can guarantee you, though, nobody in the Obama camp is happy at all -- at all happy about that. And here's why.
It is called Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. The author, Jerome Corsi, also co-wrote the book Unfit for Command, which started the Swift Boating of John Kerry. Obama Nation is riddled with pretty much every unsubstantiated rumor you ever heard about Obama. Jessica Yellin found out for us that it's also turning into a major campaign headache. And, Jessica, I know -- we know that some of the most damaging charges in this book just aren't true. The author admits he's on a mission to take down Barack Obama. He's been slammed for books that he's written before. They're also discredited. But it's still getting an awful lot of traction. [CNN Election Center, 8/13/08]
Larry King: Corsi makes “incredible and even false claims about” Obama
KING: The man who wrote that book on John Kerry now makes some incredible and even false claims about the current Democratic candidate. Sensational accusations on race, religion and drugs leap from the pages in what's about to top the New York Times best-seller list. The author spells it all out right here and a critic confronts him. [Larry King Live, 8/13/08]
Anderson Cooper: Corsi's attacks on Kerry “were widely discredited”
COOPER: The Swift Boat ads helped sink Kerry's campaign in 2004. And the man whose book launched the ads, Jerome Corsi, is back in the news tonight. He's written a new book about Barack Obama, just as inflammatory as the one about John Kerry. On Sunday, his book will be number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
Since a lot of his attacks on John Kerry were widely discredited, tonight, we are checking the facts in his new book about Barack Obama. [Anderson Cooper 360, 8/13/08]
Jessica Yellin: Corsi attacks are “wrong on many points”
YELLIN: To prove his point, Corsi says the book is meticulously researched and fact-checked. But when we checked his facts, we found he's wrong on many points. Here are a few. The book claims Obama didn't dedicate his first book, Dreams from My Father, to his family members. He did. He dedicated it to his mother, his grandmother, and his siblings. Corsi cites a report saying Obama was in church when Reverend Jeremiah Wright made comments about race on July 22. But Obama was out of state, a full time zone away. And Corsi writes Obama has yet to answer questions about whether he ever stopped using drugs. But in his first book, Obama said he stopped getting high during college.
The Obama campaign dismisses the book as a series of lies from a discredited writer. [Anderson Cooper 360, 8/13/08]
Jack Cafferty: “Corsi has a record of putting out lots of wild theories ... that call into question his veracity and credibility.”
JACK CAFFERTY: Summertime and the swift boats have set sail. The author of a book that attacked John Kerry's war record during Vietnam and ultimately torpedoed Kerry's campaign is now going after Barack Obama.
Jerome Corsi is out with The Obama Nation, which debuts at number one on the New York Times bestseller list on Sunday. It portrays Obama as a radical liberal who's tried to cover up his connections to Islam. The book also questions whether Obama's drug use as a youngster ever ended.
This is real nice stuff.
Critics say a lot of the book's accusations are unsubstantiated or just plain not true. Corsi has a record of putting out lots of wild theories in other books that call into question his veracity and credibility. [The Situation Room, 8/14/08]
Corsi's history of bigoted comments
Corsi has a history of making bigoted comments, particularly on FreeRepublic.com. Corsi has stated that he has apologized for what was described as a “series of bigoted and hateful posts” on FreeRepublic.com; those posts include:
- Corsi on Islam: “a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion”
- Corsi on Catholicism: “Boy buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is okay with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press”
- Corsi on Muslims: “RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together”
- Corsi on “John F*ing Commie Kerry”: “After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judiasm [sic]? He also has paternal grandparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?”
- Corsi on Senator “FAT HOG” Clinton: “Anybody ask why HELLary couldn't keep BJ Bill satisfied? Not lesbo or anything, is she?”