Jerome Corsi, who was a co-author of "Unfit for Command" about John Kerry in 2004, and Paul Waldman, of Media Matters, were on Larry King Live tonight.
It was priceless.
There is a ton of stuff to analyze in
the transcript, like Corsi's thoughts on the definition of an ad hominem attack.
But, I just thought this part was priceless, and I wish I didn't have to wonder what would happen if Larry (if I can call him Larry) didn't go to commercial when he did.
KING: But he says he's Christian.
Paul, why do you think this closet Muslim thing hangs around?
WALDMAN: Well, Larry, partly because what Mr. Corsi is doing is of a piece with this kind of innuendo that's floating around in e- mails and on right-wing Web sites, all meant to convince people that Barack Obama isn't really one of you.
But I do want to respond to some -- to a couple of things he said before. He said that the people who criticize him for getting the facts wrong are nitpicking. Well, knit -- the truth is not nitpicking. Either it's true or it's false. And much of what Mr. Corsi has written is just plain false.
There's something else that's important, too. He talks about how many footnotes he has and how many sources he has. Well, if you actually look at them, there are dozens and dozens of citations to right-wing Web sites and blogs. One of the people that he cites as a quote/unquote source is a man named Andy Martin, who is an anti- Semitic right-wing blogger who once called a judge a dirty Jew and filed so many frivolous lawsuits that he's now no longer allowed to file lawsuits.
So my question to Mr. Corsi is, since you cite Andy Martin multiple times as a source, are there any other anti-Semitic right- wing bloggers that you also use as sources or is he the only one?
CORSI: All right. This is what Media Matters does. They frame questions that you...
WALDMAN: This is what we do. We look at what you wrote.
CORSI: Sir, if you'd like me to answer your question, I would.
WALDMAN: Go ahead.
CORSI: If you'd like to talk, I can just sit here. The book has close to 700 footnotes in it. The footnotes are of primary sources. There must be 100 books cited in that. I did interviews. The interviews are cited. There's newspapers included...
KING: Well, respond to the question about Mr. Martin.
CORSI: Well, I quote -- I can remember one quip I quote from him -- and it's just a quip, which is -- where he basically is saying if Obama will lie about his background and his family, he'll lie about anything. And this was in reference to the way Obama presents his father in the autobiography, which I write about extension extensively.
KING: All right, let me -- I've got to get a break.
Next, more on the sensational accusations, including some about Michelle Obama.
Don't go away.
So, I guess the media forum is the right place for this?