YOU CAN'T STEP IN THE SAME SEWER TWICE

Today's New York Times devotes a front-page story to the fact-challenged new book by bigot Jerome Corsi, author of the Swift Boat liars' 2004 book, Unfit for Command. Corsi hopes to bring down another Democratic presidential candidate, but he doesn't have the mojo to pull that off this time around, for several reasons:

* The book cover. It makes Obama look good -- thoughtful and serious. It's almost an antidote to McCain's celebrity ads. And I know the title is meant to be an "abomination" pun, but spread out over two lines, it simply doesn't work. And the evil-lefty-cultist subtitle is too damn small.



* The subject matter. The notion that John Kerry might have been a phony soldier and a traitor to his country touched a deep, decades-old, apparently unhealable national wound caused by the Vietnam War. Media types took it seriously because far too many of them are guilt-ridden about never having served; they believed the backing witnesses because those witnesses were combat veterans. This new book taps into some issues America thinks about, but it doesn't play on that kind of guilt.

* The fact that Corsi isn't leading the parade this time. It's a different media world. Last time around, Corsi's book was authorized by the most prominent "independent" organization attacking Kerry. This time, he's huffing and puffing, trying to catch up with the anonymous e-mail rumormongers who are driving the sewer-level campaign against Obama.

The Times notes that the book went to #1 on its bestseller list, but also notes that it "is being pushed along by a large volume of bulk sales." That hasn't stopped wingnut fanboy Mark Halperin from gushing about the "Skyrocketing Anti-Obama Book."

I'm not saying that smear campaigns aren't going to work this year. I'm saying that this time around, Corsi's not the guy holding the biggest slop bucket.

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ONE MORE POINT, related to points #2 and #3 above: Four years ago, Corsi could partially disguise his partisan hackery by tag-teaming with combat veterans. This time he's essentially on his own. What's he going to do, trot out a spam e-mailer to back up his story?