Hullabaloo

Monday, August 18, 2008

 
Little Mary Quite Contrary

by digby

So Mary Matalin is now saying that she is just a "consultant" to the Threshhold imprint that put out the Corsi garbage.

From Matalin's email to Noah, published in an August 15 update to Noah's August 13 article on Slate.com:

Appreciate your taking the time to talk about Obama Nation in your column. I sent your inquiry regarding future printings to Simon & Schuster because such issues are not mine to decide. I am sorry you did not receive a response. My title is somewhat misleading, but it is the one the publishing industry uses. I do not deal with any mechanics (like print runs, reprints, financial relationship with authors), or for that matter, editing of the Threshold books. I am more akin to a consultant relative to the issue of potential interest among political readers.

Her recent modesty doesn't let her off the hook, obviously. Regardless of her official job description, that quote in the NY Times shows that she enthusiastically in the effort to put Corsi's lies into the mainstream. And she certainly knew what the "potential interest" would be of rightwing neanderthals and the rich Republican propagandists who pay for bulk orders, in a book called "Obamanation." All of her Villager friends in the media sure did help her get it "out there."

Media matters also notes:

From the August 12 New York Times article:

Mr. Corsi, who has over the years also written critically about Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama's probable Republican opponent, said he supported the Constitution Party presidential nominee, Chuck Baldwin, and had not been in touch with McCain aides. He called his reporting on Mr. Obama, which he stands by, "investigative," not prosecutorial.

Ms. Matalin said in an interview that the book "was not designed to be, and does not set out to be, a political book," calling it, rather, "a piece of scholarship, and a good one at that." She said she was unaware of efforts to link it to any anti-Obama advertising

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It occurs to me that Matalin seems to be the big earner in the Carville family lately. She's all over the place, working in the administration, shepherding books of lies, being a hard working member of the right wing hit squad. What's James done lately?

It's not that I think a woman shouldn't be the breadwinner, particularly when she is far more successful at her profession. But I would have thought that James would keep his hand in, just for appearances sake. Their business model depends on them being the "even cats and dogs can get along" couple. It loses cache when one member of the dynamic duo fades into oblivion. The last thing I remember him doing was was co-producing that awful remake of All The King's Men.

But hey, they've certainly made plenty of money over the years as the village's favorite post partisan couple, so I guess there's no need for both of them to keep working. Wingnut welfare pays far better anyway.

Update: Jonathan at ATR points me to this:

At three o’clock, Corsi hadn’t yet left the hotel, and he was dressed in his radio clothes: blue blazer, pocket square, light khakis, black lace-ups. He had an appointment to tape a segment for Anderson Cooper and, later, for Larry King, so he changed into a business suit, with a red tie. Then he and Bueler headed down to the lobby to await their black car for the six-block trip to CNN. Bueler listened to a message from Mary Matalin, at Corsi’s publishing house, who wanted to compare notes on the main themes of attack being levelled against them. (Corsi cited “nitpicking” and “name-calling.”)

She was barely involved at all ...

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digby 8/18/2008 02:15:00 PM |