Far-Right Site (WND) Gains Influence in Obama Era

The article:

Far-Right Site Gains Influence in Obama Era

The 12-year-old Website, with 17 full-time editorial staffers, has a White House correspondent, Les Kinsolving, who is most often used by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs as a punchline. One staff reporter, Jerome Corsi, co-wrote the bestselling Swift Boat Veterans for Truth book “Unfit for Command,” but has been derided by other conservatives for what Politico called “outrageous assertions and fringe theories” about a plan to merge the United States with Mexico and Canada and a shadowy relationship between President Barack Obama and Kenyan Prime Minister Rail Odinga. And the site has relentlessly covered the conspiracy theories about Obama’s citizenship, with hundreds of articles, several petitions, a billboard campaign, and a $17.99 in-house documentary on the issue.

But WorldNetDaily’s Web traffic, revenue, and influence are impressive. It frequently leads the pack in conservative online media. According to James R. Whelan, the Florida-based marketer who runs WorldNetDaily’s ad operations, the site has already surpassed $1 million in ad revenue for 2009. It has a mailing list of more than 355,000 e-mail addresses, which has been built up through tools like daily polls on the site, and has been rented (through third-party vendors) by the Republican National Committee. “I don’t listen to what idiots like Katie Couric say, about how this is a bad economy and how you can’t do business right now,” said Whelan. “We’re having a great year. We have a great, loyal audience, made up of politically active people who are more or less after the truth.”

The driving force beyond the site’s financial success is its traffic. Whelan tells potential advertisers that the site reaches “6 million unique viewers every month.” That number is difficult to confirm with public information, but it’s not far off. According to siteanalytics.compete.com, WorldNetDaily had more than 1.9 million visitors in July, the month when the “birther” story peaked. That was the slowest month for the site in more than a year. In June, a more average month, it drew in more than 3.9 million visitors. For comparison, that month Free Republic had around 3.2 million visitors, The Washington Times had roughly 2.9 million, Townhall.com had 2.5 million, HotAir.com had 2.4 million, National Review had roughly 2.2 million, Human Events had 1.4 million, LewRockwell.com had 1.1 million, CNSNews.com had around 532,000, and The American Spectator had around 358,000. Among conservative news sites, only Fox News, with roughly 50 million monthly visitors, and Newsmax, with around 6.2 million in June, regularly beats out WND. It’s tougher sledding for Websites that attempt to carve out a more refined audience of conservatives: in June, David Frum’s New Majority had only 42,000 visitors. (According to Google Analytics, it fared quite a bit better at 72,000 unique visitors.) WND, unlike New Majority, has a permanent link at the Drudge Report; according to Alexa.com, Drudge accounts for 13 percent of WND’s traffic.

Now, Mr. Corsi has a history exposed here.

But chumming around with white supremacist radio hosts is just the beginning.

His blatantly racist and hate filled views are well documented:

. 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? 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?"source

Yet as we see above, WND keeps growing in numbers.

So what are we to make of this?

Are we to assume that folks visiting and supporting Mr. Corsi's views are unaware of his bigoted raison d'etre ... or, are we to conclude that that is precisely the underlying reason for his ever increasing popularity.

Because it surely isn't because of his accurate reporting. Time after time his "articles" self destruct in the face of facts, yet still WND keeps growing without any of his readers taking him to task.

The logical conclusion I suppose is that neither he or the folks who support the site are in fact interested in any "truthiness," but rather in a cynical, false, and systematic pr campaign of all things Obama or Democrat as a simple, and somewhat effective, right wing attack machine and soldiery.

In fact the best way to describe Mr. Corsi's anathematic rapport to honest reporting is:

“I don’t think life is long enough to go around debunking the various ideas that have occurred to Jerome Corsi,” Frum told TWI.

Yet for all of the above, it would be too simplistic, arrogant, and somewhat dangerous to dismiss Mr. Corsi as a "nut job" ... Yes he is a racist, yes he is a person consumed with hatred, yes he is a liar in his reporting, but also, yes he is no doubt increasingly popular.

“If you didn’t consider WND effective,” said Corsi, “you wouldn’t be writing about us.”

True enough ...

The question remains why?

And btw, the answer isn't "because he has the courage to stand up and speak the truth" because it is by now well documented that he achieves that goal less often than a broken clock.

But he obviously touches the consciousness of a significant amount of folk out there and in here, and that honestly scares me ...

I suspect, that is precisely his ambition.

Interesting article and interesting times we live in.

The biggest problem I see with all this is simply this ... As the Corsis of the world polarize one of the two parties in a two party system to the extreme, the natural reaction is for the other to do the same. In the short, medium, and long terms this will further polarize political discourse in this country where the moderate voices will keep getting drowned out by the extremists yelling at each other over the majority's heads. Because for every Corsi there will be some jackass at the DU doing the same thing from the other side to "compensate."

What is the answer?

Well, the obvious solution would be to not let "these" people anywhere near our political consciousness. They have no interest in anything but division and destruction.

But they yell so loud ... plus, the above is perhaps me not giving our democracy enough credit.

Perhaps, even though they seem as an annoying thorn on the side of honest debate, we as a country can accommodate their jackassery. Perhaps they are a necessary part of this country's painful steps towards political maturity ... after all, we've only been at this for 300 or so years.

I can only hope that the above is true.

"Political maturity". Nice catch-phrase. But I prefer to stick with the good old U.S. constitution, and I am GLAD WND is out there to give us middle-Americans (not far right) serious news reporting.

Thanks for laying it all out, schrodinger's dog.

I didn't know anything about this man and I've only been to the website a couple times, due to links around here. I had wondered why so many people gripe to see WND linked as a source, but now I see where that stems from.

I think both the 'right' and the 'left' are contributing to making the gap even wider. There seems to be such a sense of urgency and desperation to squash the opposition. Has it always been this bad or has it been building like an avalanche? I have only been following 'politics' since Dubya's first term.

As long as people listen to the media uncritically (supposed "independent" websites included), there seems to be no hope for balance.

Cult of personality.

I believe WND is so polpular right now is because they are the main source that is investigating, and reporting on the "birther" issue. Their popularity just goes to show that there is a large group of Americans that want the transparency that was promised.

This goes beyond the birth certificate, the people also want to know about his collage records/papers. As long as the questions remain un-answered people will look for the answers wherever they can. And right now that place is WND.com.

If the Main Stream Media was doing their job, this would have been objectivly covered BEFORE the election. But since they did/are not, we are forced to the yellow-journalism of WND.

-E-

For me, Corsi taps into the deep and illogical emotions of the Conservatives in the Boomer generation and the uneducated, rural South.

The turmoil the country is in, the greatest recession since the Depression, the historic election, the obvious demographic shift to the left, the ever-expanding Latin immigration...it's all an affront to this Generation that grew up in a Leave It To Beaver mentality of what America is and how it should operate. They grew up fearing the Communist Dictators of the world, and now that there's no longer a big bad USSR, this fear is directed inwardly towards the liberals and socialist Democrats of the country (who are absolutely nothing like the Soviets).

Corsi is using the fear of foreign personas and ideas that they grew up with and lived with for decades to his advantage to target anyone not on his side of the political aisle.

This is incredibly easy to see in the comments Corsi makes and the dirvvel he posts on WND. Obama is a Communist, Socialist, Muslim, Black power, anti-Christ, radical...etc. Pretty much exactly every term used to describe an enemy of the United States during the 20th century.

These people that flock to him - they're scared of the unknown and what might come over the horizon. Corsi comforts them with his electronic anti-depressant.

Don't worry, you're right...they are all Communist Muslim Nazi Extremists. They'll take away your children, circumsize you, and send mobs of angry brownshirts to your door to imprison you. Shhh, it's okay, WND is here to show you your fears are true.

The world would be better off without WND. I have yet to see 1 original accomplishment of this website that wasn't a smear campaign directed at someone else. It's like a cancer that spreads fear while comforting the fearful with falsehoods. No thanks!

Originally posted by novacs4me
"Political maturity". Nice catch-phrase. But I prefer to stick with the good old U.S. constitution, and I am GLAD WND is out there to give us middle-Americans (not far right) serious news reporting.

So are you suggesting that these are the mature political thoughts of what you call middle Americans?

. 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? 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?"source

Perhaps your "middle" is not my "middle."

How dare WND be opposed to our "dear leader!"

Someone contact our FCC Diversity Czar immediately, and he is sure to get ideas from Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez on how to handle them immediately!

The bashing of Rush Limbaugh didn't work. Glenn Beck has given them nightmares, I guess it's time to pick on someone else?

Don't worry WND, with all the free publicity, your numbers are sure to double or triple in size!

Whats with all this left/right BS on ATS lately? It seems we have alot of provocateurs and ignoramuses running around trying to create division and confusion. It's pointless and time wasting really.

reply to post by warrenb


Precisely the point of the OP and cited article.

Or perhaps you meant something else ...

In which case I shall be subjected to yet another irony overload.

reply to post by schrodingers dog

So are you suggesting that these are the mature political thoughts of what you call middle Americans?

Have you been in a comma the last 8 years? I'm amazed at all the people throwing their arms up suddenly, after 8 years of the most hate filled, vitriolic "dissent" I've ever witnessed.

Of course those people were main stream, because the MSM said so.

reply to post by Wimbly


Did I ever say that this was only manifested by the soldiers of any one side?

No I did not.

This divisive party before country crap is pervasive across the political spectrum.

reply to post by Avenginggecko

Yet as we see above, WND keeps growing in numbers. So what are we to make of this?

According to Congressional Record for 1917: "...the J.P. Morgan [banking] interests.... and their subsidiary organizations got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press of the US.... They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. ...an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information...." Congressman Oscar Callaway statements included in the Congressional Record (vol. 54, February 9, 1917, p.2947). www.crossroad.to...

I do not know if this is actually true. However my own experience and the experience of other farmers I know and correspond with has show the media is controlled

WND at least published our stories while the main stream media ignored or outright censored the information. People are going to WND because the rest of the Media is generally lying or slanting or suppressing the facts. What other option do we have except to read as many different sides to a story and then try to sift out the few bits of truth?

Just who are you pimpin' for, S Dog? First the libs go after Palin, then Limbaugh, then Beck, and now WND. I DEMAND that we keep freedom of the press and freedom of speech in America. Do you want these things also, S Dog? Or are you following the Alinsky plan to shut down opposition to our Dear Leader?

Originally posted by schrodingers dog


Perhaps your "middle" is not my "middle."

No offense, but I think you might just be huffing social class, a little bit, maybe?

In my liberal arts education, I must have missed that part where it was shown that to be racist is to be factually incorrect.

As a sincere student, and a serious seeker, it does seem to me so far that racism is more nearly correct than egalitarian bienpensant pretense.

I think the majority of persons (those who are not primarily concerned to self-present as "morally superior", or "fearful", or "harmless") have actually already come to this conclusion in their lives ...Most Americans, being sweet, regard their own racist understanding as deplorable, not to be dwelled upon, like death and defecation...but when you combine their numbers with those who are okay with their own racism, plus those who thrive on their own racism...I do very much think that equals more than the majority of Americans, of all skin tones...which would count as "middle" in my book.

Seriously, schrödingers dog, I'm not just saying this to be unpleasant...I think anyone who actually pays attention must come to the two conclusions, that mostly everybody is racist, and, that racism based on genetic group differences has better predictive value than the opposing hypothesis that attributes inequality to sociological oppression.

So, since this does seem kinda radiantly evident, really, maybe it is just the non-bohemian mannerisms (oh, yeah, and the lack-of-sufficient-compassion-to-patronizingly-make-fake-nice, can't forget that) in WND that you deplore?

reply to post by novacs4me


I never suggested that Mr. Corsi, regardless of my personal opinion of him, doesn't have the right to express himself as he wishes ... just as I have the right to call him out on his philosophy and intent.

If Mr. Corsi wants to pimp his views on the political cesspool that is surely his prerogative and if you or others think that his white pride agenda has no bearing on his "reporting," that is of course yours.

As far as for who I pimp for the simple answer is for no one. I have my own views and don't need to have them validated by approximating them to any particular party or ideology. I know it's a strange concept to some but I and many others, follow our own conscience on any specific issue rather than being intellectually imprisoned by ideology and dogma.

But to consider these issues one must rely on unbiased information, or, at the very least be conscious of the bias. In this vain, the identification of intent behind any source is but one of many steps in sifting through endless msm and non msm outlets.

It is hard and it is time consuming and not for those who wish to get their information as a validation vehicle for their preconceptions.

[edit on 4 Sep 2009 by schrodingers dog]

Well, perhaps you should change the title of your thread then. Obviously, it is not about WND, but about Mr. Corsi. I am glad to hear that you support our freedom of communication in America. At least we have one thing in common!

reply to post by novacs4me


The title is not my own but a simple copy/paste, adding (WND) for clarity, of the title of the linked article.

reply to post by crimvelvet


I agree with you that the media is controlled and highly influenced by its owners.

That being said, what makes you think that WND is an independent source of information? I'm willing to bet the same people who fund and support WND are the same people who work with PACs and lobbyists for the Republican party and donate quite a bit of money to Republican interests.

They will only publish stories with one certain agenda - they only wish to shine a damaging light on one side of corruption while propping up another. And the ends do not justify the means. WND has proven time and time again they are willing to publish falsehoods and parrot these things they know to be false to the public as fact.

It's unfortunate because there are legitimate grievances against the Democrats/Obama that should be addressed. However, using WND to do so is like using The Onion as a source of factual information.


Would you let a thief guard your wallet while you slept?

What if the thief only stole sometimes?

What if he's only stolen twice?

Regardless of the frequency of his burglary, the answer remains the same, don't you think?

There are some great, intelligent, factual conservative sources of news that don't broach the Corsi/WND/Limbaugh side of sensationalist commentary and falsification. Corsi and his site, IMO, are acorns that fell from the same corrupt and manipulative tree of the MSM and the major parties.

Thanks for the reply!

reply to post by Avenginggecko

That being said, what makes you think that WND is an independent source of information?

All I said is it pays to read as many sources as possible in the hopes you can glean a few crumbs of truth. I am well aware the media was "bought" in 1917.

My experience with WND is they printed stuff my local newspapers would not even though my hubby was a reporter for them. I can't even get my Father/brother in-law to print the stuff and they OWN the newspaper!

How long have Daily Kos and Air America been stoking the "progressive" furnaces just as aggressively?

Garofalo, kos, and even Olbermann have been as prone to "over-the-top" criticism of the right as Corsi or anyone else at WND have been of Obama, or liberals in general.

(It was none other than the "MSM" newsman Anderson Cooper who coined the "teabagger" (projection, or Freudian?) slur for patriotic and activist Americans of the Tea Party movement, wasn't it?)

We won't see a similar thread here about any of THAT, will we?

It'd be easy, you know? You could just substitute names and broadcasters/sites to make the same empty "points."

Deny ignorance.

jw