New Obama Bestseller Infuriates Major Media Amidst Record Breaking Sales

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Jun 08, 2010, 09:25 ET

Manchurian President Tops Charts, Angers Journalists

NEW YORK, June 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Members of the news media, including from publications such as The Washington Post, Time and Newsweek, have reacted harshly to the announcement of one of the top-selling books in America, which investigates President Obama, with multiple reporters sending expletive-laden e-mails to the author's publicist. The journalists rejected the thoroughly documented book before receiving review copies of the title.

"The Manchurian President: Barack Obama's Ties to Communists, Socialists and other Anti-American Extremists" was released on May 3, 2010.

The new title from WND senior reporter and WABC Radio host Aaron Klein has been on the NY Times bestseller list for three weeks and also has been a top seller on Amazon. The work is also topping multiple other bestseller lists, including that of Publishers Weekly.

With nearly 900 citations, the book bills itself as the most exhaustive investigation ever performed into Obama's political background and radical ties. Klein's co-author is historian and researcher Brenda J. Elliott.

As is customary in the run-up to the release of a new title, Klein's publicist, Maria Sliwa, sent a press release to key media contacts announcing the forthcoming book.

Sliwa, who has represented dozens of best-selling titles, has cultivated a list of reporters to whom she regularly sends releases.

Sliwa, however, said she was surprised by what she described as "unprecedented" e-mail replies she received regarding the "The Manchurian President" announcement.

"Ridiculous crap," retorted John Oswald, news editor for the New York Daily News.

"An outrageous book undermining the American presidency," wrote Neal Peirce, weekly columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group

Newsweek deputy editor Rana Foroohar fired, "This is sensational rubbish that is of no interest to any legitimate publication."

"Never, ever contact me again," wrote Time Magazine senior writer Jeffrey Kluger.

"Absolute crap," replied Evelyn Leopold, a Huffington Post contributor who served for 17 years as U.N. bureau chief for Reuters until recently.

"This is absurd," wrote Kim Eisler, veteran legal affairs journalist and former national editor of The Washingtonian.

"Perhaps Aaron Klein is as crazy as Glenn Beck. I have evidence that they shared a room in the Bellevue Mental Ward," quipped WNYC radio host Leonard Lopate. "And where is Aaron Klein's birth certificate? I don't know anyone who has seen it."

David Knowles, AOL's political writer, responded, "seriously, get a life."

Ben Wyskida, publicity director for The Nation, claimed Klein's book is "so offensive" and "so far afield."

Even some media educators are weighing in.

Upon first hearing about "The Manchurian President," New York University journalism professor and BUST Magazine features and books editor, Priya Jain, repeatedly insisted that the book was "fiction." The next day the title ranked #1 on Amazon's hardcover non-fiction list and remains highly ranked in that category.

The news media have been attacking the book in other ways.

"Pumped up polemics," is how the LA Times described a series of hard hitting political books dominating the nation's bestseller list, most notably including the new work, "The Manchurian President."

Among the many finds of "The Manchurian President"

A coalition of extremists, including a founder of William Ayers' Weathermen domestic terrorist organization, helped craft Obama's "stimulus" bill.
Obama's health-care policy, masked by moderate populist rhetoric, was pushed along and partially crafted by extremists, some of whom reveal in their own words that their principal aim is to achieve corporate socialist goals and a vast increase in government powers.
Extremists are among Obama's "czars" and other top advisers. New information links top advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett to communist activists. The book uncovers correspondence in which a communist confesses to mentoring and educating Axelrod and helping the top Obama aide to secure his first job. Obama then later worked with the same communist, the book finds.
Evidence shows in 1995 Obama was a member of the socialist New Party, which sought to infiltrate the Democratic Party to ultimately mold it into a socialist-leaning organization. Perhaps more startlingly, the book reveals how New Party founders are currently helping to craft White House legislation.
Copious research reveals more about Obama's deep ties to Ayers, uncovering for the first time where and how Obama first met Ayers -- and it is much earlier than previously believed.
Important aspects of Obama's carefully covered-up college years, with new details of his student career at Occidental College and later at Columbia University are revealed.
Obama's early years, including his previously overlooked early-childhood ties to a radical, far-left church are documented.
Obama's associations with the Nation of Islam, Black Liberation Theology and black political extremists are also revealed, with extensive new information on the subjects.
Obama's deep ties to ACORN, which are much more extensive than previously documented elsewhere, are covered. The book also crucially describes how a socialist-led, ACORN-affiliated union helped facilitate Obama's political career and now exerts major influence in the White House.