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Tim Rutten:

"The Obama Nation" was written and printed because major American publishing houses have decided that there's money to be made in funding right-wing boutique imprints modeled after the Washington-based Regnery, which has made a small fortune stoking the hard-right furnace with combustible prose. Corsi's book is published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster, which hired right-wing political operative Mary Matalin to edit the imprint. Random House has a similar imprint in Crown Forum, and Penguin Group USA has Sentinel. Their business model -- and this is all about business -- is predicated on the existence of an echo chamber of right-wing radio and television shows willing to promote these publishers' products -- however noxious. Beyond that is a network of conservative book clubs and organizations willing to place the sort of advance bulk orders for controversial books that will guarantee them a place on the bestseller lists.

So, basically, Rutten is saying that making money -- profit -- is an unacceptable motive in the publishing industry. If folks at the L.A. Times wonder why they are "struggling with declining revenue," allow me to suggest that having editors who are anti-profit might have something to do with it.

Note also that "right-wing" = "noxious" in Tim Rutten's universe. Is there any left-wing book that Rutten would deem "noxious"?

(Cross-posted at The Other McCain.)

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Television, Business, Books