Whiteygate

Now Joseph Cannon of Cannonfire names names of those who purported heard the existence of the "Whitey tape" or have actually seen it. The names he names are Larry Johnson's friend Don Tufts, Michael Brooks*, and none other than famed journalist Sy Hersh!

Pass the popcorn.

*--According to the staff page of Media Matters, there is NOBODY with the last name of Brooks, let alone a "Michael Brooks."

Whiteygate

Joseph Cannon is being a little cryptic here, but he does say in this post Larry Johnson did NOT originate the so-called "Whitey tape" story. He won't mention the name of a possible source of the story, but he's hoping this person will out himself.

It doesn't mean the story of the tape is true, only that there is at least one source independent of Johnson and the other No Quarter bloggers.

Stay tuned.

The Nutroots Chronicles

Joseph Cannon has a funny "comic strip" of the nutroots and their slavish devotion to Barack Obama.

Salon Still Whores for Obama

Just as Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire writes, why do the Obama shills in the media still continue to discount the PUMAs if they are irrelevant? It's because they are not, that's why. Gary Kamiya of Salon keeps trying to repeat the mantra so common among the nutroots bloggers in the hope if he says it often enough, it will eventually be true.

If the nutroots idiots and their media pundits weren't so busy repeating Free Republic-style filth against Hillary Clinton and trying to kick her and her supporters out of the party ala Joe Lieberman, and if Obama and his campaign had not engaged in filth during the primaries and caucuses, maybe her supporters would have at least given Obama a second look, even taking into account Obama is a liar and a crook. But Obama, his campaign, and his nutroots followers ruined all of that, and all three threaten to destroy the Democratic Party.

I Sure Agree With This Post

FUCK UNITY.

No more should people who pointed out the absolutely despicable behavior of the Obama supporters, the Obamas, and the Obama campaign be told they have to "get over it" and have to tolerate the insults of being called "dead-enders." The Obama supporters continue their quest to disenfranchise as many voters as possible, first with the rigging of the caucuses and the DNC, now with insults.

Support has to be EARNED, and Obama and his campaign haven't done one thing to earn it.

Obama is going down and probably sooner rather than later. The knives are slowly coming out, and Obama will bleed a million cuts before this is over.

Not only should Obama go into the trash bin of history, but so should the nutroots who blindly followed this guy and swallowed the media propaganda.

Whiteygate V.

Joseph Cannon tries to track down the HillBuzz story allegations from this morning, and he discovered we are back at Square One:

Finally, a representative of ABC News 7 in Chicago got back to me. Here is the official reply:

ABC 7’s Karen Jordan and Cheryl Burton emceed the 2004 Rainbow-Push Women’s Luncheon. Other employees of ABC 7 attended along with hundreds of Chicago area civic, professional and media representatives. No one recalls Michelle Obama speaking at this luncheon and our archived video does not show Michelle Obama.

The last bit is much less probative than you might think.

While ABC News did cover the entire event, they did not keep the raw footage for very long. The only bits they retained were the brief clips intended for use on the news that night. The clips showed speakers Shoshanna Johnson and Jesse Jackson Sr. (I questioned the ABC News representative carefully on this point.)

However, we have no reason to doubt the integrity of Jordan and Burton. We must trust their recollections.

Does that settle that?

Conceivably, Michelle spoke informally after the proceedings had wound down, and after Jordan and Burton had left the room. Such things do happen. Some of my readers will consider this suggestion a stretch, others will not.

Should we conclude that the sources who told Johnson, Stone and Beckel about an inflammatory Michelle Obama video are hoaxing? Not necessarily: Those sources are not responsible for the things written on HillBuzz. Or so I presume...

We must now consider a cognate mystery. Just who is responsible for HillBuzz?

The proprietor of that site divulges neither name nor contact info. He or she will not allow comments. Few other sites, even within the pro-Hillary blogoverse, link to HillBuzz. The site seems to have popped into existence of its own accord.

Consider, once more, the HillBuzz description of Michelle's alleged rant on June 28, 2004:

For about 30 minutes, Michelle Obama launched into a rant about the evils of America, and how America is to blame for the problems of Africa. Michelle personally blamed President Clinton for the deaths of millions of Africans and said America is responsible for the genocide of the Tutsis and other ethnic groups. She then launched into an attack on "whitey", and talked about solutions to black on black crime in the realm of diverting those actions onto white America.

The reference to the Tutsis and Africa has no parallel to any published or broadcast statement made by Johnson, Stone or Beckel. This description is new stuff. And it indicates that the writer has interviewed someone who has actually seen the video tape.

And yet -- if a tape exists, it almost certainly was not taken at the event described by HillBuzz! So just where did HillBuzz get those references to Africa and black-on-black crime?

Before calling the mysterious proprietor of that site a hoaxer, I would prefer to allow some time to pass. Perhaps an explanation will come.

So, this day does not end as excitingly as it began. I'm still glad I did everything I could to track down the eyewitnesses -- otherwise, the HillBuzz version of events might have lingered for days or weeks or months. I'm happy to have made the effort, even if the day ended with some magenta in cheek.

Has the entire "Michelle video" story been disproven? Nope.

We're back to where we were on Tuesday morning. She may have spoken intemperately on some previous occasion. Arguably, she was more likely to speak without thinking before her husband ran for the Senate.

Yes, I'm frustrated and annoyed to have been misled by the HillBuzz report. The level of detail in that report convinced me that this investigative trail would lead somewhere.

A friend assures me that when dining on crow, one should use plenty of barbecue sauce. Less gamy that way.

In other words, a tape could exist, but there isn't one known for the event described by HillBuzz. Or that there is any recollection of Michelle Obama going ballistic at this particular conference or even speaking at all.


link

Whiteygate III.

Via Cannonfire, is ABC News Chicago anchor Karen Jordan the answer to the mystery of Whiteygate? She was there at the conference as a co-chair.

There are no doubt many other witnesses. SOMEBODY needs to come forward to either confirm Michelle made those remarks or deny them. Why hasn't anybody come forward? You don't need any tape of the event to find out if Michelle Obama said what she is alleged to have said.

I have tried to contact Ms. Jordan repeatedly. Unfortunately, neither she nor anyone else connected with that event will return my calls. Earlier today, I had foolishly hoped to get her exclusive comments on what happened. But this story is far more important than are my dreams of acquiring a scoop. So: If she won't return my calls, perhaps she will return yours.

If you call this number, you can ask to be patched through to her line: 1(312)750-7777.

That's the WLS-TV line, by the way, not Jordan's office or home phone number. This number is online and is public information.

Update from Cannonfire:

When I call the ABC Chicago switchboard now, they tell me to write a letter. I get the feeling they've been swamped with inquiries. If there were nothing to the story -- if Michelle spoke politely on that occasion -- why won't these two eyewitnesses reveal the truth?

ABC News anchors Cheryl Burton and Karen Jordan co-chaired the meeting. It thus stands to reason that ABC News taped the event.

A few days ago, before Hillbuzz had identified a likely specific date, Roger Stone said that "a TV network" possessed the tape. Immediately after he said those words on FOX News, right-wing blogs spread the rumor that the network in question was...(wait for it)...ABC.

And this is interesting about Cheryl Burton:

In 1993, Ebony Magazine recognized Dr. Wright as one of the nation’s top fifteen most influential black pastors. Having pastored Trinity since 1972, Wright’s fiery preaching and community outreach has pushed its membership to nearly 10,000. Chicago personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and local news host Cheryl Burton commonly fill the pews. Over ten percent of Trinity’s congregation can be found in the upper level income bracket.

Campaign Notes.

Our dictator deliberately confuses Obama's message of transformative politics by claiming he's soft on terraism rather than soft on our own homegrown fascists.
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As somebody who has participated on message boards for many years, I agree with blogger Joseph Cannon when he says the level of discourse on the so-called progressive blogs and boards like Daily Kos and Democratic Underground has degenerated to freeper levels or even worse. This is extremely true this year in the cultlike zeal of the Obamabots who not only try to drown out dissent, but they shit all over other Democratic opponents. Of course Hillary Clinton is the last opponent standing, but the trashing was true when there was a whole field of candidates.

It's disgusting beyond belief.
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