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.


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Whiteygate IV.

Here is another post about the rumored tape:

Jim Lindgren, June 4, 2008 at 1:10pm] Trackbacks
Trying to debunk the internet rumors about Michelle Obama.—

As many of you know, there has been an ever-shifting intenet rumor launched publicly by an extremely unreliable pro-Clinton blogger, Larry Johnson, that there is a video recording of Michelle Obama saying some intemperate things at Trinity United Church. The way that this story is being spread leads me to think that there is little or nothing to the rumors, which is why I haven’t posted on the issue here until now.

Until today, the rumors have been too vague to be debunked, but they have now become specific enough that the currently most prominent version of the rumor [offered by the pro-Clinton blog Hillbuzz] could potentially be determined to be false. A specific conference for the remarks has been specified: the 2004 Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Annual Conference starting on June 26, 2004.

In an attempt to get the information necessary to put this matter to bed, I drove over to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition National Headquarters, which is in the opposite corner of my Hyde-Park/Kenwood neighborhood. I spoke with Robert (Bobby) Lewis, Director of Studio Services, who apparently handles the recordings of events.

Lewis said that the recording of events from 2005 and earlier was farmed out and most or all of the existing recordings (listed on the website) had not been conveyed in-house to the National Headquarters. He said that he did not know if the organization had a recording of the 2004 conference. In response to my more specific question, he said that the one-hour Saturday broadcasts on the 2004 Annual Conference (June 26, 2004, and July 2, 2004), which are listed on the website for purchase, are not available, since they come from the earlier outsourced period.

I was very surprised when he informed me that I was the first person to have contacted them about this matter. Given the furor on the internet, I suspect that many of you are skeptical about this claim, but he really seemed unaware of the flap. He wanted to know the name of the website that had the story about the conference. And at first, he thought I was talking about a panel on which Barack, not Michelle, had spoken. In manner, he was gracious and he didn’t seem to be particularly guarded or defensive.

As I write this, I am aware that it seems unlikely that Barack Obama’s campaign would not have scoped this out with Rainbow/PUSH long ago. Either the Obama campaign neglected to do so, or Rainbow/PUSH picked the right person to persuade outsiders that no inquiries were made, or — more likely — there was nothing to scope out.

I suggested to Mr. Lewis that he try to find a copy, since he was likely to get inquiries. He said that he planned to get on it right away, since I was probably only the first of many more requests.

I hope that if Rainbow/PUSH locates a copy they release it as soon as possible to prevent this rumor from snowballing. In its limbo state, this rumor does damage to all three candidates, as well as to the political process.

Given the tenor of comments I have seen elsewhere on this rumor, I have not turned on comments. If it proves to be false (or true), I will then post with open comments. Until then, the most civil discussion I’ve seen is here.

By the way, the Rainbow/PUSH Headquarters are just a few blocks from Barack Obama’s house and a few blocks from Louis Farrakhan’s house. When I drove past Obama’s house on the way home, there was an Obama for President sign on the front lawn of the house next door to the Obamas’s, but none visible on the Obamas’s house.

UPDATE: There are some anomalies in the story so far: according to the rumors, the Rainbow/Push conference was supposed to be held at Trinity United, yet schedules posted at Hillbuzz and elsewhere do not show the event as taking place at the church. Further, the schedule shows Michelle Obama as a "Special Guest," not a speaker. Last, if it wasn't at the church, why would the DVD have been on sale there? I remain highly skeptical that this story will amount to anything.

Whiteygate II.

Bill Cosby probably pissed off Michelle Obama as well when he appeared at the 2004 conference (at a separate event, of course):

Bill Cosby pleaded with blacks to stop blaming the "white man" for their problems on Thursday, and he reiterated his harsh critique of the current state of African-American culture.

"It is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us, and it keeps a person frozen in their seat. It keeps you frozen in your hole that you are sitting in to point up and say, 'That's the reason why I am here.' We need to stop this," Cosby said in an address before Jesse Jackson's 33rd Annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition conference in Chicago.

The 66-year-old Cosby struck an introspective tone. "There is a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we have to turn the mirror around," he told the crowd of 500 people at the Sheraton hotel.

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Whiteygate.

Just as I thought, the Whiteygate "tape" is actually a DVD sold by the Trinity United Church of Christ, so it exists.

There are probably many copies in circulation, though it's been pulled now by the church:

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. Her rant was fueled by the crowd: they reacted strongly to what she said, so she got more passionate and enraged, and that's when she completely loses it and says things that have made the mouths drop of everyone who's seen this.

The "tape" is a DVD that Trinity United sold on its website, and possibly offered free for download up until March 2008 when Trinity's site was scrubbed and the DVDs were no longer offered for sale.

This outburst happened just one month before the 2004 Democratic Convention, when Barack Obama delivered the keynote address.

UPDATED: It seems really easy for Chicago local media, especially, to determine whether or not this is the right tape of Michelle Obama. All they need to do is pull the tape from this 2004 Conference (particularly the panel Michelle was on), which should be readily available (since this was a very large multi-day event). All a journalist needs to do is watch this tape: if this is not the right one, they'd know immediately and this issue would be debunked. But, logically, this seems to be the most likely source of the tape people have been talking about at NoQuarterUSA.net

Wasn't it Fox News that obtained a bunch of DVDs from that church? And yes, the local Chicago media should have it reported someplace.

A search of the Chicago media turns up empty; I cannot find anything from the Chicago Tribune or the Sun-Times about this conference. I am referring to the meeting Michelle attended and spoke, not the one where Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton spoke and generated media buzz. However, there is this:

With "2004: A Year Of Critical Choices for Inclusion and Growth" as its theme, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund held its 33rd annual conference in Chicago.

The six-day conference at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers also marked the 20th anniversary of Rainbow/PUSH Founder and President the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1984 U.S. presidential campaign--the first serious bid by a Black American for the nation's highest office.

Rev. Jackson, noted that the theme of the conference reflects Rainbow/PUSH's ongoing mission to protect and expand civil rights in every aspect of American life--including access to quality health care, education, law and justice.

Of course neither Obama was a household name then. There might not be a recording from the Chicago media of it; after all, there were several events at the conference. Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton would get the lion's share of the ink and video.

HillBuzz has the copy-and-paste as well of the event.

Unless somebody comes forward with the DVD, or the Chicago media looks in their archives about the meeting, this may come up empty. Then again, maybe somebody out there has it and is holding onto it until they can sell it for a big amount of money.

Here is the picture that's been circulating all around the internet, taken from Jet magazine:



At nearly six feet tall, Michelle towers over almost everybody.


Update: What I would like to know is how HillBuzz knows what is on the purported video if nobody has come forward to say they have seen it? A possible answer is in this blog's comments.

Via Cannonfire, the National Review takes a somewhat cynical view of the purported video.

If somebody has it, show it. Then we will know for sure if it is for real or a hoax. Or the media needs to interview people who were there. Right now nobody is saying a word. The silence could tell the whole story.