Whiteygate

There have been lots of conjecture about the fabled "tape." I have said in previous posts I have come to the conclusion that the GOP wants to throw the election, and that's why they have held their fire so much against Obama. Obama has an Encyclopedia Britannica of dirt that can be used against him. But the "dirt" leveled at Obama so far in this campaign is mild, much like what Bob Dole's campaign did when he ran against Bill Clinton in 1996.

Now it's very possible John McCain can't abide in the usual smears the GOP is so good at. But there is the possibility that since the economy is in the shitter and no quick fix is at hand, and because Obama is so laughably unqualified for the job of president, the GOP will let the Democrats fuck themselves over, and then they can come back with Mitt or Jeb in 2012.

And of course, there could be something big and bad happening from abroad to get us into war, as Cannon speculates.

In any case, we better be worried.

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.

Whiteygate II.

Somebody had the nerve to ask Barack Obama about the "whitey tape" rumor:

“We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it,” Obama said to the McClatchy reporter during a press conference aboard his campaign plane. “That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it.”

Asked whether he knew it not to be true, Obama said he had answered the question.

What a bizarre answer. Why not just flatly deny him and his wife saying anything inappropriate?

His "answer," if you can call it that, is like Gary Hart daring the media to follow him around.

It's almost an admission one or the other or both did.

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 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.

Rumor has it there is a "bombshell" that's coming out tomorrow about Obomba, supposedly about the Michelle Obama "whitey tape," but I will believe it when I see it:




Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson is rumored to have a copy, and I wish he'd mail me a copy of his copy so I could download it here. I am tired of the suspense and all.

Campaign Follies.

Once again No Quarter's Larry Johnson sticks his neck out regarding the infamous "Whitey tape" purportedly of Michelle Obama.

I was finally able to get on the No Quarter site after a delay, and according to Larry Johnson, the tape shows Michelle Obama on a panel with Louis Farrrakhan when she made that crack.

Notice Michelle has been very quiet as of late.

Johnson says he has five sources now. I think a lot of people were hoping he had firsthand access to the recording.

Update: Take this "transcript" of what Michelle supposedly said with a grain of salt:

“Once again, the white man keeps us down, what’s up with Whitey, Why’d he attack Iraq, Why’d he let Katrina happen, Why’d he leave millions of children behind. This is the legacy the white man gives us”

If she said that, I'd like to see the video just before and after the remarks for some context.

(HT: Joseph at Cannonfire.)


Update: Along these lines, the Obama campaign claims the whole story is a lie, yet it supposedly has a transcript of the video in question, which makes utterly no sense at all.

More Update: There is no official denial.

So Does the Michelle "Whitey"

tape exist?




Larry Johnson of No Quarter keeps hammering on this. I will believe it when I see it, even with Stone's claim at least seven news organizations are bugging him about it.

Campaign Notes.

John McCain is in good shape for the shape he is in.

The big concern is whether he has any recurrence of his cancer, especially melanoma:

But one, on his left temple in 2000, was invasive melanoma, what doctors call an ''intermediate risk'' melanoma because of its thickness -- 2.2 millimeters. McCain required delicate surgery to remove and examine lymph nodes that showed no sign of spread.

''We don't have a crystal ball, but we have no way to say anything at the present time would preclude him from running for office,'' said dermatologist Connolly.

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The media are still trying to push Hillary Clinton out of the race by peddling the rumor she is interested in being the big loser's running mate.
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So does the purported Michelle Obama "whitey" tape really exist?

It seems to get more and more interesting.
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