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This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The Clinton Team has (off the record) been hinting at this strategy of "going nuclear" since early May.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo...-pushes-
the.php
The only interesting thing is how poorly Larry Johnson has affected the smear operation. He was supposed to blame it on the GOP but anyone with half a brain can see the Clinton's hands all over it. (Sidney Blumenthal anyone?)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
pe...fo_b_99695.html
The economy is going to hell in a bucket and we're letting a guy like Larry Johnson (who has no credibility at all) dictate our news cycles? Please.
I hope Larry's blog has made some money out of this...I love the book he's advertising on his site:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido...ASIN/
0930852885
Thanks for peddling that nonsense, Larry.
What a crock.
I am perplexed about the odd contradictions between accounts on this purported Michelle Obama tape. Initially, Larry Johnson aired the rumor on No Quarter. He claimed the tape was filmed at a panel featuring Michelle and Minister Farrakhan at Trinity Church. Specifically.
Then, we have this new version from Hillbuzz, a pro-Hillary website, the day after Obama won the delegate numbers to snatch the nomination. It gives us a completely different version about the comments being made at a Rainbow Push event in 2004, and that it was Michelle Obama along with Mrs. Farrakhan. This, lets remember, was an easy shot because there is a picture in Jet Magazine about this event. But here is the problem, Hillbuzz maintains this conference was held at Trinity Church, yet, the conference schedule clearly shows this conference was held at Sheraton Hotel. More contradictions and inconsistencies. See conference schedule:
http://web.archive.org/web/
20040...ce_Schedule.htm
Furthermore, Hillbuzz names no source for this very vivid description of the video's content. Even Larry at No Quarter made an effort to at least allude to sources who had "seen" this mythological piece.
I mean, lets think, if someone has such vivid details on this video, wouldn't they make sure they put up the source. It goes without saying.
Then, lets go back to the location problem. Hillbuzz claims this is held at Trinity, but it was not. So the question is, how can one have so many details on content of the speech yet be so off on location and can't distinguish between a Hotel conference room and a Church? Strange.
Then, to top it off, a very spurious connection was made between the Trinity Church website DVD sales being pulled off in March, somehow alleging this tape was available as a Trinity Church product, when in fact, its very clearly a Push/Rainbow product and property. This means, the speech should also be available at the Rainbow website. But it isn't.
Could one of the reasons be that Michelle Obama does not appear on the schedule as a speaker? I would assume so. Also, the only official speaker from Trinity Church, according to the official schedule, was Mr. Reginald Williams, who spoke on Tuesday June 29 at 10am.
Now in the end, all these inconsistencies and loopholes make this tape allegation all the more suspicious. We're June 4, btw, and this is the promised release date...Still no tape? And one more thing…
How logical would it be for Michelle Obama to take on such controversial topics and make inflammatory statements, when we consider her husband, at the time, was in the middle of a campaign to become Senator of Illinois? In fact, that makes no sense at all.
This was a last ditch desperate attempt by Larry Johnson to get Hillary to stay in the race.
He failed. Hillary will endorse Obama on Friday.
He no longer has any credibility.
He's a laughing stock and a joke.
I find it strange that if this tape/dvd was out there that it hasn't already came out along time ago. If there was something even close to this I am sure someone would have shown it along time ago. Can't we all get past all the bull and focus on what is important. It is too bad that there are people out there that are so scared of change that they will say or do anything to stop it.
Yes, the tape does exist. There are countless sources that agree. But you all will never see it cause she doesn't say "Whitey".
In the video Michelle is addressing the current president and says "Why'de he send troops to Iraq?", "Why'de he not take care of Katrina victims?" Stuff like that. You all need to stop listening to Sean Hannity and Fox (Fixed) News. That stuff is propaganda it's funded by Republican conservative special interest groups.
DUH Justin--maybe if you'd read the article instead of just the headline you'd have seen Susan clarified she wasn't going to run with it until and unless it was proven to exist (for starters). Were you a regular here you would know Susan doesn't publish anything without at LEAST three legitimate, verifiable sources on anything.
My God, learn to read before you react.
Justin, you are a fool.
The "why'd he"/Whitey pun began as a JOKE on Daily Kos. On my site, I give a link to the original appearance of that joke. There were clear indicators that the author meant to be humorous -- for example, he said that Pat Buchanan was in the church audience that day!
Later, some puckish wag rewrote that comment, took out all the obvious "joke" signifiers, and then emailed the results to all sorts of bloggers and pundits. (Though not to me; I got the thing at second hand.)
Ever since, dim bulbs like you have presumed that the "Why'd he" transcript is real. It isn't.
Does this mean that the overall story about an incendiary tape is real or fake? No. The "Why'd he" transcript is a separate matter. We have to break up the allegations into discrete units and deal with them one at a time.
We do not have "countless sources" for the tape's existence. What have are:
1. Five unnamed (Republican) sources who told pro-Hillary writer Larry Johnson that such a thing exists.
2. Sources telling Republican operative Roger Stone that such a thing exists. These sources may or may not be the same as Johnson's.
3. Sources telling pro-Obama newscaster Bob Beckel that such a tape exists. Again, these sources may or may not be the same as the ones talking to Johnson and Stone.
We also have had two provably false trails:
1. The "Why'd he" transcript. I've already discussed that matter.
2. The June 28, 2004 Rainbow/PUSH meeting. I tracked down eyewitnesses who debunked the allegation.
We also have hundreds of people (both pro- and anti-Hillary) who have lost the ability to read and thus claim that Larry Johnson said things he never said. The people calling him a liar do not use quotations. Contrary to popular misconception, he never said that he possessed the tapes, and he never promised that they would be released on any given day.
I don't really get along with Johnson (or with much of anyone else, frankly), so don't accuse me of operating on his behalf.
I think facts 1, 2 and 3 above suffice for me to consider this business a mystery worthy of my interest. If you disagree, fine. At this point, I have no conclusions. Conclusions come at the END of a good mystery story, not the beginning.
It's an ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT strategy! There is a tape, Obamaniacs know it will cause a huge backlash, so they announce it and blame it on the Republicans!
That's the entire thrust of Democratic politics these days, take every disaster and blame it on Republicans while taking credit for things that never happened.
Pretty amazing if you think about it. George Orwell would be awful proud. Well, at least George Soros is...
The most significant fact about the speculation is that AMERICANS BELIEVE MICHELLE OBAMA MAY HAVE SAID THE RACIST WORDS, i.e., that it is believable because it is consistent with what we know about her (including statements in the Princeton thesis she wrote on race, her opinion that "America is a mean place," etc.). Of course, if the tape exists, the Republicans will not release it until after the Democratic convention so that it is definitely too late for Democrats to drop Obama.
A racist comment would have the implicit authority to cause harm to the object of denigration...ie "power" Where's the power of a poor black girl in an ivy league college? Get off Michelle Obama. This “event” was to have been the Rainbow/PUSH Convention in 2004 attended by Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Kerry and Obama were both running for national office. Now a Harvard educated attorney whose husband holds a statewide senate seat and is running for national office would be STUPID enough to get in front of a room full of people with tv cameras and talk about “whitey” in 2004? How DUMB or DESPERATE can all of you bloggers be?!?!
Here is a direct quote from an Obama supporter on a left blog RE: the supposed whitey tape. Soory about the language...it is not mine nor would I use that type of garbage to communicate. And they wonder why lifelong Dems are not going to vote Obama.....sheeeeeesh!
"Fuck Whitey. He sucks. I'm White. I know Whitey sucks.
When Whitey gets up and goes to work as 'The Man' - he only gets worse.
Whitey sucks because he is a powerful coward, jealously gaurding his ill-gained diabetes-encrusted hoard from everyone he's F'd with in the past. Whitey bowls for Columbine, Whitey keeps the prisons full of young black men for the Prison-Induatrial complex to pay 47 cents a day. Whitey promises peace and delivers eternal war. Whitey demands your taxes and pays them to his friends. Whitey makes it hard for you to vote.
Down with WHITEY!!!!
Viva Presidente Ezequiel - Aquí no hay quien viva!"
Some of you are missing something important here. The Obama camp is claiming she was talking about Bush letting N.O. drown? This event she was speaking at was in 2004. Katrina was in August 2005. Somethin' ain't right here!
Good catch Lance--source?
I HOPE EVERYONE LIKES THE HIGH GAS PRICES, HOME FORECLOSURES, AND OUR TROOPS GETTING THEIR HEADS BLOWN OFF IN A *censored* WAR. WE LIVE IN AN AGE WHERE OUR PRIORITIES CAN BE EASILY SHIFTED BECAUSE WE THINK SOMEONE HURT OUR LITTLE FEELINGS. MICHELLE I DOUBT VERY SERIOUSLY SAID THOSE THINGS. BUT IF WE ARE TO BELIEVE SHE DID WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? SLEEP UNDER A BRIDGE, WALK TO WORK (OOPS WE'D BE UNEMPLOYED) AND CONTINUE IN A WAR *censored* BECAUSE WE THINK MICHELLE SAID SOMETHING WE CAN'T PROVE! WE WERE A MUCH SMARTER NATION IN THE 60'S. WE'VE BEEN INUNDATED WITH SO MUCH BRITNEY SPEARS IN THE NEWS WE'RE TREATING THE CAMPAIGN LIKE ITS TMZ. WE ARE LACKING MATURITY AS A COUNTRY AND WE NEED TO TAKE ON THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE 60'S GENERATION AND KICK THE "TMZ, GOSSIP" MENTALITY TO THE CURB. WE ARE IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY. GET OVER IT! IT'S A LIE! UNLESS YOU LIKE THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY NOW, THEN GET BACK ON COURSE AND DISCUSS THE REAL ISSUES, BEFORE EVERYONE OF EVERY RACE, CREED, AND CULTURE WHO RESIDES IN AMERICA GETS THE SHORT END OF THE STICK. WAKE UP, UNITE AND LETS BRING THIS COUNTRY BACK TO GREATNESS AND BEYOND. I AM SO SICK OF DIVISION AND BACKSTABBING AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE DETERMINED TO HAVE "ONE UP" ON THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS. WE ALL WILL EVENTUALLY SUFFER IF WE DO NOT HUMBLE OURSELVES, LOOK OUT FOR OUR FELLOW MAN AND MAKE CHANGE. BECAUSE AT THE END OF THE DAY, *censored* BLACK, WHITE, YELLOW, AND GREEN. I DON'T THINK ANYONE WHO IS IN FORECLOSURE WILL BE ABLE TO SAY "I WHITE SO I NEED A BREAK,,,OR I'M BLACK SO I NEED A BREAK." FORECLOSURE IS FORECLOSURE, HIGH GAS PRICES ARE HIGH GAS PRICES, YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN IRAQ ARE JUST THAT....IN IRAQ. SO WITH ALL THAT SAID, DO I GIVE A HOOT-NANNY ABOUT MICHELLE OBAMA AND SOME ALLEDGED TAPE. UNDERSTAND THIS, THOSE WHO ARE SUPPOSEDLY INSULTED BY A NON-EXISTENT TAPE WILL GO TO THE SAME HELL IN A HANDBASKET AS ANYONE ELSE IF THE ECONOMY AND WAR STAY ON THE SAME COURSE. USE COMMON SENSE AND SHAKE THE "RACE" ISSUES OUT OF YOUR HEAD. WE ARE HUMANS ON A EARTH THAT NEEDS TO SAVED AND IT CAN ONLY BE SAVED WITH UNITY. IT IS ONLY ONE RACE, THE HUMAN RACE. LETS MOVE ON, THIS IS NOT THE 1800'S. WE GOT IPODS AND TECHNOLOGY BUT WE NEED AN UPGRADE FOR OUR MINDS....THATS ALL I'M THROUGH!
Edited By Siteowner
Lance said:
"Some of you are missing something important here. The Obama camp is claiming she was talking about Bush letting N.O. drown? This event she was speaking at was in 2004. Katrina was in August 2005. Somethin' ain't right here!"
Lance, I explained this. You're not reading.
The alleged transcript making reference to Katrina is an established fake. It began as a joke on Daily Kos. Some wag re-wrote this humorous post, took out all the obvious "joke" signifiers, then sent out the "transcript" as an email to lots of folks throughout blogland.
And quite a few people believed it. I was one of them -- for a few hours, at least, until the origin of the thing became clear to me.
Since everyone seems to have lost the ability to read the English language when it comes to this story, let me be clear: I refer above to THE TRANSCRIPT. That's the proven fake. I'm not referring to the original claim that such a video exists. That claim may or may not be a fake.
Lots of people have strong opinions that the entire story is bogus, but they do not have proof. In the case of the transcript, we DO have proof.
If both the original video story and the subsequent transcript are fakes, then they are separate fakes, done by different people.
The story that the video was taken at the Rainbow/PUSH conference in 2004 also proved to be a fake. I was able to disprove it by tracking down eyewitnesses to the event.
So there is no contradiction in chronology.
There is also no real evidence to back the original story.
Got it?
You have to divide the story into three parts.
1. The original claim by Larry Johnson and Roger Stone that a video exists,
2. The later claim that a video exists,
and 3. The still-later claim that the outburst took place on June 28, 2004.
Claims 2 and 3 are provably bogus. Claim 1 MAY be bogus, or there may be something real behind it. We don't yet have proof. (Opinion and invective, however strongly expressed, are not proof.)
If you want to see the jokey Kos piece that gave rise to the "transcript" side trip, go to my site and use the intra-site search engine. You should be able to find the link.
I made a mistake in the last comment.
"2. The later claim that a video exists" should read:
"2. The later claim that a transcript exists."
Sorry for the typo.
Personally, after filtering through a lot of websites discussing this particular topic, I think it's no better than 50/50 that this tape (or DVD) exists.
On the one hand, I tend to think that if it did exist, Hillary would have used it. I know that there are some who think that she'd have refrained from being the one to drop the bomb because she'd be worried about alienating certain constituencies within the Democratic Party forever. But hey, these are the Clintons we're talking about here, right? Nothing stands between them and winning, and they could always find some surrogate to release the tape for them. So, this line of thinking leads me to think that it doesn't exist.
BUT .. on the other hand, we know that Trinity Church regularly tapes its services. Perhaps somebody like Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney was successful in somehow obtaining a copy of this particular service before Trinity stopped selling them, or even afterwards by paying for a copy from someone who had bought it earlier.
And let's face it: How many people here really have trouble with believing that Michelle Obama could indeed go off on an anti-white rant like this, especially when being egged on by the kind of raucous crowds that were cheering Jerimiah Wright and Michael Pfleger? I certainly don't. I think it would be entirely in character. Don't believe me? Read some of her senior thesis that she wrote at Princeton. This woman clearly resents white people and has a major chip on her shoulder about being black. I have no problem at all believing that she'd say things like this. The only question is whether it's been caught on video.
So, if you held a gun to my head and said make a guess, I'd guess that the tape does indeed exist and will be released by the GOP in October. One thing that I've learned in my 48 years on this Earth is that where there's this much smoke, there's usually fire. And if the tape does actually exist, then John McCain will absolutely blow Barack Obama away on Election Day.
Where is the tape???
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