Is Bogus Michelle Obama Rumor Based On A Work Of Fiction?
Is it possible that the bogus Michelle Obama rumor you've all heard by now is actually based on a work of fiction?
The rumor in question is one that's been circulating in recent weeks to the effect that there's video out there of Michelle Obama saying something derogatory about white people.
Not a single shred of evidence has surfaced to support this claim. Nobody has actually said they've personally seen it. It hasn't been posted to YouTube as you'd expect on something this juicy. Even Republican operatives we've spoken to say they don't believe it exists.
Despite the tenuousness of this rumor, Obama was actually asked about this non-existent video in front of the national press by a reporter the other day. Understandably, he pushed back hard on the notion that he should have to answer such a question.
Now Jim Geraghty of National Review has claimed that the rumor may be based on...fiction. A political thriller called The Power Broker, published in 2006 by Stephen Frey, features the presidential campaign of Dem candidate Jesse Wood, who's aspiring to be the country's first African-American president.
We went out and got the book. And sure enough, in the novel, Wood's opponents discover video of the candidate himself -- not his wife -- discussing with a radical black minister how he will "f--- whitey" when he gets into office, despite all his public rhetoric about racial reconciliation. Here's what he says on the fictional tape:
He said, "You know, I had to put up with so much crap from Whitey when I was playing tennis back in the day, it was ridiculous. Real b****** stuff, too. Tennis racquets busted while I was in the shower, no towels, the worst locker, called n***** all the time, even by the help." He looked over at Osgood. "I'm telling you, Clarence, if I get elected president, I'm gonna act the way I'm supposed to act in front of the camera. Smile and dance like a good black man, do what I'm expected to do like a good boy. But behind the scenes, I'll f*** Whitey, and I'll f*** him good, I really will."
If this was the basis for the rumor, Obama was forced to respond not just to a rumor, but to one that was consciously based on a published work of fiction. Welcome to General Election 2008, everyone!
You paid for the book? I am hoping you stole it.
June 6, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's always the library.
June 6, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Clinton Library?
June 6, 2008 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spitting diet coke out of my mouth now.
;-)
June 6, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or...
Michelle Obama has already become a target based on her "for the first time" comment and it's not that big of a skip to say "She's black. Let's play on that and say she said something mean toward white people."
This really isn't much of a scoop unless there's a match to match going on here where I would apologize. I realize that there's the possibility of giving this story fire by repeating the email rumors going around word for word, but at the same time if you don't make a better connection all this argument looks like is:
Hey! Did you hear that some people are saying Michelle Obama said something mean about white people. And guess what?! Turns out someone wrote about a black person running for president once!
Hot dog.
Shoot, it wasn't even the president's spouse in the book saying this, it was the candidate himself!
And really, is it all that surprising that this type of racial division is being played upon without the help of books but pure old ignorance and fear? I mean were you watching the primary contests in Appalachia?
My point. This fear that there might be a backlash towards whites if Obama was elected is not something new. It's stupid but it's not new. And it wouldn't take digging through a book to know about it. So what is it? I'll give you the fact that he's talking to a radical rev. is interesting, but still. Is the language similar? And fuck whitey doesn't count.
June 6, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
edit: Turns out someone wrote about a black person running for president once and they said they'd take out whitey!
June 6, 2008 7:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Supa, you are either a Repug or a moron - wait, that is redundant....
If you are Repug let me say this is not at the normal level of slime we have come to expect and you should be ashamed of your pitiful self.
If not a Repug then definitely a moron for continuing to inflict your childish "Hillary Hate" on us adults who do understand the correct object of our November strategy - McSame.
June 7, 2008 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe if we keep talking about the rumor, giving it more press, letting more people hear it, and argue about whether it's true or not, then it will go away.
Good work Greg.
June 6, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not going to lie, I had a misspent youth, most of my teens and half of my twenties were spent throatchopping and clotheslining unsavory individuals in drunken bar brawls. Since then, with the help of my girlfriend, I'm a much calmer soul - the other day she shot me a rather bewildered look that stopped me from hopping on one of her friends who very casually regurgitated an Obama smear.
That being said, I really want to beat the fucking brakes off of Larry Johnson and his smearing of Obama - suddenly the scene of Sean Penn in "Bad Boys" when he was wielding a pillowcase full of soda's comes to mind.
June 6, 2008 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
To find someone as disgusting as Larry Johnson, one has to dredge the fetid depths, where you will find Roger Stone, who happens also to have been involved in propagating this story.
June 6, 2008 7:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It'll get worse before it gets better. Just take a breath and have faith that the electorate will get it right in November.
June 6, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, I just noticed that Greg and Eric both manage to get through this story without mentioning Larry Johnson, who of course used to be a frequent contributor to TPM Cafe. Interesting, considering he's been the primary driver of this fantasy.
It's a pity, because I used to like his columns. That's before he went crazy with his irrational Obama hatred.
June 6, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I used to respect Larry and read his blog all the time. I cannot believe what that site has become. I really don't get it. Anyone?
June 6, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Me, either! I went up there yesterday, following the Michelle Obama story, and was floored! It's turned into Freeper II! I wrote him to tell him my disappointment and he replied that I should flag any comments that called me names. But I didn't see where flagging was an option. VERY sad. I really had admired him for stepping up on the Plame scandal.
June 8, 2008 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds like you need a little more "time" to rehabilitate.
Of course you'll have to do without that koolaid. That's part of your problem.
Once you can accept that, then you're on your way to the other 11 steps....
June 6, 2008 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
that comment was directed to humanity_critic, the avatar behind the bars....
apparently he's very proud of all that!
June 6, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
"that comment was directed to humanity_critic, the avatar behind the bars.... apparently he's very proud of all that!"
Actually they are my dreads hanging down, but I would think that anyone who has a sheep as an avatar wouldn't be so careless with their words. I mean, I'm sure, on those lonely nights, you go out to the farmhouse and fulfill your every deviant desire. I guess its pretty convenient though, you can get sexually stimulated and knit yourself a sweater all in the same night!
June 6, 2008 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
That was inspired, Humanity! Very, very nice! ;)
June 6, 2008 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sounds like you need a little more "time" to rehabilitate."
That might sound like sound advice, if it wasn't coming from someone who blows strangers to maintain their crystal meth habit.
"Of course you'll have to do without that koolaid. That's part of your problem."
Based on who you support, you are the one who happens to be on the sanitary napkin end of history, it seems that my problems are minute compared to yours..
June 6, 2008 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
uh, i think you have me mixed up with the Obama and Larry Sinclair story....
Here, I'll provide you with the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhbZoUWBmRA
June 6, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
"uh, i think you have me mixed up with the Obama and Larry Sinclair story...."
No, I have the right person - the stretch-marks around your lips are unmistakable.
June 6, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Paranoid schizophrenic's should not try to dispense advice to others. Seek help.
June 6, 2008 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sounds like you need a little more "time" to rehabilitate."
That might sound like sound advice, if it wasn't coming from someone who blows strangers to maintain their crystal meth habit.
"Of course you'll have to do without that koolaid. That's part of your problem."
Based on who you support, you are the one who happens to be on the sanitary napkin end of history, it seems that my problems are minute compared to yours..
June 6, 2008 7:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
wow !
sounds like I hit a nerve there...
What a tyrade of filth coming out from your mouth!
Yeh, you definately need more rehabilitatin!
Tell your girlfriend I said so!
June 6, 2008 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's a tyrade?
THERE IS NO "A" IN DEFINITELY.
June 6, 2008 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe I can pass you all my work for typos.
June 6, 2008 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least you know how to spell KKK.
June 6, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
"sounds like I hit a nerve there..."
No, you just ran into the business end of a verbal pummeling - and you just don't have the brain cells avainlable to produce anything remotely close to a winning retort. Shocker.
June 6, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Humanity, if I wasn't already married I would run away with you!! ;)
June 6, 2008 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
A match made in Heaven.
June 6, 2008 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
HA! You call that a verbal pummeling??
Well, if you call getting in the mud and rolling around throwing filthy talk, then I guess you win. I would not lower myself to your standards. Yours too Carol? You disappoint me.
June 6, 2008 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Well, if you call getting in the mud and rolling around throwing filthy talk, then I guess you win. "
That's rich, getting a lecture on dishonorable debate tactics from someone who is absolutely comfortable posting unsubstantiated smear videos from drug addicted con-men. Nice.
June 6, 2008 9:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have to stop that cause I'm really falling for you. LOL!
June 6, 2008 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
that comment belonged to Humanity and not to anyone else.
June 6, 2008 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another match made in Heaven.
June 6, 2008 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
wow husseintina, i thought you had more class.
man, you obamamites are really a lowly filthy mouthed bunch at times! aren't you ashamed of yourself when you talk like that ?
June 6, 2008 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you really have to ask? No.
LOL!!!
June 6, 2008 9:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I share you're feelings towards Larry J.
Seems that site and the people who post there have no shame.
I can only go in there for 15 minutes intervals before I feel the need to shower.
June 7, 2008 5:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Have to disagree. This smear's already making the rounds -- it's not as though TPM is taking it from nowhere to everywhere.
At this point, spreading the debunking (and announcing Larry Johnson's dishonesty) everywhere is in order.
June 6, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
REALLY great story, Greg.
In fact, I blogged it myself earlier.
I can't believe you went out and bought it, but hey, that's what good reporters do.
[wink wink]
June 6, 2008 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Eric! I didn't see that you and Greg did this one together.
My apologies.
June 6, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
What are we going to do with the media that they ask him questions like that? No basis at all for the question -
You're right about Election 2008. They don't have much so they are making it all up as they go.
And the press follows along like little lap dogs - attack poodles in James Wolcott's immortal words.
June 6, 2008 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
You do exactly what Obama did - call them out on it:
Asked whether he knew it not to be true, Obama said he had answered the question.
“Frankly, my hope is people don’t play this game,” Obama said. “It is a destructive aspect of our politics. Simply because something appears in an e-mail, that should lend it no more credence than if you heard it on the corner. Presumably the job of the press is to not to go around and spread scurrilous rumors like this until there is actually anything, an iota, of substance or evidence that would substantiate it.”
June 6, 2008 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I agree. I don't think Obama is going to stand for people attacking his family. I really don't.
June 6, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or you could give a sweet smile and say, "This is as ridiculous and baseless as those nuts who nickname my honorable opponent 'Wet Start' McCain. This sort of thing has to stop in politics."
If it comes to baseless rumors of extremely disgraceful behavior, I don't think the Pubs want to go there in the end. The nut wing of their movement has said enough crazy things about their own candidate to deter them.
June 7, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The nutjobs at No Quarter talk about this supposed video all the time. The current theory is that either the GOP is saving it for October or that the great Obama-wing conspiracy is maliciously suppressing the video.
June 6, 2008 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
In general, if you want to lose some of your faith in humanity, go look at No Quarter.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/
June 6, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I checked it out yesterday. The favorite topics of commenters there are (1) anything that trashes Obama...the more far-fetched and ludicrous, the better...and (2) expressing deep shock and outrage at the incivility of Obama supporters.
I always assumed some website or other on the Internet had to be home to the largest gathering of emotionally unbalanced folks seething with misplaced rage. Guess I found it.
June 6, 2008 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not just "No Quarter." This phantom video has had a starring role in the mastrabatory fantasies of the diehard Hillarites for about four weeks now. The angry "hear them roar" crowd at Riverdaughter and Hillaryis44 whisper about it incessently.
June 6, 2008 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
The comments about masturbatory circulation of rumors sounds suspiciously masturbatory to me. So how about naming the Clinton supporters who are revelling in this newest slander of your candidate, or is this just one of those masturbatory fantasies too ?
June 7, 2008 2:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, let me get this straight. This is a story about a rumor, uncorroborated by any evidence, which might be kinda like the plot of a novel. Wow, this is bullsh*t news!
June 6, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, there is historical precedent. Some believe that the _Protocols of the Elders of Zion_ was plagiarized from various sources, including an anti-Free Mason play from 50 years earlier. Entire scenes of the play were said to have appeared, with "mason" replaced by "jew"...
June 6, 2008 7:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
And it was the National Review who called them out for it? THE National Review? How very interesting.
June 6, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
They're trying to squelch rumors of an October Surprise that won't materialize because if the bigots (my word, not theirs) of the Republican Party are banking on a smoking gun that never materializes, it might demoralize them in November.
If you think about it, there's no nice way to spin the explanation given. I mean, he could have just said "because I believe in the truth," but instead went into details about political maneuvering. Honest, in a rather smarmy sort of way, I guess.
June 6, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
As Barack said, if they've got a tape, produce it. Otherwise, STFU. (He didn't say that last part)
June 6, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know what's more pathetic: this rumor or the fact that Larry Johnson is that unimaginative that he has to steal said rumor from a book.
June 6, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
i'm with you on this one.
June 6, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
And not even a good book, evidently. The cited paragraph was simply atrociously written.
June 6, 2008 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
You bought the book? Way to go Greg - that's above and beyond.
:)
June 6, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Eric.
Way to go both of you - good story; good journalism.
Very good post and good job.
June 6, 2008 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's still a bit of brown stinky on your nose there dear. Best go to ladies room and clean that off. It's rather smelly...
Oh, and good 180 degree turn ....
June 6, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rae, really, just shut the fuck up, would you? You must be a masochist because you get abused on every comment you make and every comment just confirms just how ignorant and uninformed you are.
June 6, 2008 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rae gets 50 cents for ever post and a dollar for every reply to that post. So please do not reply to that stinky ewe.
June 6, 2008 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Greg and Eric, you two should name the asshole that is spreading this crap: Larry Johnson over at No Quarter.
June 6, 2008 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
So DJ Green Latern remixed Nas' "Black President" with Obama speech snippets. It made me realize something: it's going to be very strange in the near future when rappers start referencing Barack instead of fucking Al Capone or Tony Montana.
June 6, 2008 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Noooooooooooooooo - you're shitting me!
Where where can I hear this?
June 6, 2008 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.zshare.net/audio/13174227dab6529d/
June 6, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you so much for that.
I love Nas; I love Immortal Technique and he worked with Green Lantern on a couple of tracks. I really wanted to hear that.
June 6, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, thanks for sharing. Nas is the shit. The end kind of got me all goosebumpy. Richardson introducing our next President of the United States of America...Barack Obama!
June 7, 2008 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's going to bring back da Flava of America!
June 6, 2008 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm looking forward to China's much-vaunted African strategy, which involves cuddling up to a lot of dictators, just drying up and blowing peacefully away under Obama's gaze.
You're not just electing a president here. Guy's going to have virtual vice-presidential powers in just about every other country in earth, from his ability, his charisma, and the sheer relief felt that the collective brains of America have not been replaced by sh*t after all.
June 7, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hi Tena!
.
June 6, 2008 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hi agave - what a treat to see you, my dear. I hope you're well.
I'm heading to New Mexico in the morning.
June 6, 2008 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you go to Taos? Is the Anaconda still there?
June 6, 2008 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep I go to Taos. I don't recognize the Anaconda, but that doesn't mean anything - I just moved down there from a summer place I inherited and then sold in Colorado last summer. I still don't know everything, by a long shot.
Tell me.
June 6, 2008 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great upscale bar. One night several years ago I had about 3-4 more martinis there than I should have had.
Good, if hazy, memories.
June 6, 2008 7:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's why - I don't drink anymore so I'm not up on the bars in Taos or Santa Fe.
I sit on my portal in the evening and blaze em up.
O hell, I do that in the morning too. ;)
June 6, 2008 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
The country is truly in decline. Even the scandals are now second hand.
June 6, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not only is the extreme Right salivating over this story, they are also touting a picture (taking during the same 2004 Rainbow/Push Conference where she alledgedly said "whitey" [some conjecture she said "why'd he..?") of Mrs. Obama with Mrs. Farrakan. Of course there are other women in the picture too, but that doesn't matter to them. They will make this into a scandal just like they intend to make Rezko into a scandal. Doesn't matter if they are true.
June 6, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have no idea how thrilled I am that the wingnuts are latching on to this.
They have short memories. If they didn't, they'd recall how the Dan Rather fiasco in 2004 innoculated Bush from claims he ducked out on military service in Vietnam.
The more they grab ahold of this clearly bogus story and push crap like the picture you mention, the more marginalized they'll become.
And this year, that's not something they can afford.
June 6, 2008 9:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least we haven't outsourced them...yet.
June 6, 2008 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I need to know where I can hear the DJ Green Lantern/Nas remix -
Seriously - please tell me!
June 6, 2008 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.zshare.net/audio/13174227dab6529d/
June 6, 2008 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heyya, I followed this link and if I hadn't had solid internet security software would have had my computer infected with a trojan facilitator called xrun.exe and another called xpre.exe. I would recommend not going to that site.
June 6, 2008 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=22019%20(nas%20obama%20track)
June 6, 2008 7:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you both so much - I caught it up above and explained - my guy Nas is just the greatest since Tupac and Biggie are gone. I love the guy.
I also like Green Lantern - he's worked with Immortal Technique and I adore Immortal Technique. He and Green Lantern and Chuck D did the very subversive Bin Laden Remix with the chorus:
Bin Laden didn't blow up the projects,
it was you, it was you,
Bush knocked down the towers,
it was you, Bush, it was you.
June 6, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cool, no problem. He samples Pac. Let me know what you think of it.
June 6, 2008 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah I thought that was Pac.
I really loved it - I cried. LOL That's a first for a Nas track. hell, that's a first for any of my guys - I don't generally get teary-eyed listening to Young Buck or Nas or MJG and 8 Ball. LOL!
June 6, 2008 7:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks to forsythe for posting Obama's response. It is my hope that someone prints it out, wads it up and shoves it so far up greg's or eric's assss that his nose bleeds for not bothering to make it a part of the original post.
June 6, 2008 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
found the link to ben. sorry.
June 6, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice job guys.
This kind of thing has happened before. Remember how in the 1990s Ross Perot was deep into the theory that there were x number of POWS left behind in Vietnam? There was some congressional testimony about this story and a lot of concern about the guys who had been left behind. It was all bullshit. The number of POWS and the site where they were supposedly being held came from RAMBO, though nobody caught on for a long while -- well after the congressional testimony. It may have been the Atlantic Monthly that eventually got to the bottom of this.
Here's a job for a fearless investigative reporter: what was McCain's stance on those forsaken POWs? Did he get involved in that mess? Would be easy enough to track down I suspect.
June 6, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Larry Johnson is quite some credit to the CIA, isn't he? He has the gullibility of a 12-year old coupled with the rhetorical skills of a slightly dim Ann Coulter wannabe. Good track record, too. He's the one who swore, based on super-secret inside CIA information, that Rove was about to be indicted on the Plame thing.
June 6, 2008 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sure, with those skills you'd think he'd have been able to find a high position in the Bush administration.
June 6, 2008 6:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 6, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
And not only entirely false, but now AOL -- scurrilously -- has this on their opening page with a picture of Michelle Obama, and written as a teaser in a way that gives casual browsers the impression it is all true, that she engaged in the rumored conduct! It really is outrageous that AOL should get away with this. We should all loudly protest to them. They, and the rest of the press, including McClatchy and Politico, are spreading this rumor in the guise of pretending to report it is not true!
Theda S., Cambridge, MA
June 6, 2008 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
McClatchy?
Professor - that's not like the McClatchy I thought I knew -
June 6, 2008 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
the reporter who asked the question was from McClatchy.
June 6, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well shit.
June 6, 2008 7:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
AOL is owned by Time Warner, and you'd best believe the last thing they want is someone as president who might not kowtow to the corporate interests.
It'll take AOL members protesting this to make any impact. You're the ones who make them money. They won't care about adverse publicity and non-members complaining, if there's no threat to their bottom line.
June 6, 2008 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Theda --
I know the reporter Obama bawled out was from McClatchy, but I can't find anything they've published on this. Got a link? Asking a baseless question and publishing a story about a baseless rumor aren't the same thing.
June 6, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tena
Say hi for me if your in ABQ.
.
June 6, 2008 6:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I talk to Woody all the time - I will. I probably won't see him for a couple of weeks, but I know I will eventually and Lil Red and Olav and I will do that.
June 6, 2008 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cool
.
June 6, 2008 7:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
try and come to the fair again. It gets better - bigger crowd.
I know everyone would love to see ya.
June 6, 2008 7:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Larry Johnson is as vile and nauseating as Roger Stone, who is also involved in propagating this story.
June 6, 2008 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
So TPM doesn't feel it necessary to acknowledge they used to give Larry lots of space on their website?
June 6, 2008 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the Republicans are defecating masonry at the prospect of going up against Michelle Obama.
If they go after anything based in fact, I can see her standing tall and saying that it was the way she felt at the time or putting it into a context that clarifies her meaning, but never backing down or apologizing. Still, I don't think there'd ever be anything as, well, jejune as Larry Johnson's "transcription."
So plucking something from fiction—that she'd simply have to deny occurring, if she commented at all—might have seemed like the way to go for the mudmeisters.
Good thing that Democrats read trashy novels, too.
June 6, 2008 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess gregg got the memo from the clintons. Trash obama as much as possible and propogate false rumors to make him lose. The clintons are going all out for 2012. I can't wait to hear the non-endorsement, endorsement tomorrow. I bet it will be priceless. Thanks gregg. By the way, comeon, what's the gig with the clintons? Are you an in-law?
June 6, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, and if you're not too drunk on the koolaid, you'll notice that Obama never denied the rumor.
June 6, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Baaaaaahhhh! Where have you been? We missed you.
June 6, 2008 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, Michael, my one and true fan...
I've missed you too sweetie. I love the way you greet me each time! ;) big wink there partner.
June 6, 2008 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do you deny something that is bogus to start with?
Don't be absurd.
June 6, 2008 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually he did.
No one has produced it. Bluff called.
June 6, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is just another "Have you stopped beating your wife?" type question. Based on a scurrilous lie, it doesn't deserve an answer and is designed to create an issue where none exists.
June 6, 2008 7:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
RaeKa, let me tell you a little story:
In 1948, so the legend goes, Lyndon Baines Johnson, facing a formidable and well-financed primary opponent in his Senate race, turned to his campaign manager and suggested they spread the rumor that his pig farmer opponent had engaged in acts of barnyard intimacy that provided him "routine carnal knowledge" of his sows.
Taken aback, Johnson's campaign manager protested, "But Lyndon, we can't say that! It's not true!" To which Johnson replied, "Of course not, but let's make the bastard deny it."
And that, RaeKa, is why Obama didn't simply just deny the rumor.
June 6, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, it would not bother me if Michelle Obama called me Whitey. Big Deal. Of course it would be more accurate if she called me Freckley, since that is what I am.
As soon as I finish helping Senator Obama become president, I am then going to turn my attentions to founding The Freckled Peoples Liberation Front. We are the most neglected group in the country. We never get polled about our opinions. It is time for our day in the Shade. Say it loud, say it now; I'm Freckled and I'm Proud.
Freckle Power, Spot On!. Freckle Power, Spot On! Freckle Power, Spot On!
Sunscreened Up! Ready To Go! Sunscreened Up! Ready To Go! Sunscreened UP! Ready To Go!
It is time for our day in the shade.
June 6, 2008 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm still thinking of adding Whitey to my handle. The only reason I haven't is because the editing function invariably doesn't work for me until I've edited the thing 25 times.
I'll tell the truth and show my age: when I hear "Whitey" I immediately see a small blonde boy and his friend, the Beaver.
June 6, 2008 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh that wasn't really necessary tinahussein, we have your avatar! LOLOLOLOL
June 6, 2008 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah it's on my profile too.
Your point?
June 6, 2008 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well honey, if you don't get the point then fogettaboutit!
June 6, 2008 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
No I get it - I just wanted to see how far you'd go.
I'm not unhappy with how I look for my age.
YMMV - that's your perogative. It doesn't bother me.
June 6, 2008 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well I must apologize. That was pretty petty of me. You look just fine for your age -
I Just think its rather egotistical of people to put their photos up as their avatars and it just opens you up to such ribbing!
June 6, 2008 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
egotistical to be myself? That's a new one.
June 6, 2008 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
You mean that's not a real picture of you?
June 6, 2008 10:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I never knew if it was Tena or a young Diane Keaton.
June 7, 2008 12:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's spelled, "Fugheddaboudit," asswipe. Take a trip to New Jersey some time. I'd love to see them use you for fill dirt in an impending marsh reclamation.
June 7, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
HA!
As I predicted....
I predicted that once you could no longer deny it's existence, if it came out, that you obamamites would start defending it ...
just the way you defended WRIGHT's rantings and ravings until he turned on Obama. Only then did you turn on him too.
LOL ... You people are so pathetic and PREDICTABLE!
June 6, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
RaeKKK, The Poster Child of The Aryan Nation, assumes her new role as racial healer.
June 6, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
RaeKKK, The Humor Impaired Racist Moron who tries to get away with quoting out of context: Not going to work for you O inbred trailer trash, Springer Reject:
You know, it would not bother me if Michelle Obama called me Whitey. Big Deal. Of course it would be more accurate if she called me Freckley, since that is what I am.
As soon as I finish helping Senator Obama become president, I am then going to turn my attentions to founding The Freckled Peoples Liberation Front. We are the most neglected group in the country. We never get polled about our opinions. It is time for our day in the Shade. Say it loud, say it now; I'm Freckled and I'm Proud.
Freckle Power, Spot On!. Freckle Power, Spot On! Freckle Power, Spot On!
Sunscreened Up! Ready To Go! Sunscreened Up! Ready To Go! Sunscreened UP! Ready To Go!
It is time for our day in the shade.
June 6, 2008 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
wow! And you thought that was worth repeating??
It was pretty lame the first time around ... or should i say liam??
June 6, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
"It was pretty lame the first time around ... or should i say liam??"
..this coming from TPM's resident sheep-fucker. That's rich.
June 6, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
And now we have heard from RaeKKK Husband and Brother. Inbreds of Trailer Trash, Wed together.
June 6, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
And now we have heard from RaeKKK Husband and Brother. Inbreds of Trailer Trash, Wed together.
June 6, 2008 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sunscreened Up! Ready To Go! Sunscreened Up! Ready To Go! Sunscreened UP! Ready To Go!
I love this, and I want to steal it. I, too, am a melanin-challenged TPMer for Obama!
June 6, 2008 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the only way to push back against this type of stuff is with open ridicule. Like I was saying the other night about President Obama appointing Mumia Secretary of Kill Whitey. You know, just respond to it with completely sarcastic conflations. One of my carpenters was spinning some story to me the other day about how Obama wanted to ration food and gas. No shit. So I patiently asked where he had gotten this idea. He repeats back something Obama had said about how we need to conserve resources, be less wasteful wherever possible. I said, well, do you really think that translates into mandatory rationing? That idea doesn't even make sense, because he's a politician and there's no way he would even propose anything like that which would make everyone hate him. Who in the Congress would go along with that? It would have zero chance of passing. Politicians don't propose things they know have zero chance of passing.
We shouldn't kid ourselves; there are a lot of people out there desperately grasping at straws for excuses not to like the guy...because they don't want to admit that it's really because he's black. I'm making it my personal habit not to allow any of them that I meet off the hook that easily. They can vote for whoever they want, but I'm not going to let them get away with pretending they made their decision on some other basis.
June 6, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jenn, Tell that Carpenter Moron that he is free to purchase all the Gas that he can afford. When it hits six dollars a gallon, next Summer, ask him will he still want to squander it. Then tell him to go back and ask his Mother why, when she gave birth to him, did they so severely ration the amount of brain power he was given.
June 6, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Jenn - you know the first thing I thought when I read the story about Obama backing Lieberman into a corner and leaning on him was: Jenn gets her wish - it's the United States of SHAFT! LOL!
June 6, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, yeah!!!! ;)
June 6, 2008 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
"He's a bad -"
..."Shut yo mouth!!!"
"But I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft!"
..."We can dig it!"
June 6, 2008 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Larry Johnson stole my tennis racket.
June 6, 2008 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
MercerReader John Kerry and John McCain went to Vietnam and thoroughly researched those POW claims before Perot latched on to them. The nutcases vilified them for being part of the "coverup".
June 6, 2008 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Steve Case of AOL/Time Warner is a right wing republican. Our media is as liberal as the multinational corporations that own them. Don't ever forget that.
The thing is, people who support Obama are going to have to learn the art of saying "Ridiculous" without going on and on and on and without whining about it.
The Republicans are baiting you and hoping you will do as you did in the Clinton campaign and start perceiving everything as racist. YES, this is clearly racist.
They want Obama's supporters to talk about racism and racist attacks because they know nothing creates white solidarity than the claim (regardless of truth) that anyone to the left of the Grand Master of the Ku Klux Klan is racist. Yes, you can call the KKK racist, but no one else. Not without creating us vs. them solidarity.
Now, all the gratuitous and frequently unfounded claims of racism worked in the primary - though not everywhere. Different audience, different electorate. You pull that stuff in the general and Obama might just McGovern this election after all.
June 6, 2008 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is exactly what matters here. Every time the topic of discussion is race, Obama takes a hit. The "post-racial" and "moving beyond division" ideas are what scare the Republicans most, since they defy their comfortable demographic and wedge-issue electoral advantages. They don't care if they lose these arguments or look temporarily shamed. Whenever people are reminded that Obama is "the black candidate," his candidacy suffers. Bill Clinton knew this, Hillary Clinton knew this, and the Republicans definitely know this.
June 6, 2008 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Johnson ought to cahnge the name of his blog to AQuartLow.com
June 6, 2008 7:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
This campaign will be historic alright, historic for the amount of BS written and reported by our infallible media.
I like the way they have tight-roped the furor about their role in the Iraq war. Never allowing the argument to be framed as either "we were complicit or we were idiots" was the key.
Hey RaeK, get a life ya gobshite.
June 6, 2008 7:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
wtf is a "gobshite" ? Or is that some new eubonics term?
June 6, 2008 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's like "tyrade" and "definately."
Words that don't exist...except in your "mind."
June 6, 2008 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look in the Mirror RaeKKK. First lift up your hood. Then you will be looking at a perfect specimen of Gobshite!
June 6, 2008 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here ya go, Rae, since you're too fucking lazy to Google it (and it's not ebonics - it's British slang if you really want to know):
gob·shite
n. Chiefly British Slang
A person regarded as mean or contemptible.
And I have to say, I think you are beneath contempt to have said anything to Tena about her avatar and attempt to ridicule her personally. I know she took care of you beautifully, but I have to say you are a horrid person. Don't start getting personal, Rae - just don't because you'll lose the battle.
June 6, 2008 8:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well that's so easy for YOU to say with your astounding good looks and sex appeal! What's the rest of us to do??
June 6, 2008 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why thank you, my dear - first intelligent thing you've said all night!! ;)
June 6, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
And how!
June 6, 2008 8:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is of course an understatement.
:)
June 6, 2008 8:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gunners!!!!!!
June 6, 2008 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great read on McCain:
http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2008/06/05/style-over-substance/
June 6, 2008 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
These people are beyond disgraceful. I heard about this on the Huffpo sight months ago where some freeper was talking about wait until "our October surprise" showing Michelle talking about whitey. I knew it could not be true.
It is going to get worse but in the end, Obama will win. I just fear for his safety.
June 6, 2008 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good work Eric and Greg. Excellent Job.
As David Gergen was saying the other day:
The Wright story, or for a matter of fact this bogus crap, don't really mean much, but help people to reinforce their racial bias and substantiate their reason not to vote for a black man.
June 6, 2008 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly,
They spend a lot of time and effort in laying down the groundwork, so it sounds more believable in the end.
This is what whitewater served for. It didn't matter that it was all BS, just that it was in the headlines, so that what followed was more believable.
They did this to Wesley Clark, in 2004, too. "Even Clinton fired him!". remember that?
June 6, 2008 8:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
One key difference between Sen Obama's baggage and the Clintons is that the Clintons never offered a convincing counterweight to most of the arguments leveled against them. No There there. Snuck in under the Perot Maneuver, bringing no downticket dems, and ushering in the Gingrich Era.
Sen Obama does not have this weakness. Indeed, if anything, he has proven a master at political jujitsu, including a code of honor. Oh, yes, and the GOP is imploding.
The Clintons have no honor. jesus christ on a french fry told me so!
June 6, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
BARACKARATE!
($1 to bat guano.)
June 6, 2008 10:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, it's free.
June 7, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Geez,
they can't even start a rumor without plagiarizing?
Why aren't these clowns easy to beat?
June 6, 2008 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dosUnMUR0-Y
June 6, 2008 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have absolutely got to be shitting me with this nonsense, Rae - this is an absolute joke. Notice how he said that the Repugs were going to release it "tomorrow" (which was 2 days ago). THE TAPE DOESN'T EXIST - and Rudy Giuliani has a copy? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That is the funniest thing I've read all night. You really need to do better.
June 6, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
this laugh sounds a bit disingenuous ....
me thinks you protesteth a bit much there Carol!@
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLOLOLLLOLL
I'll see your hahahahahahahah and raise it!!
We'll see who laughs last for we know that he who laughs last laughs LOUDEST.....
whistle in the dark..................... maybe the tape will just disappear!
June 6, 2008 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just heard from a friend of a friend that his next door neighbor's dog says that Larry Johnson actually works for Dick Cheney. Johnson apparently first worked for Cheney when Johnson was a disinformation specialist at the CIA while Cheney was DOD Secretary under Bush I. According to this rumor, Johnson has maintained a front image as a liberal-leaning anti-terrorism expert so that he could plausibly disrupt the campaign of the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee with disinformation to head off threats to reverse the national security policies of Cheney/Bush. I have no idea if this dog is a credible source but I felt it was my patriotic duty to share this rumor on the slim chance that it might be true.
June 6, 2008 8:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was willing to side with the dog until he started in with the humping...
June 6, 2008 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm pretty shocked that [people ever believed this. If your view of race is so warped that you think when black people--particularly Icy League educated ones--get together they use "whitey" you might need to have a serious look at yourself. I have a feeling Larry Johnson thinks the Garret Jones SNL song is documentary footage.
June 6, 2008 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
wtf is a "gobshite" ? Or is that some new eubonics term?
Posted by RaeKa
June 6, 2008 7:52 PM
eubonics is what your father did to the young sheep that gave birth to you. The animal Vet that deliver you, can explain it all to you, you bleeting idiot.
June 6, 2008 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
rae misspelled gotalife
June 6, 2008 9:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
jesus christ on a french fry!
June 6, 2008 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
By the way CNN is just showing the Obama family (all four of 'em) taking center stage among 75,000 in the recent rally in Oregon.
Brilliant pictures, makes me proud.
June 6, 2008 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
This country is going to fall in love with this family - it's been a very long time since we a had a family this young in the White House.
June 6, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It will be such a complete change, a symbol of the airing out the govt so desperately needs.
I must admit, I've been so used to cringing, I'm still in a crouch. I believe I need to experience more of Sen Obama's campaign, once The Blunderbusses shaddup already.
McThuseleh has no chance. The challenge will be not being TOO mean...
June 6, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Scumsucking rat-bastards. The people behind this should rot in hell.
June 6, 2008 8:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
HA!
Rudy Guiliani has the tape on your guy!
LOLOLLOLLOL!!!
June 6, 2008 8:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hahahahaha! Prove it or be known as a liar! Hahahahaha!
June 6, 2008 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is apparent that the repigs are very very scared and know they are going to lose. They might convince their own ilk that something like this is true but it won't fly with most of the public. I am still amazed that there are such racists in 2008.
June 6, 2008 8:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you have your finger right on the pulse of the Repugs.
:)
June 6, 2008 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some of them, apparently, on Dem websites!
June 6, 2008 8:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
This shit has been going on at NoQuarter for a couple of months now and Larry Johnson is a contemptible piece of shit. In the past few days he's had to back down hard from his more ludicrous allegations (it's been pretty funny to read his crap) and then he denies that he ever made them in the first place. He has NO credibility and even the lunatics that comment on his website are starting to give him shit about it.
What I would like to know is why Greg didn't mention Larry Johnson in his post? He is leading the charge on this nonsense, after all, and has been since the beginning. What gives, Greg and Eric?
June 6, 2008 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Larry Johnson used to write for TPM. That's why they haven't mentioned him.
June 6, 2008 9:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess its okay for white people to call black people the n word but black people can't say whitey. Last time I looked, whitey was not derogatory. I guess if the shoe fits.
June 6, 2008 8:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
For anyone still addicted to outrage at language, I heartily recommend the cartoon network's Adult Swim show Boondocks.
It really cannot be described. Not here. Other than to say Uncle Ruckus is a fucking genius! The role, not the man, of course.
June 6, 2008 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boondocks, Tupac and Nas in one post!?? Ahh, I'm home, finally.
June 6, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have no idea how delighted I am to see you, too, darlin.
June 6, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree.
I don't do outrage. I'm a very hard core raw hip hop fan - I really backpedal my language here, believe it or not. I haven't said "motherfucker" hardly at all.
June 6, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know any white people who use that word - the n one. Not anymore, any way - the one I knew who did is not someone I've talked to in many years.
and whitey doesn't bother me. I already said I'm thinking of adding it to my handle: WhiteyHusseinTenaX. If I can get Edit to be nice to me and so far that has not happened.
June 6, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well this one comes from a "black people"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dosUnMUR0-Y
It is sounding more and more credible.
To think Guiliani would be the one to help McCain win!!
June 6, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK, this is the second time you've posted this idiotic video. It's bullshit. And nice try using the "well, it's from a black guy so it must be OK" - do you also say things like "some of my best friends are black"? You are something else, I have to say.
June 6, 2008 8:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Some of my best friends are black."
If Stephen Colbert does it, it must be okay!
June 6, 2008 8:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOLOLOLOL!
June 6, 2008 8:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
But but but but....Bill has an office in Harlem!
An orafice, more like it...
June 6, 2008 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let me introduce a little levity to counter the ill-informed sheep's propaganda: hot bottled water for dehydrated babies? I enjoyed that train wreck of a speech so much on Tues. night I just can't let it go....
June 8, 2008 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well this one comes from a "black people"
Posted by RaeKa
June 6, 2008 8:43 PM
Rae what is your real problem. Why are living is such fear. Tell us what trauma in your life has driven you to be filled with such irrational hatred.
June 6, 2008 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your political "insights" are as persuasive as your spelling is good.
June 6, 2008 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. I wonder if you realize how racist it is that you're promoting this as having some special status because the author is black.
Do you really want to be seen as a racist?
June 6, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, she does - she has made no bones about the fact. Poor ignorant human being.
June 6, 2008 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
well if you had read the post above mine you'd have seen i added that because THEY were talking of "white people"....
So that's okay, but "black people" aint....
Like hussein can say "typical white people"....
Can you imagine if McCain said "Typical black people?"
Do you people even try to think sometimes??
June 6, 2008 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you imagine if McCain said "Typical black people?"
No, but I can imagine him saying, "Typical n*****s!"
Not that far afield from saying "Fuck you!" to another Senator on the Senate floor, now is it?
June 6, 2008 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
^^ First sentence should have been in blockquotes. ^^
June 6, 2008 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh.
Here's your link.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/2530
June 6, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sigh.
June 6, 2008 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Well this one comes from a "black people""
That guy is a self-loathing black republican, he doesn't count.
June 6, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Well this one comes from a "black people""
That guy is a self-loathing black republican, he doesn't count.
June 6, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Only thing worse is a self-loathing gay Republican, IMHO.
I've never understood that.
June 6, 2008 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are so right, Tena. Remember the tone he had responding to criticism of Michelle on Good Morning America! He's all 'bout it, 'bout it when it comes to his family. And I have every reason to believe that he'll bring that same kind of even-toned toughness when defending America.
Citizen of the U S of A under President Obama!!!!
June 6, 2008 8:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look - he's just knocking me out, that's all there is to it. I didn't expect this for some reason -this toughness. God I love it. I don't think you pressure Barack Obama. In the first place, he has taken the title of Coolest Man Alive from Chow Yun Fat.
I don't remember the first week of Kerry's campaign being anything like this.
June 6, 2008 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
When the only thing your opponent has on you is a deranged pastor and a fabricated video of his wife shouting whitey, i would say your in pretty good shape.
June 6, 2008 8:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you knew where Larry Johnson hails from in St. Louis, you would know why he is trying so hard to smear Senator Obama and his wife. Let's just say that he and Rush have the same belief system on race. By the way, not only have I completely changed my mind about Larry Johnson, but since he is such good buds with Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, I have my doubts about them too. Especially given how Joe was on the garbage route dumping trash on Senator Obama as well. Kind of makes you wonder why they were so very, very supportive of Senator Clinton. Why are they so afraid of Senator Obama? Hmmm?
June 6, 2008 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it important to distinguish between Johnson and Valerie and Joe Wilson on this. Joe has several reasons to be loyal to the Clintons, he was promoted to Ambassador to NATO by Bill Clinton as his last overseas posting, and he led the Africa Desk in Clinton's NSC as his last job before retirement -- and he organized Clinton's long Africa Trip. All this was before Valerie and Joe Married. Except for Joe's Iraq and NATO posting, all his career was spent in Africa, and I seriously doubt if his attitudes on Race are similar to what we are seeing from Johnson at No Quarter.
Valerie has known Johnson from covert CIA stuff for years -- they trained together, she beat him on the AK47 target test. They have the kind of buddy-loyality relationship one would expect of covert officers, and when Valerie became the target of Cheney and Scooter, Larry became her one man public relations effort -- someone who could speak in public, which she could not do.
Johnson was not beloved by Bill Clinton's NSC -- you might want to look up Stephen Simon and Daniel Benjamin's book, "The Age of Sacred Terror" all about Clinton's efforts against Al Qaeda and Bin Laden by the two NSC staff who worked for Richard Clarke, and who worked very much at cross purposes with Johnson, whom they claim did not take Bin Laden seriously. They document a pretty good case.
Apparently among other things, Larry Johnson was a dissinformation specialist while with CIA in Latin America, and one concern we should always have is former CIA types importing their tradecraft into the domestic political world. While in service they were valued for these skills, and sometimes on retirement they really can't detach themselves from bad habits. Apparently in Florida in 2000 a number of retired officers who were in CIA when Bush Sr. was DCI and then VP, were organized to work for GWBush in Florida -- and I don't know that anyone ever tracked down what exactly they did in Florida in 2000. In otherwords it is a generalizable problem, how do we keep CIA out of using their tradecraft in domestic politics? It isn't a new problem -- E. Howard Hunt did covert for Nixon afterall.
June 7, 2008 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well this one comes from a "black people"
Posted by RaeKa
June 6, 2008 8:43 PM
Rae what is your real problem. Why are living is such fear. Tell us what trauma in your life has driven you to be filled with such irrational hatred.
June 6, 2008 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
easy: o-b-a-m-a
and
his nasty wife
June 6, 2008 9:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
So your afraid of them because they are a pair of well educated people, is that it. Don't be scared. The Obamas have no intention of revoking your whiteness. They couldn't care less that such a slack jawed, mouth breathing, knuckle walker like you even exists.
June 6, 2008 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like Kitty Dukakis, Cindi McCain is actually a recovering drug addict. Dukakis was asked about that by the press. When will McCain be asked a similar quesiton?
June 6, 2008 9:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
They are the creepiest couple on the planet. Neither of their faces works right. Hers hasn't moved at all in about 10 years, I don't think, and his moves like he's already a corpse and someone has their hand up his ass moving his mouth. That "heh heh heh" is just fucking creepy.
June 6, 2008 9:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I truly think the American people should demand McLame to come clean about what the hell he's carrying in his cheeks. We have a right to know.
June 9, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not only a recovering drug addict but stole pills from her own not-for-profit to feed her habit:
We'll never hear that question asked, I'm sure.
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/02/19/the-worst-thing-you-can-say-about-john-mccain/
June 6, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow.
June 6, 2008 9:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Carol, that is VERY juicy...!
There just is no baggage comparison between the two men.
June 6, 2008 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 6, 2008 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, an entirely fictional account of Michelle Obama using an archaic and relatively inoffensive (to any sane person) term for white people gets MSM attention, while a substantiated report of McCain publicly referring to his wife using a 4-letter word that starts with "c" was barely reported and faded out completely within a day or two..?
June 6, 2008 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah - as Pac said: Ain't that a bitch?
The media isn't biased for their corporate masters - those same masters who wouldn't let them publish the truth in the run up to the Iraq War.
We need a Truth Commission on the Press. It's so important to a functioning democracy that it is the first goddamn thing that gets a constitutional guarantee of freedom. Freest fucking press on earth - that's what they were handed and this is what they've done with it.
I want hearings on the complete failure of public duty that the supposedly free press in this country was guilty of in the selling of the Iraq War.
June 6, 2008 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is so interesting about a racist "plot" element coming from a recent novel? This precise crap about blacks getting whitey if they gain power goes back to before Birth of A Nation, to before The Klansman. It's the very stuff of lily white Democratic Reconstruction in the South in the 1860s and 1870s and of just about all histories of Reconstruction until Kenneth Stampp came along. Bigots may be stupid, but they have long memories, and the arsenal of "ideas" they draw on is rather limited in number as in all else.
June 6, 2008 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
If that video produced publicly couldnt the book author sue for copy right infringement seeing that the creators of the video didnt get permission to use the author's material?
That would have been funny not to mention news worthy itself.
June 6, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Michell Obama "Whitey Video" is the new Kitty Dukakis "Flag Burning Picture".
June 6, 2008 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's the huge difference: Michele Obama isn't married to Mike Dukakis. She's married to a much different man altogether.
It's going to be difficult for them to push this shit too far.
In the first place, the whole party has Obama's back now.
June 6, 2008 9:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
There was a whole, multi-page thread on a Clinton Forum with hundreds of people hoping for this alleged tape to be released. The comments went from, she is holding it for the right moment to wondering how Obama is suppressing it.
This was as late as Wednesday morning that these people were "hoping" for this miracle.
June 6, 2008 9:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love that avatar.
June 6, 2008 9:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
who's that boy supposed to be??
June 6, 2008 9:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy? Really? Is that what we're doing now?
June 7, 2008 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
:) 's ... that's no avatar. That's me about 2 months before I became the person my mother warned you about.
Did I say that..... I do like yours also and the nick too.
June 7, 2008 2:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
damn, no edit capability.
:) 's ... that's no avatar. That's me about 2 months before I became the person YOUR mother warned you about.
Did I say that..... I do like yours also and the nick too.
June 7, 2008 2:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Only the hardened Clinton supporters could find a way to blame Obama for this!
June 7, 2008 12:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
You know, you people are really sticking your heads in the sand (which is only natural since your mouths are always in the dirt)
but anyways, TPM wouldn't have posted this story if it was pure bullshit. They didn't post anything about Larry sinclair for example.
If this were pure rumor, it wouldn't be leaking out like this, little by little...
Even Bob Beckel mentioned it. Or are you going to accuse him of being a closet republican??
June 6, 2008 9:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yo dumbshit.
Obama was asked about it by a reporter.
Ya think maybe that's why he mentioned it?
Like DOH!
Why are you so jealous of soon-to-be-First Lady, Michelle Obama?
June 6, 2008 9:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude!
Nothing's leaked out --- nor will it ever --- except the rumor.
But thanks for playin'!
June 6, 2008 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, the smear campaign targeting Michelle will probably get worse as the election nears. I have heard seemingly rational people (at other times) describe her as "militant" (why, did you see her plant in I.E.D.?).
June 6, 2008 9:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
hey, husseintina,
I could use a ride to Mehico....
I'd like to get some of that stuff Obama's been putting in your brownies that keeps you guys so easy and pliable.
I could use it on some of my clients!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
June 6, 2008 9:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
What kind of butthelmet invents a story about a videotape? Sure, I can see inventing a story where you say, "My cousin's best friend's old hairdresser saw Michelle Obama rant about whitey!" because the story explains its own lack of corroboration.
But if there's a video, why not just show it to us? It's just stupid.
Also, why do the wingnuts all assume that Michelle Obama talks like Dolemite?
June 6, 2008 9:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
or George Jefferson
June 6, 2008 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not ascared of the Repugs or anyone's smear campaign.
I've seen him deal with this shit and he deals with it very well.
So squawk all y'all want to - I am so not worried.
June 6, 2008 9:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. Obama faced two months of PR hell, with attacks coming from the Republicans, the Clintons and the media, and he weathered it and came out strong. He can definitely handle anything they throw at him, he is a pro.
June 6, 2008 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well said, he does deal with it well. I think he was slightly taken aback when Hillary found herself playing catch-up and her surrogates started being really nasty but it did have the effect of toughening him up.
June 6, 2008 10:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Its obviously bullshit, hell, Hillary's campaign probably floated the rumor to scare off superdelegates.
June 6, 2008 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dolemite
LOL!!!!
Ok peeps, Battlestar Galactica in about 3 - I'm out.
June 6, 2008 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like I`ve said before guys if you intend on beating my Republican bretheren DISUNITY is one thing you do not need.They hope to divide and conquer us with cheap attacks like this.Get ready guys the attacks will only get worse.
June 6, 2008 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Guys, I'm really sorry. Looking back on my posts now, I can see what a racist I am. I'm really embarrassed and think I need to go away to do some soul-searching.
Peace out.
June 6, 2008 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, God - not the troll parodies again LOL!! ;)
June 6, 2008 11:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
... uh, in case anyone was fooled by that... that wasn't me...
not sure how they do that. It's quite flattering i suppose. Now I know how movie stars feel.
June 7, 2008 9:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now, I guess, they want to make Obama responsible for what's written in a novel. This craps get's more ridiculous as the days go by.
June 6, 2008 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay, I'm losing the plot, here.
Michelle called William Jennings Bryan a whitey?
June 6, 2008 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
And what is this "fiction" and "fact" of which you all speak? Are those two supposed to be different things or something? It's all just too confusing.
June 6, 2008 11:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
No.
It was Cindy McCain that called Mr. Bryan a whitey.
She was high on opium purchased with money stolen from the suffrage movement.
Susan B. Anthony was piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed!
June 6, 2008 11:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
If such a video existed, it would have been posted to youtube already. It hasn't, so it doesn't.
QED.
June 7, 2008 12:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
From Ben Smith's blog, Politico:
Robert George has a reminder of an odd constant in presidential politics: false rumors of about-to-be-produced evidence damning the candidate's wife.
He writes of
... a really weird conservative urban legend that pops up every four years. The names change, but the basics remain the same: 1) It always involves the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate; 2) It always portrays the wife — not the candidate — committing some anti-American, unpatriotic act.
I was first exposed to this during the 1988 campaign when the line was, "There's a picture out there of Kitty Dukakis burning the American flag ... just wait till that comes out ..." (that one got out of hand when a GOP senator actually believed it and called a press conference to say he would soon produce the evidence — which never materialized). Four years later, "There's a picture out there of Hillary Clinton burning the American flag ... just wait till that comes out ..." In 1996, the Hillary thing repeated itself. In '04, there was a similar one about Teresa Heinz Kerry."
June 7, 2008 1:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
VERY interesting... thanks for that. Some folks up here ask why these guys on TPM report this but I think it's beneficial to jump on crap like this & debunk the hell out of it ASAP. How else can you do it w/out alerting readers?
June 9, 2008 11:41 AM | Reply | Permalink