June 2, 2008

The rumored videotape of Michelle Obama.

If this thing really existed, wouldn't the Clintons have gotten their hands on it and made it appear on YouTube by now?

Teasing about it on Fox News:



Republican dirty tricks or Clintonian dirty tricks? What we have is not a video, but a rumor of a video. The rumor helps Hillary right now.

42 comments:

Bissage said...

It’s true.

There’s a video of Michelle Obama at a Chicago fundraiser addressing a fairly large crowd of color.

She calls out: “When duh brodders en duh sistahs haz duh powwah . . . well, lookout Whitey . . . yousah don gon gittit!”

The crowd of color roars and begins handing over its money.

And I know where the video’s hidden.

So does Geraldo Rivera.

It’s in Al Capone’s vault.

George M. Spencer said...

Last week's New Yorker profile of Roger Stone, the self-described "sleaziest man in American politics." Also, here

Automatic_Wing said...

Of course there is no tape. But it's interesting that Obama's opponents chose Michelle to star in their fictional race-baiting tape.

Apparently the idea of Obama himself getting up and delivering a kill-whitey sermon at Trinity is self-evidently absurd. Michelle, not so absurd.

Anonymous said...

"Clintonian dirty tricks" is redundant. There isn't a trick in the Clinton playbook that isn't dirty.

Cedarford said...

Sidenote - Teddy Kennedy goes into brain surgery today at Duke. Let's all wish the old reprobate is helped by the operation.

Althouse asks why the Michelle Obama "Down with Whitey!" tape isn't out if it exists. Apparantly the theory is because Republicans have it - and have been waiting until the stronger candidate, Hillary, is eliminated from contention.

1. Those who claim to have seen it describe it as a long, angry tirade that blames white people, referenced as "whitey" for a range of problems.

2. It supposedly happens at TUCC with hundreds cheering her words.

The Drill SGT said...

What I continue to find amusing is that both Democrats befoul each other with charges of racism, sexims, and other crimes against humanity, but do it in the form of:

My opponent, M_ xxx, is a weaker general election than candidate than I am. When the Rethugicans use the video (or xxx, or zzz) of M_ xxx saying yyy, then we're going to lose the election

I'd have more respect for them if they flung feces themselves than to do it indirectly.

Meade said...

". . . well, lookout Whitey . . . yousah don gon gittit!”

Everything Bissage says is true but he leaves out critical context: The rumored YouTube clip is another cherry-picked outlier. Michelle wasn't talking about People of No Color (Whites) when she cautioned "Whitey" to "lookout." Michelle was speaking specifically to Stanley Fafara who still owed her boyfriend Barry $100 from some sort of transaction between the two of them from back in the 70's. I've got to get to work but maybe Trooper York can fill us in with the rest of the story when he finally wakes up later this morning and drags his tired bones to his computer. Rumor has it Trooper got to Capone's vault after everyone went to bed last night. http://www.geocities.com/alcus2/fafara.html

Clyde said...

We should know fairly soon whether the tape is real or the guy was just blowing smoke. Given how oblivious the preachers at TUCC have been to how their sermons sound to outsiders, it would not seem beyond the realm of possibility for Mrs. Obama to say something similar. What amazes me is that they actually recorded and sold the sermons to outsiders, tone-deaf to what the reaction would be. Sometimes you're better off not trying to make a buck...

Pastafarian said...

I don't believe it -- that Roger Stone just seems like a typical white person to me.

Trooper York said...

Sorry Meade, I don't comment on Mrs. Obama.

She scares me.

Trooper York said...

Officer Carter: Watch out with that girl, she'll cut a brother.
(Coffy, 1973)

Anonymous said...

I don't believe such a tape exists.

However, as we all know, the Repubs have been sending out operatives for the past 20 years to videotape any controversial comment of an Obama supporter or family member. They even have a secret magnetic ring that, when activated, jams the signals of any videotape that might be filming during the many respectful, inspirational, and high minded speeches that his supporters gave--hence, this cherrypicking of incendiary hate speeches.

former law student said...

That's it? "Whitey"? God, I hope Hillary never gets her hands on the Leave It to Beaver tapes.

Also, considering that John McCain was born three decades before the Civil Rights act, I wonder if he ever in his life let slip "coons," "spooks," "jigaboos," "porch monkeys" etc. That's a lot of years from which to cherry-pick a few ill-chosen words. Perhaps Obama could round up his own Aircraft Carrier Veterans for Truth.

michael farris said...

I strongly doubt it exists. And the latest claims, that she was on a panel with Farrakhan should be easy to fact check.

If (very big if) it did exist:

If the Clintons had it, it either would have been released already or (more likely) used in backroom negotiations.

If the Republicans have it, they'll wait till he gets the nomination and then turn it over to their proxy propogandists.

vnjagvet said...

No cellphone cameras or youtube then FLS. No sound either.

It ain't going to happen.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

No cellphone cameras or youtube then FLS. No sound either.

Wow, I know McCain is older than dirt, but I think that there were talkies around in his younger days.

I doubt that such a tape about M Obama exists too. But if it did...holy cow, what a bad lapse in judgement by the Democrats to choose Obama without any background checking.

vnjagvet said...

Good point, DBQ. I meant sound home movies. Videotapes weren't around until the late '70s. When McCain the age suggested by FLS's comment, it is unlikely that he was captured on some candid camera or microphone uttering such ancient terms for our fellow citizens of African descent.

Trooper York said...

Well there is a Matthew Brady daguerreotype of McCain giving the finger to some contrabands during the Battle of Murfressboro. Does that count?

Anonymous said...

So is this a vaporbomb?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Maybe we could get some lip readers to view some old 8mm films of John McCain saying bad things about black people or picking his nose or something. ;-D We have some old films taken back in the mid 50's. I'm pretty sure I can make out the cuss words my dad is saying as we filmed him falling into the Sacramento River.

Seriously, though. Whatever would posses the people at Trinity Church to film and then PUBLISH the hateful and racists speeches that they had made. Did they never think how these things would sound to others? Maybe they just didn't care.

vnjagvet said...

Another theory is that it wasn't that unusual there. Just another Sunday rant with Jeremiah and the the gang. Nothing to see here. Move along.

John Stodder said...

Keep in mind that in the late 80s and early 90s, during the emergence of French deconstructionism-inspired political correctness, it was ruled there could be no such thing as a "black racist." To even string those two words together was regarded as a contextual error and could get you flunked out of class.

Perhaps the tape comes from that period, which means it would be okay and not damaging.

P.S. My proof that the tape doesn't exist is the fact that Obama's campaign has not done anything of a prophylactic nature to disperse its impact. That campaign is always ahead of the bad news. There's no way they would sit on something potentially damaging like this for, say, a year, and then when it finally comes out begin making a series of implausible explanations that make the candidate seem stupid, dishonest and unprepared, followed by a speech injected with "eloquence" steroids to win media kudos, which includes a statement of something he could no more do than disassociate himself from his grandmother, which he then proceeds to do a few weeks later. Nah, that couldn't happen in a well-oiled machine like the Obama campaign. They're really good on the Internet!

vnjagvet said...

Larry Johnson was the guy who blogged that Karl Rove had been indicted by Fitzgerald in the Plame case.

Vapor indeed. Be warned. Don't get behind Larry when he is walking down the street. Some of that vapor may "accidentally" escape.

TMink said...

Maguro wrote: "Of course there is no tape."

Wow, you certainly want that to be true, don't you. If there is such a tape, it will kill Obama's chances, won' it?

And if it exists, and she is a racist, it should tank Obama's campaign. We have no place for bigots in the White House.

Trey

J said...

"Sidenote - Teddy Kennedy goes into brain surgery today at Duke. Let's all wish the old reprobate is helped by the operation."

It would be fascinating if, against all odds, they were able to cure him, and he returned to the senate with the views of, say, Barry Goldwater.

vbspurs said...

When I wrote that blogpost on Reverend Wright's NAACP fiasco, I had included this paragraph.

His negation that black people are not different (which, he suggests, is whitey short-hand for "deficient" -- a topic he touched on in the Moyers interview), and then going into a long discourse on how genetically superior black people are, was just for starters.

Since Michelle Malkin linked to the post, I got more than my usual share of emails about it -- at least two of them chastising me for using the word "whitey".

I didn't understand, because (a) I didn't refer to myself or others as whitey (b) the point is strained when you think of many black people who use the n-word to describe themselves or other black people.

Re: Michelle Obama's whitey slur.

It depends on how Mrs. Obama used this word. If it was a selective reference like mine, I'll give her a pass.

But if she directly referred to white people as whitey, and there is video on that, this will make the Wright controversy look like a Peanuts cartoon.

Cheers,
Victoria

former law student said...

Looking for references to this video, I came across what I will call the Jolly Swagman explanation, should the video ever surface:

Q: What was the name of the Jolly Swagman in the song, "Waltzing Matilda"?

A: Andy... just listen:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Along came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".


"Andy sang... Andy sang"

Anyhow, in the alleged explanation for this fictitious tape, Michelle O, asking rhetorical questions about W., said, "Why'd he (Bush) do this and do that?" Supposedly, "Why'd he" sounded like "Whitey" did this and "Whitey did that."

Jim said...

Anyhow, in the alleged explanation for this fictitious tape, Michelle O, asking rhetorical questions about W., said, "Why'd he (Bush) do this and do that?" Supposedly, "Why'd he" sounded like "Whitey" did this and "Whitey did that."

IF this tape exists -- and it may well not -- it is likely that it will be clear whether Michelle Obama said "Whitey" or "Why'd he" by considering the next word.

If the next word is "DID" or another word in the past tense, then she was saying "Whitey DID that," not "Why'd he DID that."

But if the next word is "DO" or another word in the present tense, then she was saying "Why'd he DO that?"

It is unlikely that there will be any ambiguity.

Jim Lindgren

John Stodder said...

I guess it's plausible to think a Republican candidate other than McCain has it and is sitting on it, and that Clinton loyalists like Larry Johnson are trying to smoke it out now, to benefit HRC. It's not on YouTube because it's not something everyone has, just this one ex-candidate.

However, given that scenario, it's just as easy to think it's a made-up lie to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt. You can impute any degree of dastardliness to Republicans and be believed. Combine your theory with the word "October" and you've got a book deal, a lecture tour and an HBO movie.

Methadras said...

If this tape is real, then the best thing to do is sit on it until the last 2 or so months of the general election and let it play 24/7. Then we will see the true measure of hope and change.

Automatic_Wing said...

Wow, you certainly want that to be true, don't you. If there is such a tape, it will kill Obama's chances, won' it?

No, I'm not a Barry fan and it would be fine with me if the tape proved to be real.

There are two reasons why I think it doesn't exist: 1) Rumor comes from Larry Johnson, who is about as full of shit as they come and is a Hillary supporter to boot 2) If it existed it would have surfaced by now. It's too hard to keep something like that under wraps these days.

Revenant said...

Also, considering that John McCain was born three decades before the Civil Rights act, I wonder if he ever in his life let slip "coons," "spooks," "jigaboos," "porch monkeys" etc.

He used to use the word "gooks" all the time, supposedly.

But you're falling into the trap of equating anti-black slurs with anti-white slurs. They might be *morally* equivalent, but they aren't politically equivalent. Swing voters are almost uniformly white (the various non-white ethnicities are firmly affiliated with one party or the other). That means that anti-white bigotry is a much bigger problem for a candidate than anti-black bigotry is.

Simply put, if you had two otherwise-equal candidates, one of whom openly hated white people and the other of whom openly hated NON-white people, the latter would win in a landslide.

Revenant said...

I guess it's plausible to think a Republican candidate other than McCain has it and is sitting on it, and that Clinton loyalists like Larry Johnson are trying to smoke it out now, to benefit HRC. It's not on YouTube because it's not something everyone has, just this one ex-candidate.

It could also be the case that Hillary didn't get her hands on it until after Obama was already considered to have "won" the nomination, as has been the case for the past month or two. Crippling Obama at that point, in a manner which could be tied back to her campaign, would ruin the Democratic party for the 2008 election. At this point, neither Clinton nor McCain have much of anything to gain by releasing the tape. For McCain it is too early; for Hillary it is too late.

As for the idea that it would have come out by now if it existed, Bush's DUI conviction stayed under wraps until the week before the 2000 election.

vbspurs said...

Anyhow, in the alleged explanation for this fictitious tape, Michelle O, asking rhetorical questions about W., said, "Why'd he (Bush) do this and do that?" Supposedly, "Why'd he" sounded like "Whitey" did this and "Whitey did that."

I hope, for the sake of America, FLS, that your version is the correct one.

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

But if she did say "whitey" publicly, she's not fit to be First Lady of the United States in the 21st century.

Cheers,
Victoria

Automatic_Wing said...

It could also be the case that Hillary didn't get her hands on it until after Obama was already considered to have "won" the nomination, as has been the case for the past month or two.

Yeah, he is considered to have "won" the nomination but he hasn't actually won the nomination. The supers can still change their minds.

Crippling Obama at that point, in a manner which could be tied back to her campaign, would ruin the Democratic party for the 2008 election.

The video could easily be emailed to FNC or the Wash Times anonymously and blamed on the mean old Republicans. No problem. And Hillary doesn't give a damn about the Democratic party and never did.

for Hillary it is too late.

No, it's not. If this alleged "tape" aired tonight on FNC, Hillary would likely win the nomination.

We have been down this road with LJ before. His breathless claims that Rove would be indicted for Plamegate any day now are the stuff of legend. His insider tips are to be treated not with grains of salt but with barrels of the stuff.

Thorley Winston said...

Anyhow, in the alleged explanation for this fictitious tape, Michelle O, asking rhetorical questions about W., said, "Why'd he (Bush) do this and do that?" Supposedly, "Why'd he" sounded like "Whitey" did this and "Whitey did that."

You mean sort of like how when then Governor Bush said “rarely is the question asked is . . . are children learning” and it morphed into “is our children learning?”

Revenant said...

No, it's not. If this alleged "tape" aired tonight on FNC, Hillary would likely win the nomination.

I doubt it. Obama's good friend and personal spiritual adviser said a lot worse for a lot longer, and Democrats still picked him over Hillary. Michelle is his wife and the mother of his children, and people respect marital loyalty. A tape of her saying nasty things won't turn Democrats against him either.

It might convince superdelegates that Obama can't win. But it is too late now for superdelegates to switch from Obama to Hillary without alienating the millions of black Democrats who have rallied behind Obama on the basis of his skin color.

Automatic_Wing said...

Maybe the supers would switch, maybe not. It really doesn't matter since the tape is just a figment of Larry Johnson's imagination. But I continue to believe that if Hillary had such a tape she would use it, even at this late date.

Robguy said...

I can't believe anyone is stupid enough to look to Fox Entertainment for credible news. They do a great job putting on rubgy games and sleazy dramas but they really aren't "news".

jeff said...

Larry Johnson is an idiot.

Should the Aircraft Carrier Veterans for Truth emerge, the standard is they must have either been in the cockpit or cell with him. Just being in the squadron or prison camp doesn't count. Although I will be very interested in how many of McCain's fellow veterans are opposed to him being president based on their experience and his actions in Viet Nam. I am guessing that list will be very very short.

Rocker 419 said...

Talking about this video without it being released only hurts McCain in the end. If theres a video, show it. If not, shut up.

Dan 10Things said...

It obviously doesn't exist or we'd have seen in by now. No one would sit on it, especially Hillary when she was at her most desperate, to think otherwise is quite naive, especially given the source of the rumor. Personally, I could care less what someone's preacher or wife said anyway, I'm voting for Obama, not his wife. America can't afford 4 more years of Republicans, who despite saying they are about fiscal responsibility and smaller government, have given us the biggest and most expensive government in U.S. history.