I’ve Heard it Say Via a Good Friend, of a Friend, of a Friend, of a…
Larry Johnson admits that he still hasn’t watched the video he and others have been talking about for days already, but that he believes it’s “stunning” nonetheless. He says that Republican sources who watched the video told him that two people are featured in the video; Louis Farrakhan and Michelle Obama (as part of a panel at Jeremiah Wright’s Church). The two are talking when suddenly…
Michelle makes her intemperate remarks.
Johnson adds:
Barack may have quit his church but his religious problems are not over. Barack Obama has a Nation of Islam problem that will receive more attention in the coming days. Before Barack came on the scene, THE MAN in his political district was Louis Farrakhan. No one could take Alice Palmer’s seat without Farrakhan’s blessing. No one. I do not fault Barack Obama for seeking out the blessing of Farrakhan, but the story of what was done behind the scenes to get rid of Barack’s predecessor—Alice Palmer—has not been told. A knowledgeable source tells me that Tony Rezko played a direct role in this feat. And Rezko has been tight with Farrakhan.
It also should come as no surprise that Barack hired two members of the Nation of Islam to work on his staff—Jennifer Mason and Cynthia K. Miller. (And no, I am not merely recycling info initially reported by Debbie Schlussel. I have two independent Chicago sources for this info.) If Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger had kept their yaps buttoned none of this would mean much. But the fact that both men have been—until scrubbed from the website in recent weeks—listed as spiritual advisors to Barack Obama and also are very close to Louis Farrakhan, forces the question about Barack’s faith and beliefs.
In probing those matters we begin to understand that the Nation of Islam has been a critical component of Barack Obama’s base of support. And, I am told, Louis Farrakhan has been careful to use Tony Rezko as the intermediary in his relationship with Barack. This is not guilt by association, this is guilt because of actual relationship.
Yeah. Damning alright. Stunning. Destroy Obama’s chances!
But where’s the darn video Larry? If so many people have watched it, why don’t you own a copy of it by now? Or why doesn’t anybody go public?
Right.
I was already critical, cynical even, but I’m only becoming more critical now. I’m not yet willing to say that there’s no video – how can I know – but I’m 80% convinced there’s not.
We’ll see.
As aside, the fact that Johnson says that Farrakhan appears in the video as well, raises my suspicions even more. Basically, if you’re Hillary Clinton or a Republican, this is too good to be true. And in politics, when something is too good to be true, it always is.
UPDATE by Jason: Johnson’s credibility gap is growing as a consequence of counter-rumors from the Booman Tribune asserting a much more grammatically likely scenario — that Michelle Obama was saying “why’d he” (“why did he”) rather than “whitey”.
Since if the Booman interpretation is correct, there was plenty to criticize about the substance of Michelle Obama’s remarks (much of what she slams the administration for not doing are items outside the legitimate purview of the federal government), the fixation on a manufactured allegation of “whitey” highlights a continuing problem among Obama’s critics. Alas, this looks to be just another broadside in the growing list of substance-free garbage that Obama critics still find themselves unable to transcend. If presidential elections really are to turn on such manufactured scandals instead of real criticisms of candidates’ actual platforms, then “cynicism” may indeed be the best that we deserve.
Johnson is such a tease.
Just a thought: If no such tape could exist (i.e. because Michelle Obama never sat on such and panel and never said any such thing), wouldn’t we have heard from team Obama already? They haven’t been sy about screaming bloody murder in the past.
Larry Johnson didn’t "admit" anything. He reported, in straightforward fashion, what he had learned. Unlike most of these dunces that call themselves reporters, he didn’t make shit up–he said what he knew, and what he did not know. He told us what he had HEARD. And he told us from where he got it. Not a simple, Couric-like "some sources say"–he said they were Republicans, not Democrats, who were talking about this with him. He didn’t try to hide anything, or "admit" anything. Starting out with that line of bullshit tells us exactly what your perspective is–you’re hardly impartial, indeed, you could be called, quite reasonably, an Obama Shill.
Roger Stone, the rightwing nitwit and dirty trickster, the guy behind the screwing of Dan Rather with real documents, warped beyond recognition, and the individual who told the media that Elliot Spitzer was trafficking in escorts months before it was publicly revealed, has said this tape EXISTS. Now, you may not like that source, but that bum has a very long and pretty scary track record of being CORRECT when he says something.
Of course, the way Team Obama handles this is to get a whole load of "followers" out there on the internet to make fun of the messenger. Well, that won’t change facts. The derision against Johnson is almost pathological. And the refutation of the TRANSCRIPT of this "hoax" tape (Why’d he, as opposed to Whitey) borders on hysteria–why is Team Obama refuting the CONTEXT of the words of a tape they say does not exist?
Hmmmmm. The energy spent in attempting to debunk this story, accompanied by a half dozen "explanations," from "no tape" to "Why’d he" suggests that there IS a tape, of a panel discussion in a public setting, Michelle and Louis are on it, and they’re pissed.
How are they going to mitigate this when the tape does come out in October, and it’s too late? Will they blame "Whitey" for not wanting to vote for a guy who uses his wife and Antonin Rezko as cut-outs to cement his relationship with the vote-getting Farrakhan?
A vote for Obama in the primary is a vote for McCain in the general. Obama may be the nominee, but he’ll NEVER be the President. He will be beaten soundly, roundly, and sideways, like a rented mule.
He’s a shitty "first." He doesn’t have the political and life experience, the political background, the clean political hands, or the spouse that doesn’t look perpetually angered, like she wants to shoot you and leave you for dead, to make the gig work. What he does have is a sleazy lobbyist running his campaign, a bucketload of questionable associates, connections with the nuclear power, coal and defense industries, a willingness to steal ideas and credit from others, and an inability to speak extemporaneously that is masked by an astounding talent when the teleprompter is working. We do NOT "deserve" him–we deserve a QUALIFIED President for a change.