Michelle Obama Controversy (Updated)
There are rumors of a major controversy surrounding Michelle Obama. A network is believed to have a tape of her making anti-white comments.
There’s a major buzz in the blogosphere: according to Fox News and other networks and newspapers, there’s a major rumor out there that could very well destroy Barack Obama’s chances of winning the general election in November (or at least severely hurt his chances). According to this rumor, at least one of the American networks has a tape in its possession on which Michelle Obama, Barack’s wife, can be heard making “outrageous, at best” comments about white people during an appearance at Trinity Church, Chicago.
Again according to this rumor, she also refers to white people as “whiteys” on the tap, which is a derogatory and racist term some black supremacists use for white folks.
The main question that needs to be answered right now is whether it’s true or not. Larry Johnson believes that the rumor is true and adds that “people who have seen the videotape say it’s stunning.” He even seems to imply that he owns a copy of the tape or that he has at least seen it. He says that he will post “the news” today, at 9AM. One wonders whether “the news” is simply more rumors, or whether “the news” is the actual tape.
At this moment, it’s not more than a rumor… and it should be treated as such. Some may dismiss the news out of hand, but it seems to me that honest bloggers should simply report the rumor, point out that this is exactly what it is (a rumor), and wait for things to happen.
Here is a video of Fox News:
In other words, it may be a lie, others believe it most certainly to be true. Then again, all those who have commented on the rumor thus far have vested interests. Obama’s campaign and his supporters obviously automatically assume that no such tape exists, whereas Clinton supporters and Republicans are all too happy to believe that the rumor is for real.
On the other hand, there are also Republicans who hope that the tape does either not exist, or will only be published later this year: “I, for one, do not want this tape out there just yet. Hillary would be tough to beat in November….but not Obama.”
Another question is who’s work this (rumor and possibly tape) is. According to Larry Johnson and others, Republican operatives have found a copy of the tape. More precisely; according to them, Karl Rove owns a copy of it. Then again, others argue that this isn’t the Republicans at work, but the Clinton campaign. That last theory makes much more sense to me, for Republicans would not use the tape now; they would wait until October. No, if Clinton still wants the nomination she has to, in one way or another, completely destroy Barack’s image. A tape may just accomplish that. Or, at least, Clinton may hope that it will.
Again it has to be pointed out; take this all with a grain of salt. It could be for real, it could also be a false rumor. Lord knows that the Clinton campaign and her supporters are probably quite desperate.
And if the tape exists, it could be hot, but it could also be reasonably cold (thus overhyped). There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ involved here, it’s important to keep that in mind.
[UPDATE-CLAUDIA]: Well, the time has arrived for Larry Johnson to update his anxious readers about the video, and so far all he has up is a post (which I will not dignify by linking) that says that HE’S heard from people who say that THEY know people who have seen the tape and find it STUNNING! Larry says that his contacts said that their contacts said that the tape includes Michelle in a rant against whitey while sitting on a panel with Louis Farrakhan at Wrights church. My favorite comment on that thread:
Wow. Those sure are “new and dramatic developments”, Larry. Are you sure it’s just Michelle and Farrakhan on stage at Trinity? I heard from MY unnamed republican sources that the guest list also included Bill Ayes, O.J. and Ahmadinejad too. Oh, and a cryogenically frozen Huey Newton burning an effigy of Geraldine Ferraro while stomping on the 19th amendment. That’s the rumor, at least. Pass it on!
Meanwhile, some people have come up with another possible explanation.
More like a great big heaping of salt. There are a couple reasons I find this story doubtful:
- Fox news has reported on it, but at this point it’s merely hearsay. The main source of the rumor is a guy who, by his own admission, hasn’t seen the tape. At this point there is no supporting evidence of the tape.
- If the Clinton campaign has it, unless they JUST got hold of it, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t have released it earlier. The very best time to have released it would have been just as the Wright scandal was dying down. Releasing it now, when the nomination is basically lost, makes little sense. Again, if they only JUST obtained the tape these past few days, then I suppose it could make sense, but then they would have to release it inmediately.
- If it’s in the hands of Republicans there are two options:
1. The video is damaging enough to destroy Obama’s chances. If that’s the case, releasing it now would be extremely foolish. There’s a reason the term "October surprise" was coined.
2. The video is damaging, but not neccesarily deadly. In that case they might just release it soon. Why? Because it’s in the GOPs interest to have the Dems unstable for as long as possible, without a clear candidate to rally behind, and this could prolong that process. Unlike you I’m not going to predicate on the basis that the GOP would rather face one candidate or the other (personally I think they’d rather confront Clinton, but the argument can be made regardless) but that what really interests them is instability in the other party.
- Whitey? Unless it was used with quotation marks in between, I find it hard to believe Michelle Obama would use that term, even if I were to believe she held prejudiced views. It’s an old term and not really something I’ve ever seen used out loud. For derogatory, "cracker" would make a lot more sense.
- Michelle is the wife of a politician, and has been so for quite some time. Of course people make really stupid mistakes, but unless the video is very old, I’d find it odd that Barack would allow Michelle to make those kinds of remark on camera, when they’d be sure to be used against him eventually.
Generally speaking though, my main reason for doubt is that there is exactly zero evidence that such a tape exists, at this point. Personally I’d be inclined to believe that it either doesn’t exist OR that it does but it’s inflamatory nature has been exagerated to a huge degree.
In any event it’s quite an education. I went over to No Quarter and was amazed to see that Clinton supporters, people who want the woman who coined "Vast Rightwing consipracy" to be elected, are now profusely praising Fox news and rightwing echo chambers who are giving voice to the rumor.
A nod of thanks for thie link.
"…it seems to me that honest bloggers should simply report the rumor…"
Thanks for clarifying what your standards and prinicples are.
From the way it’s being hyped, it sure doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of ‘there’ there. All along, Hillary’s camp has tried to insinuate things about Obama being unelectable, with a whisper campaign- this seems like the dying gasp of that strategy.
Mind you, I wouldn’t be unhappy to be proven wrong. It would be fun to see the contortions on the left about how this isn’t a real "Macaca" moment for Obama. Suddenly context would be very important to consider, and we’d be chided to focus on issues rather than distractions.
Personally I try to follow the "Drudge Rule" for unevidenced allegations presented as "breaking stories." Report the rumor, maybe, but ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS prominently caution that it is UNVERIFIED and UNEVIDENCED at the time of posting. Do as you would be done by. If verification and/or evidence does not surface within 48 hours of the story initially hitting open mention, odds are roughly 4 out of 5 that no verification or evidence will ever be forthcoming.
Someone’s unsupported word is not evidence. Someone else’s unsupported word is not verification.
Exactly Tully. Which was and is our approach with this rumor. Obamites, of course, want everyone to ignore the rumor altogether or to dismiss it as false without leaving open the option that it could be for real, but that’s not good reporting.
Why do people jump to the conclusion that somehow the Clintons are behind this? Obama has been treated with kid gloves in this campaign. The only way racism came into the campaign was caused by his church. If Hillary Clinton had attended a church like Obama’s that spewed out hatred and venum she would have been run out of the campaign. One thing you should remember. Whether you like Bill Clinton or not, since FDR was elected to his fourth term in 1944 ther is only one Democrat who has been elected twice……Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton has fought a great campaign against the left wing democrats, right wing republicans and the media. She has got more guts and enthusiasm than anybody else who has been in this campaign.
Steely
Steely, all of that, even if true (and I disagree on some points) lends exactly zero evidence to the rumor. The fact that I dislike Bush and think he’s messed up almost everything he’s touched does not lend any credibility to an assertion that he’s a pedophile.
Michael, I suggest you go over to the rumor thread on that pro-Clinton site. Maybe you will return finally understanding that one-sided insanity is very much NOT the sole realm of Obama supporters, and that unadultered ugly hatred and willingness to believe ANYTHING bad about an opponent infects any political following. Or you could simply deny that it’s the case and continue to soley go after Obama and his supporters, you’re call.
Could be true, but at this point, it’s more likely someone spreading FUD to try and scare the supers.
I should add that when you start chasing a story, if it pans out differently than initially presented you should ALSO prominently mention THAT if you treasure professionalism and the facts and aren’t just pumping partisan wingbot smears out into the ’sphere. In my chasing down of original WW2 source documentation of the "Obama’s uncle" story last week, I posted the results as I found them from checking actual period source documents, and when I tracked down the final linkages and proved (to MY satisfaction) that the confusion was the result of a records inconsistency due to a middle-initial discrepancy in the records, I said so immediately and showed the linkages that made the connection. When you find the truth, state the truth.
There’s plenty of material to use on the candidates on both sides without making stuff up. If you’re an honest observer use the real, not the fake. When you find the fake being used or your own research shows the story is wrong, expose it and say so, regardless of what side you consider yourself to be on.
Tully, I personally heard about the rumor before Michael posted it. I chose not to write about it since it lacked (and continues to lack) any supporting evidence. Personally, I wouldn’t have written about it, but each blogger here has their own criteria, I suppose.
Claudia I also heard it earlier and chose not to write about it for the very same reasons you express.
I am getting a big chuckle out of watching the burden-of-proof standards rapidly shift in certain quarters, and I’m not speaking of here. Watching cheerleaders try to rationalize double standards is alwas good clean fun.
Folks,
This tape wont see the light of day because it is false and is only used as a wisper campaign (i.e "Muslim smear, not patriotic, Larry Sinclair, etc). This is more like the Mickey Cantor doctored video than anything else.
After looking through every freakin blog and MSM site, here are some reason why I state my points:
1. Geraldo was the first to run the story on Fox news. I went to Fox website (had to wash my hands afterwards) and saw absolutely nothing throughout their site on the story.
2. I went to the MSM’s and saw nothing as well
3. Went to the blogs and other than the guy thats the talking about the video and no one has any evidence of a tape that supposedly has been out there for over 14 days
4. This video was supposed to be released at 9am-its 1:45 and not only no sign of a tape but not even an update on the anti Obama site that says they have the tape.
Now lets, for argument’s sake say a tape did exist…here’s some more problems with the authenticity
1. The term Whitey-is a 60’s and 70’s term. In addition, it doent even fit the context of the topics that Michelle is even talking about "whitey put us in Iraq…" From what is known, she was asked about the Bush administration, if thats the case then why reference a whole group of people when the question required a direct response about a critique of the Bush Administration?
2. Grammatical Errors all over the place:
If we state there is a tape ok. And if she said those things fine. But here’s the problem, none of her responses are grammatically correct. For example:
Whitie let New Orleans drown?
Whitie do nothing about Jena?
Lol! Does this even make sense? Dont worry about the "whitey" spelling as much as sentence structure. Remeber its the term (whitey) not the sentence format thats in question. Point is, thats the most ignorant language I’ve seen. Now my 3 yr old son speaks better than that. If thats the case, then could you realistically seen M.O. speaking like this? I’ll let you make your own judgement.
3. Timing of the rumor…
Interesting that this rumor comes out before the last two primaries. It’s also interesting that it comes from someone that is anti Obama and pro Clinton. I think this is a rumor to keep the superdelegates from committing tomorrow night thats why this rumour , which has been out there for weeks so conveintly picked up speed now.
4. Timing again…
The last and most important thing that dosent make sense is the following: The time frame in which the video is said to have taken place. The purported video is to have stated she talks about Iraq, New Orleans, and Jena. Here’s the problems I have. Obama was in the Illinois Senate at the time of Iraq. He was a State Senator at the time of NO and Jena. In addition, and whats most striking, is that he was a Presidential cadidate during the majority of the Jena episode. My point is they were already in the spotlight, so I cant even see M.O. stating any of this.
Like I said before, this is a Mickey Cantor situation folks and treat it as such. Fox is on the verge of losing its FCC license and the fact that they arent running this story after "breaking it" last night tells me that there isnt anything here that they want to risk.
Some may argue, why hasnt the Obama campaign come out against it? Why should they is my answer? To do so is to open a can of worms and start a un necessary news story prior to tomorrow’s Primary.
Not gonna lie, I was worried too at first, but now in putting all the pieces together im ok. Hope this helps
Peace
L-Mani
That’s only if it’s against Obama, you’ll never find Michael doing a post that may be fact or rumor against Clinton.At anyrate, this goes along with Clinton’s sayings – after all she’s the one that can get whitey’s vote right? isn’t that what she’s saying?
It is likely from Michelle Obama’s past comments that she has racist and unpatriotic leanings. If video comes out that shows her using the word "whitey" or other racist epithets, then Whites would be stupid to vote for her. What kind of masochistic electorate would elect white-haters into office? It is apparent, just from reading "Dreams of My Father" that Obama too has issues with Whites and disdain for his Caucasian ancestry. I am a liberal Democrat and would be glad to vote for a Black Candidate but one who has better qualifications, less baggage and without racist leanings. In the meantime McCain seems to be the only safe choice.
Absolutely, if she is in fact racist (which is entirely unproven) it would be a big mistake to vote for her. Fortunately, she’s not running for president, HER HUSBAND IS.
I see the matter rather differently. I see the fact that every possible attack is made on the people around Obama as a sign that they can’t seem to find much on the man himself. If you’re a liberal Democrat and you would rather vote for a man who stands against all your policy positions simply because you are deathly afraid that Obama is a deeply closeted racist, then I’m afraid I can’t help you, since I’m not a medical psychiatrist.
From what little is known about the purported tape, I suspect that *IF* it exists, Jazz Shaw may have nailed the crux of it. Another reason not to leap to conclusions.
Tully, you’ll note that that exact post was linked in the update
This story has been debunk. NPR went to the source and got a waffle answers. The blogger who started it as a whisper campaign, for the Clinton’s.
SHE SAID, "WHY’D HE"…TALKING ABOUT BUSH…NOT "WHITEY"
Like my grannie said – they can’t quote you on what you DONT say – michelle should have kept her mouth SHUT – fox is very reputable – if they are saying it exists it DOES -
If this tape does exist I will be very disappointed. I am a black man and would love to see someone who looks like me become the president. However, if she made these statements in public and they still chose to run this campagin then I am pissed.
It has already set back race relations and opened up a side of black life that I don’t believe white people deserved to see. The United States of America will never be united until what was done to those African slaves is addressed. No, you as a white person are not to blame for what happened hundreds of years ago and it would be stupid to say that. However, you have continued to reap the benefits of the those actions hundreds of years later. 45 years of being able to vote and "affirmative" action can not undue the purposeful destruction of a people. So we need to have a real discussion.
There are reasons why this whole story is so easy to believe. I bet more than a few Obama supporters would NOT be supprised if this was true. You have to ask yourself why that is. Is it because of some conspiricy or because of other things she has said?
4coles, let’s talk. I am a working class white man and I don’t feel I have reaped the benefits of slavery or Jim Crow. That does not mean I wish to minimize your experiences. I’m just saying my life ain’t been no bed of roses either. I maintain the schism between working class whites and their counterparts in the African American community is one manufactured for greed and political power. Basically we all face the same meat and potato issues and, I would like to think, I have much more in common with a black guy whose background is similar to mine than I do with Donald Trump.
it doesn’t prove anything however you do not belong to a church for as long as they did and not believe in its teachings. They are both racisit and want to blame white people for all thier problems. When the answer is; become educated, marry your babies mama, start taking responsibility for your own actions.
The upshot of the entire thread? People will believe what they want to believe, regardless of trifling things like evidence. Obama is a racist, it matters not that he’s half white, that he was raised by white people and that virtually every aspect of his life denotes his attitude. He’s racist because….because if he’s NOT racist then I have to look inside MYSELF at why he makes me soooo uncomfortable. Nooo it’s not me, it’s him!
admin: personal attacks = deletion
Sheesh… stereotype much, usa?
It’s depressing that anybody continues to give any prominence or attention to an utterly unsubstantiated RUMOR. There’s truly nothing worth talking about until some videotape is actually produced. Until then, I assume and act as if it doesn’t exist, and nobody is served well (except the malicious cause of those who started the rumor) by continuing to discuss it or use it as the basis for any discusion.
oh this tape exist!!! she said this at the 2004 rainbow coalition, it was just radical women…and barack was not senator or on the national spotlight yet…she got caught in the moment…this is what she said…."once again the white man keeps us down, whats up with whitey, why’d he attack iraq, why’d he let katrina happen, why’d he leave milllion of children behind. This is the legacy the white man gives us" were saving it….its over
THE TAPE HAS COME OUT PEOPLE!!! IT’S ON YOUTUBE!!!!!!! IT’S WORSE THAN PEOPLE THOUGHT!!!!
either search f5fKvAyvH5o or click my name above!
You’ll want to remove Kathy Simmons post.