Jun 03 2008
Backtracking: The Obama “whitey” tape
For a few weeks now I have been hearing rumors of this alleged tape in which Michelle Obama uses the term “whitey” in reference to white people. Within the last two days the story really took off, and began to heat up the internet, and even the news media. At this point the rumor itself became the story, which I began to write about.
There is so much conflicting information out there I decided to back track in an effort to see if I could get to the bottom of it.
The allegations of the existence of a tape first surfaced on May 16, 2008, at No Quarter, a blog written by Larry C. Johnson – an avid Hillary Clinton supporter. On that date he wrote, in part, the following:
May 16, at 1:43 p.m.
Will Barak throw Mama from the train?
“I now have it from two three four sources (three who are close to senior-Republicans) that there is video dynamite–Michelle Obama railing against “whitey” at Jeremiah Wright’s church.
Someone took the chance and started reviewing the recordings from services at Jeremiah Wright’s United Church of Christ. Holy smoke!! I am told there is a clip that is being held for the fall to drop at the appropriate time.
Republicans, who are otherwise gloomy about prospects in November, recognize that this recording will create real problems for Barack and give them a shot at the White House. It is their October surprise.”
To be clear, according to Johnson he has heard from 4 source, 3 who are close to Senior Republicans, that this video exists, and that the Republicans are holding it for an “October Surprise.” This is important, so remember this.
The next day he claims that a Republican Billionaire will pay one billion dollars for this video. The motive behind this unnamed republican billionaires offer? He hates John McCain. He names Sheldon Adelson as the possible seeker.
Johnson claims he got this information from a Republican operative. He then goes on to state that “Karl Rove and his political allies control the tape,” and are using it to raise funds and this is how news of the tape got out.
He then gets more specific with his source by claiming that a “retired CIA buddy is friends with a lawyer who saw the tape,” and it’s stunning.
Who Wants to Be the Next Millionaire? [Updated]
“Here’s the news short and sweet–if you have a copy of the Michelle Obama video, in which she is lambasting white people (four different sources say she uses “whitey” as an epithet) at Jeremiah Wright’s church, then there is an ultra conservative Republican billionaire who wants to pay your $1 million dollars for the tape. Why? He hates John McCain.
I got this info courtesy of a major Republican operative. I am told that Karl Rove and his political allies control the tape where Michelle Obama has a Stokely Carmichael moment of sorts. Rove and company reportedly are showing the tape to big money Republicans to loosen up their wallets and get new money to fund independent expenditure groups. That’s why news of this is starting to leak out.
A retired CIA buddy is friends with a lawyer who saw the tape. This lawyer, who has a stellar reputation for being very low-key, described the video clip of Michelle’s anti-white rant as, “stunning.” My guess is that the billionaire who detests John McCain is probably going to find someone who will comes up with the tape. So there you have it, someone is looking for “Whitey.” If they find it they get a pay day. If not, you will have to wait till October to watch it.
UPDATED: One prime candidate for the billionaire in question is the intrepid Sheldon Adelson, “the right’s answer to George Soros,” according to Mother Jones.
Two days later, the Barack Obama responds to an ad put out by the Tennessee Republican Party, in which he claims they are attacking his wife and he will not tolerate it.
Johnson claims the real reason Obama is upset is due to this video of his wife, Michelle. He then reiterates the one million dollar bounty.
May 19, 2008 2:28 p.m.
Obama Freakout Over Michelle Video:
The Ticking “Whitey” Time Bomb
Today, on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Barack Obama lost his cool, calling names and making unspecified threats. Why? Ostensibly, it’s because the Tennessee Republican Party issued an Internet video featuring Michelle Obama saying she’s proud of being an American only because her husband is running for president.
But the real reason for Obama’s extraordinary freakout is that he fears the release of the videotape, reported here, of Michelle Obama in the pulpit of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church railing against “whitey.” And we don’t mean Whitey Ford. Four Republican sources have told me that the tape exists. I’ve also been informed that Karl Rove and his allies have a copy of it and are using it to raise funds for independent expenditure groups. The tape, I’m told, will be disclosed as the GOP October Surprise. It’s a ticking time bomb.
And I’ve learned that a right-wing Republican billionaire has put a $1 million bounty on the video. He doesn’t want John McCain to win, like a number of conservatives, and thinks Obama is a pathetically weak candidate. The billionaire wants that video released now.”
Six days later, Johnson really heats things up. He now has two sources claiming to have spoken with someone that has seen the tape. They don’t know each other, live on the opposite sides of the country, belong to different political parties, one an Obama supporter.
But now he is taking it even further. He goes on to imply that there is a SECOND tape, this one featuring Barack Obama overseas. He does not say what may be contained in it, and it is in the hands of the McCain camp.
May 26, 2008 at 1:34 p.m.
“Why I Believe the Michelle Obama Tape Exists
I have two friends. One is a Democrat and one is a Republican. One lives on the west coast and one lives on the east coast. They do not know each other. Yet each has spoken directly with someone who has seen the tape. In fact, I first heard about the tape from my east coast friend. I thought it was interesting but, without additional proof, not worth mentioning. Later that night I was chatting with a friend, who happens to be an Obama supporter, but is very well connected to the Washington political scene. That person told me he had heard the same thing. He also told me about a separate tape of Barack Obama during an overseas trip that also is in the hands of the McCain folks.
The clincher came when my buddy on the west coast wrote to me that he had a friend who had seen the tape. Given that there are two separate people, completely unconnected, giving the same report, I think it is reasonable to conclude that the tape exists. We shall see.”
Five days later, on Saturday, May 31, Johnson promises his readers a huge update Monday morning.
May 31, 2008 at 7:59 p.m.
BREAKING NEWS: Michelle’s Whitey Problem
“New and dramatic developments. This is a heads up. I’ll post the news Monday morning by 0900 hours. Now I know why people who have seen the videotape say it is stunning. Barack’s headaches are only starting.”
The next day, Johnson reports “Breaking News” claiming a TV network has the tape. He then sites a partial transcript from Geraldo on Fox News. He presents a brief statement of opinion given by Roger Stone as fact.
roger take it away. michael, you are in the wings. >> this has little to do with the general election and a lot to do with why hillary clinton is staying in the race. look, there is already a buzz in washington at least seven news organizations have contacted me. wanting to know how to get their hands on this tape, giving me more information than i had after i had spoken to each one of them. i now believe the tape exists and i believe a network has it. if this pans to out to be true based on michele obama’s previous comment that this is the first time she had been proud of her country which i think shows an attitude it is problematic.
“I Now Believe the Tape Exists”
Roger Stone, respected, hated, and always controversial Republican political knife fighter and commentator for Fox News, has given new credence to Larry Johnson’s reporting of a video of Michelle Obama making racist comments against whites.
Monday morning arrives and Johnson shares with his readers the big news they have been waiting for all weekend: Michelle Obama, sitting with Louis Farrkhan, in Trinity Church.
He states he has now spoken with five separate sources that have spoken with people who have seen the tape, yet during all of this time this juicy tidbit was not mentioned? With all the uproar about the Obama’s church, their preachers, guest preachers, etc, I find it difficult to believe this would not have been mentioned sooner. I’m not saying it’s not possible. I’m just saying I find it odd this seems to be mentioned as an aside.
June 2, 2008 at 7:43 a.m.
Michelle Obama and Louis Farrakhan Take on Whitey
I learned over the weekend why the Republicans who have seen the tape of Michelle Obama ranting about “whitey” describe it as “STUNNING.” I have not seen it but I have heard from five separate sources who have spoken directly with people who have seen the tape. It features Michelle Obama and Louis Farrakhan. They are sitting on a panel at Jeremiah Wright’s Church when Michelle makes her intemperate remarks.
NONSENSE!! He knew and he knows. And the gig will be up when the Michelle tape hits the airwaves. One source described how this tape was acquired. Let’s just say that one of the republican candidates who is no longer in the race, but had a dandy oppo research capability, uncovered this gem. If Republican poohbahs have their way the tape will remain on ice until October. But when it comes out, Barack will be permanently branded with the Nation of Islam. That’s not a winning platform in November. And Barack’s bundlers understand this threat. I also have learned some major financial backers are asking the Barack team about the tape and are being stonewalled. It is a wild card in the political campaign that has not yet played out.
The next day Johnson really puts it out there. He claims an unnamed reporter called the Obama camp and was told this was a “scurrilous lie.” He then alleges that the Obama camp then sent out, to their key bloggers and to it’s donors, a “doctored or concocted transcript of the supposedly nonexistent videotape.”
However, here he claims all sources to be Republican. Earlier he claimed one of his sources to be a Democrat Obama supporter- unless Johnson is now claiming 5 new sources, all republican- which would bring his total of sources to 10 - 1 being a democrat Obama supporter.
June 2, 2008 at 6:49 p.m.
Desperate Obama Disinformation Over Mchelle “Whitey” Video
The Obama campaign is telling reporters from major news organizations that the videotape of Michelle Obama railing against “whitey” at a panel alongside Nation of Islam maximum leader Louis Farrakhan is nothing but a “scurrilous lie,” according to one of those reporters who called for an answer.
But at the same time the Obama campaign has disseminated either a doctored or concocted transcript of the supposedly nonexistent videotape. Major Obama donors went to the campaign demanding explanations after the posting of my story on No Quarter about the contents of the videotape confirmed to me by several reliable sources, all Republicans with access to knowledge but who do not know each other.
So the campaign created a would-be transcript of the video it says doesn’t exist. In the Obama campaign produced transcript Michelle says “why’d he” instead of “whitey.” Very clever. Then the campaign sent this transcript to key Obamaton bloggers to circulate. And the campaign sent it to the donors to prevent them from having a nervous breakdown.
After reading one of my articles on this topic, a reader going by the name “Dimensio” left me the following comment.
” Following the outbreak of reports on the rumour of the existence of the video, a Fark user named “1000 Hurts” speculated that what would be presented would be a video of Michelle Obama saying “why’d he” several times and that the quality of the audio made it more or less easy to misinterpret the phrase “why’d he” as “whitey”. Note, however, that this claim was pure speculation; it was not based upon any actual known video or audio recording of Michelle Obama.
This speculation may be seen at http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3641352#c41148892
Other internet forum users began repeating the speculation on other Internet forums. Unfortunately, in so doing they reworded and restated the initial speculation when doing so and, over successive iterations, the claims have been misinterpreted as fact based upon a known (though wholly unsourced and undemonstrable) recorded speech.
I followed the link provided, and after digging through a few pages on the thread I found the following post made by a “1000 Hurts.”
yesterday, June 1, 2008. Here it is in full:
“Here’s whats gonna happen, the tape is supposedly a speech Michelle made concerning Bush et al. regarding Katrina. In it she says “Why’d he…” several times, which given the quality of the audio, sounds like “whitey”. And so will begin the great tin-foil hat of bonanza of the summer of ‘08″
I emailed this information to Mr Johnson, asking if he has seen this. He replied by stating “Yes, I saw it. Obama folks can’t make up their mind. One minute the tape doesn’t exist and the next minute they say we just did not understand poor Michelle. Pretty pathetic.”
I again emailed Mr Johnson, requesting more specific information.
Good Morning Mr Johnson. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I am curious, do you believe it possible that the alleged “doctored or concocted” transcript did in fact begin with this users “1000 Hurts” on the Fark message board? In case you did not see his post on that board, here it is in full:
“1000 Hurts” at 7:21 p.m., June 1, 2008.
“Here’s whats gonna happen, the tape is supposedly a speech Michelle made concerning Bush et al. regarding Katrina. In it she says “Why’d he…” several times, which given the quality of the audio, sounds like “whitey”. And so will begin the great tin-foil hat of bonanza of the summer of ‘08″
As you can see by the time stamp it was posted at 7:21 p.m. Sunday night. Your story was posted almost 24 hours later June 2, 6:49 p.m. Do you have any evidence to support your claim that bloggers were given a “doctored or concocted” transcript? Do you have anything that will show this transcript was released to bloggers prior to 7:21 p.m., June 1, 2008?
To which he replied, “Obama campaign sent out an email to its bloggers. That’s where this started.
LJ”
I sent another email to Mr Johnson requesting more information:Do you have a copy? I would LOVE to print it. I have to do a follow up article and would like to provide something to support your claims.
I have yet to hear from Mr Johnson.
However, is there a tape? Who knows? If there is, and it is in the hands of Republicans, it will not manifest itself until October.
I do know this, Mr Johnson’s story has contradicted itself in parts. He first has five sources – 4 republican seniors, the other a democrat. By the end of the story he has five sources, all republican.
All of his sources are unnamed, including the reporter that was allegedly told this is a “scurrilous lie.”
He claims the Obama camp sent an email to his bloggers with a “doctored or concocted transcript” yet he has produced nothing to support this claim.
Lastly, he has claimed the existence of a second tape, this one with Barack Obama overseas. The implication being this tape will damage his candidacy.
If Mr Johnson, an avid Hillary Clinton supporter, did in fact generate this story, I must say he has done a good job of going out of his way to try and distance himself, and the Clinton camp, from this, while trying to lay it at the feet of the republicans. He has used all the key words: Republican, Operative, Karl Rove. This is all any liberal will need to hear. Truth, logic and evidence is irrelevant.
Is there a tape? Will Mr Johnson be vindicated? We will find out in October if a tape surfaces. But right now, I must question Mr Johnson’s claims. In the meantime it will behoove other so think about why this story, beit true or not, gained the legs it did. If honest with self, they can only conclude that based on what is known about the Obama’s, this story is believable.
If my readers have any information they believe will shed more light on this story please share.
