The Mysterious "Whitey" Tape Probably Doesn't Exist

Jim Geraghty has been skeptical of the stories of the rumored Michelle Obama "Whitey" since the beginning, and today points out the similarity of the rumor to a story in a book written in 2006. You can read that here.

He also adds this:

Why is a conservative blogger putting this much effort into dispelling a rumor that, on paper at least, would hurt Obama? Because those who prefer a president besides Obama should not go through the summer and fall convinced that a magic-bullet devastating tape is going to appear as an October surprise to save the day.

Also, there are a lot of good reasons to vote against Barack Obama; but what people claim Michelle Obama says on a tape that no one can produce and no one has seen isn't one of them.

Good point.

UPDATE: Another update from No Quarter doesn't really shed much more light on the issue. Still no tape and just a bunch of "friend of a friend of a friend saw the tape" kind of stuff.

So, where do I come down on all this? I think there's a better than even chance that such a tape exists, but we won't see it until September at the earliest. Certainly, if it's held by a Republican there won't be any benefit to revealing the information until Obama is confirmed as the nominee in August. I hope the tape exists - it will certainly make the race entertaining for awhile when it comes out.