Democrat Conspiracy Theories

I was checking my blogs and found this item at HillBuzz, an ardent pro-Hillary anti-Obama blog:

Does it strike anyone else as strange that the GOP has not hit Obama with anything yet?

Face it, the GOP will not control Congress after the elections this fall. It would take a complete implosion of the Democrats for the GOP to win back the House and Senate. It's not impossible, but it is highly unlikely.

The Supreme Court is firmly in GOP hands and, contrary to the liberal left, that already means Roe v. Wade could be done away with, if the GOP ever wanted to do that. They don't. Scalia, Roberts, Thomas, Alito, and Kennedy would overturn Roe if they wanted, but they don't. The SCOTUS will be in GOP hands for generations to come. And Roe v. Wade is completely safe, because if the GOP didn't overrule it when they controlled the White House, Congress, and the SCOTUS, then they are never going to overrule it.

But, the White House is up for grabs. It sets the agenda, and is an effective counter to Congress, which the GOP knows it will NOT control.

So, why isn't the GOP hitting Obama now?

It seems like they are waiting for something.

Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee, but not the actual nominee, not until Denver.

It seems to us the GOP is waiting until after the Democrats' Convention in August to begin their assault. Right now, they are allowing Obama to harm himself, with Dukakis-like photo ops like the one with his revamped Presidential Seal.

It just seems like the GOP is playing a great game of high-stakes poker. With this much to lose, it seems like they'd be out swinging already, but instead, they are being unusually sedate.

Waiting.

They've got something on Obama...something big...and they are playing a game of cat and mouse with the Democrats...waiting for them to formally nominate Obama...so they can hit him with what they've got.

I hate to burst your bubble, HillBuzz, but the GOP just isn't that smart. They're accused of all kinds of nefarious schemes, but frankly, when they've won recently it's pretty much been dumb luck or Democrat ineptitude. I wish you were right, but I have my doubts. Unless that rumored "whitey tape" actually exists and is in GOP hands somewhere, I can't imagine what they'd have that they could spring after the convention.

You are right about one thing, though. Obama is a walking gaffe-a-matic and every day brings new ways to embarrass himself. Right now he's doing the job the GOP just won't do.

Michelle Obama Pandered to Racial Paranoia

Michelle Obama's tenure at the University of Chicago Medical Center is getting some unwanted attention due to some decisions she made about vaccination programs and tests. From the New York Times:

She also altered the hospital's research agenda. When the human papillomavirus vaccine, which can prevent cervical cancer, became available, researchers proposed approaching local school principals about enlisting black teenage girls as research subjects.

Mrs. Obama stopped that. The prospect of white doctors performing a trial with black teenage girls summoned the specter of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment of the mid-20th century, when white doctors let hundreds of black men go untreated to study the disease.

"She'll talk about the elephant in the room," said Susan Sher, her boss at the hospital, where Mrs. Obama is on leave from her more-than-$300,000-a-year job.

James Taranto adds some background on Tuskegee and Michelle Obama's decision:

This isn't the first time the Tuskegee experiment has come up during the presidential campaign. In April the Obamas' then-pastor, Jeremiah Wright, explained his belief that the U.S. government had invented AIDS as a tool of genocide against black people: "Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything."

The Tuskegee outrage was real. But the notion that the Tuskegee experiment--which began in the Jim Crow era (1932) and ended in 1972, eight years after the Civil Rights Act became law--reflects the attitudes of American governmental and medical institutions today is an urban legend, a superstition--and potentially a deadly one.

The Times's account suggests that girls in Chicago were denied potentially lifesaving vaccinations because Michelle Obama pandered to racial paranoia instead of standing up for the truth. Is that why they pay her the big bucks?

Well, actually, they didn't start paying her the big bucks until her husband was elected Senator. Funny how that happened.

It's stories like this that make it easier to believe the rumored "whitey tape" might actually exist.

Michelle Gets a Makeover

Understanding that Michelle Obama has become a potential liability to Barack Obama's presidential hopes, the candidate's wife is undergoing to makeover to soften her image:

Michelle Obama's eyes flicker tentatively even as she offers a trained smile. As her campaign plane arcs over the Flathead Range in Montana, she is asked to consider her complicated public image.

Conservative columnists accuse her of being unpatriotic and say she simmers with undigested racial anger. A blogger who supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton circulates unfounded claims that Obama gave an accusatory speech in her church about the sins of "whitey." Obama shakes her head.

"You are amazed sometimes at how deep the lies can be," she says in an interview. Referring to a character in a 1970s sitcom, she adds: "I mean, 'whitey?' That's something that George Jefferson would say. Anyone who says that doesn't know me. They don't know the life I've lived. They don't know anything about me."

Now her husband's presidential campaign is giving her image a subtle makeover, with a new speech in the works to emphasize her humble roots and a tough new chief of staff. On Wednesday, Michelle Obama will do a guest turn on "The View," the daytime talk show on ABC, with an eye toward softening her reputation.

Her problems seemed hard to imagine last fall and winter. Obama, a Harvard-trained lawyer, appeared so at ease with the tactile business of campaigning and drew praise for humanizing, often with humor, a husband who could seem elusive.

Then came some rhetorical stumbles. In Madison, Wisconsin, in February, she told voters that hope was sweeping America, adding, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country." Cable news shows replayed those 15 words in an endless loop of outrage.

There's already too much information on Michelle in the public media to just make her troubles go away. Everyone will see this attempt to humanize her for what it is - a campaign ploy.

Media Tries to Spin the Rumored Michelle Obama "Whitey Tape" as a Republican Smear

I've been following the various rumors about a tape that purported to show Michelle Obama using the racial epithet "whitey" since it first broke on the blog of an ardently pro-Hillary Dem activist on May 16th. The rumor just kind of sat there until another Dem activist, Bob Beckel, kick-started the rumor during an appearance on Fox News. After this had been swirling in the blogosphere for a couple of weeks Rush Limbaugh finally mentioned something about it on his show, but didn't give it much credence. The genesis of this whole thing has been easy to follow by anyone who cared to do a little research.

The media has decided to ignore the original posting from May 16th and instead focus on Rush Limbaugh's comments and try to make him the villian for mentioning a rumor that had been circulating for days. It's clearly in the interest of the pro-Obama media to try and blame this story on conservatives rather than on its original source, and in a striking display of hypocrisy, Bob Beckel, who gave this rumor a new life on Fox News, went back on Fox News and blasted conservative bloggers for writing about the story that he promoted. He even stooped to using a racist epithet of his own in the process, calling conservatives "crackers". Here's the transcript from the Fox News appearance:

BAIER: FightTheSmears.com. Set up by the Barack Obama campaign. What about that, Bob? Do they need to do this kind of thing?

BECKEL: Well, I suppose they need to do it. But frankly, it requires voters to be civic-minded and go and check these things out. And I don’t think that many of them will. But look: The Internet has changed two things in politics substantially this year. One is money. And the other is how you deliver smears. And what has happened here, particularly against Barack Obama, whether it’s his middle name, whether it’s the fact that he’s black, purely racist and bigoted stuff that I get through my Internet mail, what’s happened is, it comes from these right-wing bloggers and then, the question is—and it gets picked up by right-wing radio talk show hosts—and then, the question is, does the mainstream media then begin to ask questions about it, which then legitimizes it, and that’s really the problem.

It’s people in your business, Bret, that have got to—you gotta not ask these questions—because what it does, when you do ask the question, it then lets the radio talk show hosts come back and say something. I got into a problem with Rush—

BAIER: I’ll say that’s a fine thing to say, however, let’s say that in this bushel of things that you get one that really is true?

BECKEL: If you’ve got some evidence, that’s fine. But these guys don’t have any evidence. This story that they ran about Michelle Obama, which by the way, I got in some trouble on by trying to cut it off and, and Rush Limbaugh got on the radio and said, ‘Well, Bob Beckel mentioned it’—I did not mention it. I said that there were smears coming around, one of them had to do with Barack Obama, and that gave Limbaugh the chance to say it all over again. Look, that is a not true story. You wouldn’t go with that story without some evidence…

BAIER: No, of course not. But my point is, is that they’ll paint a big brush here, and perhaps in the mix, there may be something a reporter may be afraid to go after, uh, that there would be some truth—

BECKEL: Well, I’ll tell ya what. Let these crackers and right-wingers prove it before they put it, before they come out…

Those are some fine supporters you have there, Barack.

Obama's New Rumor Website

The Obamessiah's campaign has set up a website designed as a one-stop everything you wanted to know about Obama rumors in one place portal. It's called Fight the Smears and the URL is fightthesmears.com. The first item deals with the Michelle Obama "Whitey" tape:
In yet another act straight from the amateur hour, the Obama campaign forgot to reserve the URL fightthesmears.org, and it took some wag about 2 minutes to put up a parody site. Here's how they handed that first item:
Too funny. The Obama campaign is not ready for the big time. In addition, their new website will just give everyone a place to go to enjoy all the latest rumors.

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.

Obama Questioned About "Whitey" Tape

UPDATE: It looks more and more like the tape doesn't exist. More info here.

If the rumored Michelle Obama "Whitey" rant exists on tape somewhere, it has yet to surface (and probably won't until after the Dem convention if it's in the hands of Republicans). Barack Obama was asked about the rumors circulating about the recording:

Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday batted down rumors circulating on the Internet and mentioned on some cable news shows of the existence of a video of his wife using a derogatory term for white people, and criticized a reporter for asking him about the rumor, which has not a shred of evidence to support it.

“We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it,” Obama said to the McClatchy reporter during a press conference aboard his campaign plane. “That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it.”

Asked whether he knew it not to be true, Obama said he had answered the question.

“Frankly, my hope is people don’t play this game,” Obama said. “It is a destructive aspect of our politics. Simply because something appears in an e-mail, that should lend it no more credence than if you heard it on the corner. Presumably the job of the press is to not to go around and spread scurrilous rumors like this until there is actually anything, an iota, of substance or evidence that would substantiate it.”

So was it even acceptable to ask the question?

Before Obama could answer, communications director Robert Gibbs interjected: “You just did.”

“That is my point,” Obama said. “I just think people have to think about it before they ask.”

I didn't hear a "it doesn't exist" from Obama, just a "put up or shut up" type statement. We'll just have to wait and see.

The Latest on the Rumored Michelle Obama "Whitey" Tape

UPDATE: Obama questioned about the tape.

HillBuzz offers some new information on what is supposedly contained on a DVD from Trinity United Church of Christ that could undo the Obama campaign:

What’s on the Michelle Obama Rant Tape?
Here’s what’s known so far:

The Michelle Obama Rant Tape was filmed between June 26th - July 1st 2004 in Chicago, IL at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Conference at Trinity United Church: specifically the Women’s Event.

Michelle Obama appeared as a panelist alongside Mrs. Khadijah Farrakhan and Mrs. James Meeks.

Bill Clinton spoke during the Conference, as did Bill Cosby and other speakers, but not at the panel Michelle attended.

Michelle Obama spoke at the Women’s Event, but referenced Bill Clinton in her rant — his presence at the conference was the impetus for her raving, it seems.

For about 30 minutes, Michelle Obama launched into a rant about the evils of America, and how America is to blame for the problems of Africa. Michelle personally blamed President Clinton for the deaths of millions of Africans and said America is responsible for the genocide of the Tutsis and other ethnic groups. She then launched into an attack on “whitey”, and talked about solutions to black on black crime in the realm of diverting those actions onto white America. Her rant was fueled by the crowd: they reacted strongly to what she said, so she got more passionate and enraged, and that’s when she completely loses it and says things that have made the mouths drop of everyone who’s seen this.

The “tape” is a DVD that Trinity United sold on its website, and possibly offered free for download up until March 2008 when Trinity’s site was scrubbed and the DVDs were no longer offered for sale.

This outburst happened just one month before the 2004 Democratic Convention, when Barack Obama delivered the keynote address.

Since no tape has actually been screened in the media or on the internet yet, we still don't know if this is true or just a political fairy tale. The information at HillBuzz and No Quarter certainly contains a lot of details, and people like Bob Beckel (Dem strategist) and John Fund (Wall Street Journal) have reported hearing about it from multiple sources they trust.

As I wrote yesterday, who would benefit from the release of such a tape at this time? Only Hillary Clinton, since she might be the one to whom the superdelegates would turn if the damage to the Obama campaign was fatal and they felt they had to switch candidates. There's no benefit to Republicans to release a tape like this now (if they are possess such a recording). It would be much more effective to allow the rumors to continue to richochet around the blogosphere all summer and then drop the tape right after the Democrat Convention. For Obama, there's no benefit in this at all. This is not the type of bad news where he could benefit from dumping it out there now and hoping it would go away.

Unfounded rumors usually die pretty quickly, but this story seems to have legs. Based on the traffic I've had here the last couple of days, there's plenty of interest in the tape out there among web surfers.

UPDATE: A Townhall blogger thinks she knows who has the tape:

The word is that one of the Republican candidates no longer in the race (Rudy) acquired the tape. Republicans will most likely hold the tape until the fall. Because if Hillary had it, she'd let it out now to get rid of Obama.

Republican Strategist Believes Michelle Obama "Whitey" Tape Exists and a Network Has It

The other day I mentioned a possible pending Michelle Obama bombshell, and it looks like it's getting closer. Republican strategist Roger Stone was interviewed today on Fox News and had this to say:

FNC 06/01/2008 14:43:30: …>>> Welcome back to our special coverage live coverage from Puerto Rico. just before the break, Roger Stone the Republican strategist made the comment that Michele Obama used the phrase whitey when describing white people and Michael Brown says bs that is republican dirty tricks as usual. 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 Michelle 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.

This is really starting to get good. Just stop and think about this for a minute. Obama is within a fingernail of grabbing the nomination, but if there's a tape of Michelle ranting about "Whitey", it's over. The Democrats would be incredibly foolish to give him the nomination. Obama has proven
that his contacts, both family and friends, are radicals completely out of the mainstream of American society. His nomination would be suicide for the party.

Meanwhile, Hillary hangs in there, doesn't concede, and is in position should all hell break loose for the Obama campaign. There's nothing requiring the superdelegates to go with their stated endorsements.

In addition to all this, Obama's latest Pastor Disaster, Father Michael Pfleger, gave a second sermon last Sunday at his own church and bashed Hillary again, including this bit:

"Hillary and McCain would wish they had a preacher with the integrity of Jeremiah Wright. … They got some old weak preacher…some old Joel Osteen cotton candy preacher." …

I'm sure that will play well with Osteen's 2 million TV viewers, not to mention the 3 million or so who have bought his books.

UPDATE: From Larry Johnson at No Quarter:

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. Whoops!! When that image comes out it will enter the politcal ads hall of fame. It will be right up there with the little girl plucking daisy petals in the famous 1964 ad LBJ used against Barry Goldwater.

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.

Hoo boy, if that tape ever hits the airwaves, look out.

The thing that makes this story at all believable is that Michelle Obama has a history of intemperate remarks. Consequently, it's not much of a stretch to imagine her using the work "whitey", and therefore the story remains believable to one degree or another. Of course, if somebody doesn't produce a tape pretty soon the whole thing will be chalked up to a desperate move by a pro-Hillary activist.

An additional thought: So far there's been nothing about this story on Drudge, even though it is richocheting around the political blogosphere. This is the kind of stuff that Drudge normally would eat up, but some are already suspecting that Drudge has become an Obama supporter (see the Politico story) and therefore may not be interested in pursuing the story until a tape actually appears...if it ever does.

UPDATE 2: According to The Corner and Hugh Hewitt, Dem strategist Bob Beckel said on Fox and Friends this morning that a bombshell is about to be dropped on Obama. There was a post at Alisyn Camarata's blog linked to by both The Corner and Hewitt, but that post has been pulled. Interesting.

UPDATE 3: HotAir has the Beckel video.

UPDATE 4: Larry Johnson at No Quarter was assuring everyone that a tape would be released on Wednesday, 6-4. Now they're backtracking on that prediction. Who would benefit from a release at this point in the campaign? Only Hillary. If Republicans have such a tape, they'd be foolish to release it now. It would be much more effective coming out the day after Obama gives his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention and it's too late for the party to make a change. This story has been a bit shaky from the start. There may be a tape, but don't look for it until August.

UPDATE 5: More detailed info on the contents of the rumored recording here.

UPDATE 6: Obama questioned about the tape.

Is There a Michelle Obama Bombshell Waiting to Go Off?

UPDATE: More info on the mysterious Michelle Obama "Whitey" tape here.

UPDATE 2: More info on the contents of the rumored "Whitey" tape here. If this turns out to be true, Obama is toast.

UPDATE 3: Obama questioned about the tape.

I've long speculated that one of the reasons that Hillary Clinton is still in the race is because she wants to be running should another bombshell like the Rev. Wright scandal hit the Obama campaign. According to Hillary Clinton supporter Larry Johnson, there is another bomb out there, but it won't see the light of day until Obama is nominated:

I now have it from two three sources close to senior Republicans that they have video dynamite–Michelle Obama railing against “whitey” at Jeremiah Wright’s church. Republicans may have a lousy record when it comes to the economy and the management of the war in Iraq, but they are hell on wheels when it comes to opposition research. 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. The last thing Barack and Michelle need is a new clip that raises further questions about her judgment and temperament.

Would it surprise you if this was true? Not me. It would seem to fit her temperament based on some of the things she's said during the campaign.

Of course, if such a tape exists, we have to hope it's in the hands of somebody other than the McCain campaign. If he's got it, he won't use it.