There appear to be two sources for the "Michelle Obama is seen on video raving about 'whitey' in a panel discussion". One is Larry Johnson, former CIA operative who enjoyed a period of fame as a television personality on CNN when they wanted to talk about the CIA. Since that several year period Johnson fell in love with Hillary Clinton, and loved well but not wisely. He is prone to ravings. In this instance he appears to have picked up a story from Roger Stone. Who's Roger? Stone is a Nixon era dirty trickster who has spread crap and traps for Democrats ever since. His greatest coup was in personally taking down Dan Rather, by a reverse sting. He fed Rather real data about the Bush military record, but the material was transcribed using modern word processing fonts that were not available when the original documents were created. Although the data apparently was real (nice touch) the fonts did not exist for Selectric typewriters, or so about a gazillion bloggers maintained and the argument is still raging. The point is that the minute Rather published the stuff (too quickly, Dan not being the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree) an entire group of nutcases were ready to jump all over the story with detailed critiques of it. All nicely coordinated. Our brilliant press service took the bait and went chasing after Dan Rather, ending his career as anchor, while dismissing the documents as fakes... which they probably are not.
More recently Roger Stone helped "take down" Governor Spitzer in New York by ratting out his sexual peccadillos, something Stone said he learned from the operator of a bordello in Florida, where Stone sometimes lives with his Cuban wife, where they have a certain notoriety for advertising in "swapping" publications, the couple apparently being curious and adventurous sorts. Stone is THE worst dirty trickster alive. And that is Larry Johnson's great GOP source, though Stone has never shown him the actual tape? Brilliant. But small minds like most neo-cons will always read this kind of garbage and go nuts over it.
There is a lot of fear out there this year. Migod there is an uppity black man runnin' for President! He's going to take jobs away from white folks and give them to neggrahs, you just wait and see!
Interestingly, it appears possible that the entire "whitey" story may have come from this crappy 2006 political novel.
And the theme of white versus black is going to bedevil this election. A reason to give up and stay drunk until November? Nope, this is stuff that has been simmering just under the surface of American life for generation after generation. You know that nice big cross on Skinner's Butte? Did you know that in the teens the local Eugene Klan used to burn crosses there? Gives the whole thing a bit different context, doesn't it? a nice big lighted cross? kind of like a permanently-lighted burning cross, isn't it? Coincidence? Hmm, maybe, but Oregon sent two contingents to the Civil War, one to the North and one to the South. Somewhere I heard that one or both of them just never made it, but it was the thought that counted.
And lastly, here is "The shocking comment that Barack Obama does not want you to hear!!"
...ah, and there is a deranged young gay guy who claims he had wild sex with Obama in his limo while Obama "sucked on a crack pipe". He has become a YouTube celebrity for his videos and there is even a deranged parody of him.
But we all need to understand... before the election is over there are going to be a lot more videos, a lot more rumors, a host of lies, smears, attacks, slander and pander. You may not be aware of it, but in the US the law holds that when you become a "public figure" you become unable to sue for libel. Yup, you heard right. Not only do you have to work your ass off for several years and raise a gazillion dollars to run for high office, others can call you a poo-poo head and a sheep-humper and there is not a damn thing you can do about it. Some fun, 'eh?
Now I am going to tell you something that you need to know. Barack Obama won the Democratic Nomination by assembling one of the smartest groups of political operatives available and guiding them by example to concentrate on the task at hand and not waste time on fighting or squabbling. Famously, after one debacle on the campaign where $20 million had been invested only to produce two losses, Obama was reported to have said to his working group with a big smile, something along the lines of, "I could be really upset about this, but I'm not sure we have time, so I'm not going to". Contrast that with John McCain, so legendarily thin-skinned that he regularly cusses out his Senate colleagues, many of who believe he lacks the temperament to be President.
But what I am forced to admit is that McCain is really good at is being the subject of amusing YouTube videos.
Here is the latest example. Oh, and all YouTube videos have a counter below them that shows how many times people have watched that video, right? This one seems to have had this many (so far): Views: 1,713,549 ....so nearly two million people have taken the trouble to go watch this wry and ultimately damning video.
And what I like about the Democratic partisan attacks is that they have a purpose, while GOP attacks and the attackers are just deranged pit bulls, equally willing to chew up a baby or a burglar. They don't care, they get paid either way.
So we've all got a choice this year. Dark creepy and stupid things, fear, racist undertones, slander and dirty tricks. Or something else. Hmm, gosh, don't rush me now... I am surfacing nicely this morning, but don't rush me...
Arthur
More recently Roger Stone helped "take down" Governor Spitzer in New York by ratting out his sexual peccadillos, something Stone said he learned from the operator of a bordello in Florida, where Stone sometimes lives with his Cuban wife, where they have a certain notoriety for advertising in "swapping" publications, the couple apparently being curious and adventurous sorts. Stone is THE worst dirty trickster alive. And that is Larry Johnson's great GOP source, though Stone has never shown him the actual tape? Brilliant. But small minds like most neo-cons will always read this kind of garbage and go nuts over it.
There is a lot of fear out there this year. Migod there is an uppity black man runnin' for President! He's going to take jobs away from white folks and give them to neggrahs, you just wait and see!
Interestingly, it appears possible that the entire "whitey" story may have come from this crappy 2006 political novel.
And the theme of white versus black is going to bedevil this election. A reason to give up and stay drunk until November? Nope, this is stuff that has been simmering just under the surface of American life for generation after generation. You know that nice big cross on Skinner's Butte? Did you know that in the teens the local Eugene Klan used to burn crosses there? Gives the whole thing a bit different context, doesn't it? a nice big lighted cross? kind of like a permanently-lighted burning cross, isn't it? Coincidence? Hmm, maybe, but Oregon sent two contingents to the Civil War, one to the North and one to the South. Somewhere I heard that one or both of them just never made it, but it was the thought that counted.
And lastly, here is "The shocking comment that Barack Obama does not want you to hear!!"
...ah, and there is a deranged young gay guy who claims he had wild sex with Obama in his limo while Obama "sucked on a crack pipe". He has become a YouTube celebrity for his videos and there is even a deranged parody of him.
But we all need to understand... before the election is over there are going to be a lot more videos, a lot more rumors, a host of lies, smears, attacks, slander and pander. You may not be aware of it, but in the US the law holds that when you become a "public figure" you become unable to sue for libel. Yup, you heard right. Not only do you have to work your ass off for several years and raise a gazillion dollars to run for high office, others can call you a poo-poo head and a sheep-humper and there is not a damn thing you can do about it. Some fun, 'eh?
Now I am going to tell you something that you need to know. Barack Obama won the Democratic Nomination by assembling one of the smartest groups of political operatives available and guiding them by example to concentrate on the task at hand and not waste time on fighting or squabbling. Famously, after one debacle on the campaign where $20 million had been invested only to produce two losses, Obama was reported to have said to his working group with a big smile, something along the lines of, "I could be really upset about this, but I'm not sure we have time, so I'm not going to". Contrast that with John McCain, so legendarily thin-skinned that he regularly cusses out his Senate colleagues, many of who believe he lacks the temperament to be President.
But what I am forced to admit is that McCain is really good at is being the subject of amusing YouTube videos.
Here is the latest example. Oh, and all YouTube videos have a counter below them that shows how many times people have watched that video, right? This one seems to have had this many (so far): Views: 1,713,549 ....so nearly two million people have taken the trouble to go watch this wry and ultimately damning video.
And what I like about the Democratic partisan attacks is that they have a purpose, while GOP attacks and the attackers are just deranged pit bulls, equally willing to chew up a baby or a burglar. They don't care, they get paid either way.
So we've all got a choice this year. Dark creepy and stupid things, fear, racist undertones, slander and dirty tricks. Or something else. Hmm, gosh, don't rush me now... I am surfacing nicely this morning, but don't rush me...
Arthur
No comments:
Post a Comment