A must read debunking the Michelle Internet rumor

[gabeana]

http://reason.com/blog/show/126883.html

this is the last part of the post debunking the rumor, Notice Johnson response

That's my emphasis because two days earlier Johnson reported that Obama was sitting with Louis Farrakhan at Trinity United, and a week before that Johnson was already reporting that Obama's rant was at Trinity United. Johnson starts walking back the story by sputtering that "with or without said tape, we do know that the Obamas participated for almost 20 years in a church that espoused racism." But "without said tape," there's no story. Let's rewind it back. Johnson, on June 2:
It features Michelle Obama and Louis Farrakhan. They are sitting on a panel at Jeremiah Wright’s Church.

Johnson, two days later.
I do not know where this occurred.

In his peddling of this story, Johnson has altered his description of what was in the tape. I e-mailed Johnson, asked about the holes in the HillBuzz story, and called him a liar. He e-mailed me back.
"You and Reason in the same sentence? Now that's funny. I don't recall soliciting an email from you so fuck off."

[Mz Pip]

1. None of us recall

soliciting bullshit lies from him, either so maybe he needs to fuck off.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

2. Class act that one.

[klook]

3. Jesus, Roger Stone?

That's as far as anybody needs to read. He is one of the slimiest of all the Republican slimeballs. Hell, he's probably behind this whole bullshit.

[Ian David]

8. You mean Roger "Insatiable Couple" Stone?

Roger Stone in Sex Shocker! (National Enquirer and Star pics) BIG DOWNLOAD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x853802

[klook]

9. Yes!!

Thanks for the link to the post from the DU memory hole.

Jeffrey Toobin wrote a profile of him for a recent New Yorker issue. The guy will do or say anything and tell any vicious lie to defeat a Democrat.

[Ian David]

11. I would be willing to bet Roger Stone was behind the Anthrax attacks...

... that primarily targeted the tabloids, which broke that story.

As far as I know, I'm the first one to make that connection.

[klook]

13. That makes perfect sense to me. (n/t)

[Ian David]

15. Crap. Someone at 911Truth.org trhought of it first. So, I guess I must be wrong.

If 911truth.org suggests it, it must be wrong.

Tuesday, September 11 2007 - Stories by Topic
Spitzer's Real Scandal

The Spitzer scandals continue.

On the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 attack, Brooklyn activist newspaper the New York Megaphone breaks this exclusive story:

NY Governor Eliot Spitzer filed an amicus brief on 1/15/03 on behalf of the World Trade Center's controversial lease-holder, the real estate magnate Larry Silverstein. This document shows that Spitzer, as Attorney General, helped Silverstein get the whopping $4.5 billion windfall for the 9/11 attacks. The record is clear: Spitzer helped reverse a lower court's decision, by making credible Silverstein's argument that the two different plane crashes on 9/11/01 should be compensated as two different terrorist attacks.

This amicus brief has never been reported before today, in print or online. It was discovered in the court archives on the 17th floor of the 2nd Circuit Court (NYC), and released to the New York Megaphone by attorney Carl Person. In reporter Sander Hicks's exclusive story, author and lawyer Carl Person says: "I was surprised to see that Spitzer had used his position as attorney general to support one private litigant over another. Normally, this is not done."

Hicks' story also covers Governor Spitzer's recent scandals with police spying on rival Joe Bruno, the Roger Stone voice mail threat, as well as new information and interviews regarding the Spitzer links to Kroll executives Michael Cherkasky and Jerome Hauer. Hicks hands in an original interview with Jerome Hauer, probing his documented links to anthrax suspect Steven Hatfill. Hauer is widely believed to be the source of the White House's foreknowledge about the anthrax attacks on 9/11/01.

More:
http://www.911truth.org/article_for_printing.php?story=20070911220531634

[gabeana]

10. After I read your post

I went to wikipedia to read up on Stone

this is what I found

"In 1996, Stone resigned from a post as a volunteer spokesman in Robert Dole's campaign for president after The National Enquirer wrote that Stone had placed ads and pictures in racy publications and a website seeking sexual partners for himself and his second wife, Nydia. Stone denied the report.<8><7> On the Good Morning America program he said: "An exhaustive investigation now indicates that a domestic employee who I discharged for substance abuse on the second time that we learned that he had a drug problem is the perpetrator who had access to my home, access to my computer, access to my password, access to my postage meter, access to my post-office box key."<7> Stone has since admitted that the ads were authentic.<11>"

what a fucking liar, repug punk

[Ian David]

12. Roger Stone met Eliott Spitzer's prostitute with his wife at an "Adult Club." n/t

[gabeana]

4. I know we are supposed to let bygone be bygones

but there were/are Hill supporters on DU hoping for this "ghost" video to drop

[cliffordu]

5. I wish Johnson could acquire his own stalker...

[Adelante]

6. Obama schooling the press today

Obama denies a rumor and questions the question

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.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Obama_denies_a_rumor_and_questions_the_question.html

[vaberella]

20. Obama is fantastic. That's how to answer the question you make the reporter who's supposed to be

PROFESSIONAL feel like a heel. This is a reporter, he's in the mainstream and yet didn't find truth to this story...yet he perpetuates this crap rumor because he has no sense.

When did Blogging and reporting become ONE. Well, when I say that I speak of the unscrupulous and misleading bloggers not the opinion ones with sufficient evidence like Volokh. I liked his answer and he did answer it. If they have such non-sense show it. Since that crap is completely untrue and has been debunked four times.


If I could, I would sue those ass whipes for slander and defamation of character!!

[tishaLA]

23. I'm actually in a fight RIGHT THIS SECOND with an anti-Obama person

who says, well, why didn't he just deny it? I said, it's like the madrassah stories, or the Muslim stories, or the Clinton is a murderer stories. They are designed for nothing more than to make people believe something despite a complete lack of evidence. It's unbelievable.

[Ian David]

7. I've been telling Obama-Bashers to fuck-off since Tuesday night, so I can't complain. n/t

[gaiilonfong]

14. Larry Johnsons speciality when he was a spook drum roll please

election manipulations in SOuth America and Africa.....

1 and 1 is 2 folks...he started this rumor with the help of his reTHUG buddies to try and get the Super Delegates to not flow to Obama on Tuesday......IT DIDN'T WORK...He is afraid once Obama gets in the WH Obama will expose all of the criminals since the Reagan administration and guess what he IS one of those criminals...he wanted Clinton because he knew he and his spook buddies had nothing to worry with her in there...they have too much on her....

[rasputin1952]

16. I just sent Johnson an e-mail calling him a liar...

It is one thing to say something, but when called on it, you'd better be able to back it up w/facts.

All they have are manufactured rumors and innuendo.

I wonder how he'd feel if I said I had a tape of him w/a small flock of sheep in a compromising position...it would be a complete fabrication, but once the story is out there...well we see what happens...x(

[Teaser]

17. Sheep tape: It's not a fabrication

I know 6 people who have talked to firsthand viewers of the tape.

A hint: Johnson is his "stage name".

[DearAbby]

18. Sheep talk...they talk a loaaaaaaat...

:evilgrin:

[Adelante]

21. What does that mean? Sheep tape?

Do you mean it's from an intelligence service?

[rasputin1952]

25. ...

:D

[blonndee]

22. Since you're a mod and commenting on this, I have a question.

Are people allowed to spread that stuff here and claim or insinuate that it's true? That doesn't seem to belong here at all.

[rasputin1952]

24. The quick answer is that the "tapes" have been debunked on

numerous occasions. Since there have been threads on this subject, and it is a subject worth discussing, (particularly when it comes to said debunking), those who accept this as some form of "truth", should be held to the standard of producing said "proof".

It is my belief that this is a standard RW turd toss. the tactics used in this and other situations should be challenged wherever found. If they do prove to have some truth to them, that is another situation. But politics by innuendo and lies should be challenged whenever and wherever they are found.

I have called for discussion of the issues for many years, and even more so during this cycle. I think that people should make their decisions on the best available information, and speculation should come into play only when warranted, ie, are McCain or Obama in the state of mind where they have the control to avoid creating a nuclear holocaust, and the like.

[vaberella]

19. Crude little man isn't he? However it was debunked by Jim Lindgren

He lives in Chicago and actually went to the Church and found all the links about where this crap took place and completely and utterly debunked it's existence. He gave a detailed account so people can actually check if they want too. The link is better because you can see where he links up with. And he below is the program list of this event that showed it was hugely televised since there were two ABC7 anchors there.

http://web.archive.org/web/20040811233750/corona.tpsgi.com/rpc/Conference_Schedule.htm

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_06_01-2008_06_07.shtml

Trackbacks
Trying to debunk the internet rumors about Michelle Obama.— As many of you know, there has been an ever-shifting internet rumor launched publicly by an extremely unreliable pro-Clinton blogger, Larry Johnson, that there is a video recording of Michelle Obama saying some intemperate things at Trinity United Church. The way that this story is being spread leads me to think that there is little or nothing to the rumors, which is why I haven’t posted on the issue here until now.

Until today, the rumors have been too vague to be debunked, but they have now become specific enough that the currently most prominent version of the rumor could potentially be determined to be false. A specific conference for the remarks has been specified: the 2004 Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Annual Conference starting on June 26, 2004.

In an attempt to get the information necessary to put this matter to bed, I drove over to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition National Headquarters, which is in the opposite corner of my Hyde-Park/Kenwood neighborhood. I spoke with Robert (Bobby) Lewis, Director of Studio Services, who apparently handles the recordings of events.

Lewis said that the recording of events from 2005 and earlier was farmed out and most or all of the existing recordings (listed on the website) had not been conveyed in-house to the National Headquarters. He said that he did not know if the organization had a recording of the 2004 conference. In response to my more specific question, he said that the one-hour Saturday broadcasts on the 2004 Annual Conference (June 26, 2004, and July 2, 2004), which are listed on the website for purchase, are not available, since they come from the earlier outsourced period.

I was very surprised when he informed me that I was the first person to have contacted them about this matter. Given the furor on the internet, I suspect that many of you are skeptical about this claim, but he really seemed unaware of the flap. He wanted to know the name of the website that had the story about the conference. And at first, he thought I was talking about a panel on which Barack, not Michelle, had spoken. In manner, he was gracious and he didn’t seem to be particularly guarded or defensive.

As I write this, I am aware that it seems unlikely that Barack Obama’s campaign would not have scoped this out with Rainbow/PUSH long ago. Either the Obama campaign neglected to do so, or Rainbow/PUSH picked the right person to persuade outsiders that no inquiries were made, or — more likely — there was nothing to scope out.

I suggested to Mr. Lewis that he try to find a copy, since he was likely to get inquiries. He said that he planned to get on it right away, since I was probably only the first of many more requests.

I hope that if Rainbow/PUSH locates a copy they release it as soon as possible to prevent this rumor from snowballing. In its limbo state, this rumor does damage to all three candidates, as well as to the political process.

Given the tenor of comments I have seen elsewhere on this rumor, I have not turned on comments. If it proves to be false (or true), I will then post with open comments. Until then, the most civil discussion I’ve seen is here.

By the way, the Rainbow/PUSH Headquarters are just a few blocks from Barack Obama’s house and a few blocks from Louis Farrakhan’s house. When I drove past Obama’s house on the way home, there was an Obama for President sign on the front lawn of the house next door to the Obamas’s, but none visible on the Obamas’s house.

UPDATE: There are some anomalies in the story so far: according to the rumors, the Rainbow/Push conference was supposed to be held at Trinity United, yet schedules posted at Hillbuzz and elsewhere do not show the event as taking place at the church. Further, the schedule shows Michelle Obama as a "Special Guest," not a speaker. Last, if it wasn't at the church, why would the DVD have been on sale there? I remain highly skeptical that this story will amount to anything.

2d UPDATE: More on problems with this story: Does it seem at all plausible that anyone would go into a 30-plus minute racist rant during a "Woman's Luncheon" at the Sheraton Hotel, moderated by two mainstream local TV news reporters/anchors from the Chicago ABC affiliate? Consider also that Michelle Obama was listed only as a "Special Guest," not even listed as speaking (the Keynote Speaker for the luncheon was Jesse Jackson).

Here is the program for the luncheon:

12:00p.m ~ 2:00p.m.

SHERATON BALLROOM 1-7 Womans Luncheon

M.C.’s: Cheryl Burton and Karen Jordan, ABC 7

Keynote Speaker: Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Special Guests:

Shoshana Johnson, Retired United States Military

Michelle Obama, University of Chicago

And then somehow this supposed rant at a non-church event held at the Sheraton Hotel was for sale on the Trinity United website. Thus, I think that the most common version of the story (put forth by Hillbuzz) is almost certainly false.

[pgh_dem]

26. Is Larry Johnson suggesting that Michele Obama is psychic?

If he suggests that Michele Obama went on an anti-'whitey' tirade in June of 2004, including criticism of 'Whitey's handling of the New Orleans flood of August 2005, then this is even HUGHER than any111one thought!!! SERIES!