Tuesday, June 03, 2008

The origin of the "Whitey" transcript

Hell.

Hell hell hell. The origin of the "transcript" of the alleged "whitey" video has been identified. It started as a joke. At least, I interpret this comment left by a Kos poster on the 18th as a joke. Apparently, some wag slightly re-wrote the attempted humor by one "Fixed Point Theorem," stripped the text of the obvious "joke" signifiers, and sent it on Booman Tribune, Free Republic and other sources, where it was taken seriously.

"Why'd he" do such a thing? You got me.

As we noted earlier, the dating of the alleged Farrakhan/Michelle Obama meeting makes more sense if we presume that Michelle spoke out at an earlier time, before Katrina, when her husband had a much lower profile. That is...if (if if if) she said such a thing at all: We have not yet established that she ever did.

Please note that this post applies to the "transcript," not to the original story about a video. One has to be very careful about making that distinction, since quite a few ninnies are doing the conclusion-hop these days. (The kind reader who made this catch should take a well-deserved bow in the comments section, if he so chooses.)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I said several times in your comments that if this turns out not to be true, Johnson will have major egg on his face. His credibility will be undermined.

That was BEFORE I knew he was the guy who said in July 2001 that fears of terrorism were overblown, in the pages on the NY Times.

BEFORE I knew he was the guy who said that Rove would be indicted.

Even w/out doing my homework, I thought that LJo was a bit dodgy.

To make a claim like this you must have ironclad proof.

He fucked up.

Anonymous said...

PS - I have always thought that the REAL ISSUE here is the two degrees of Kevin Bacon association with Farrakhan. Fer Minerva's sake, his closest "spiritual mentors" admire Farrakhan openly. You can't run for office in black Chicago w/out his imprimatur.

There's a bunch of questions I'd love to ask Obama.

The first is, "may I see your birth certificate?" I want to know whether his birth name was Barack Dunham.

The second is, "Have you ever met Farrakhan?"

The third would be based on the answer to question two.

Joseph Cannon said...

Lots of people thought Rove would be indicted, and lots of people to this day think terrorism is an overblown threat.

Besides, it's not just him.

I am persuaded that there ARE sources saying these things. And not just to Johnson.

I am not yet persuaded that these sources are telling the truth. Actually, I'm starting to lean in the other direction, based on three factors:

1. Farrakhan was written into the story by all sources all of a sudden, pretty much on the same day. He had not been mentioned before. This implies both coordination and, frankly, fabrication.

2. Roger Stone of CUNT. (Be daring! Embrace the acronym! Stone should be proud -- he is CUNT, through and through!) If Roger Stone embraces the story, I can't help feeling that I'm being played.

3. Johnson's CIA background makes me wonder -- though not for the reason paranoid people might suppose.

The CIA does a full psychological work up on, well, everyone they can. I know they did one on Johnson. (He has said so.) They know what makes him tick better than HE does.

Which means that in some file somewhere, there is a psychological report which would tell a sharp reader how to manipulate Johnson -- how to play him like a slot machine, how to predict his reactions.

Look, how many times have we seen this scenario...this very scenario?

Behind the scenes, sources X, Y, and Z -- who all seem very sincere -- peddle a story. Newsfolk are interested, but most of 'em don't bite. But Fred the Freelancer -- a hungry writer -- DOES bite. He writes up a report based on what XYZ tell him. And he stirs up a shit storm.

The shit storm abates. Maybe the report is shown to be false or half-true. And if the public gets angry, who gets the blame?

Not Sources X, Y, Z. The public blames Freddy. As far as the public is concerned, X,Y and Z are as mythical as Michigan J. Frog's singing ability.

Variations of this scenario have occurred dozens of times. Consider, for example, John Cummings' book "Compromised." I happen to know that lots of other writers took an interest in Terry Reed's story, but they were cautious. Reed had been in trouble with the law. He was, as they say, a "little bit pregnant." So he said what he was told to say.

Same thing with dear old Michael Riconosciuto and Gunther Russbacher.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree. Unless you can name your sources and produce a least a small snippet of said tape the public will see it as a smear job.

The backlash would not help Hillary a bit and would probably garner sympathy for Obama.

Maybe that's exactly what the Republicans want.

orionATL said...

joseph -

fyi,

now (tuesday, 1:40 edt)

no quarter is saying a video featuring ms obama will be released by others tomorrow.

we'll see.

Anonymous said...

Donovan used a koan as a lyric:

First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is.

Reminds me of a certain blue dress rumor. First there was supposed to be a blue dress, then there wasn't, and then there was.

(I remember that incident fairly well, and argued the middle position adamantly, until, well...).

So, first there was a video...?

...sofla

Joseph Cannon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joseph Cannon said...

orion, something about this story has injured everyone's reading ability. Obots. Hillbots. All the other bots. They just cannot read anymore.

No Quarter doesn't say that a tape will be released tomorrow. No Quarter said that Bob Beckel said something akin to that Fox News. As in fact he did.

But Beckel was also quick to state that this was a rumor. He seems to take it seriously, but not seriously enough to say it will happen.

We all clear, now?

John said...

OK, I guess I'll take a bow for finding the original source of the "Why'd" vs "Whitey" talking points.

But there's more ;)

After the mysterious (aren't all anonymous trolls?) "Fixed Point Theorem" posted that he/she was at Trinity that very day when Michelle said "Why'd" blah blah blah, instead of "Whitey" blah blah blah, the talking points laid dormant for 2 weeks. I don't see a single mention of them.

Then Sunday night (6/1) "Student Guy" at MyDD posted this pre-emptive strike against Larry Johnson, who had already announced that his site would have a new update come Monday morning.

Booman did not post the same talking points for 3 hours, so he wasn't the original source, or the original Sunday night instigator...however it's very clear by looking here that there was a concerted effort to spread the "Why'd" version.

BTW Joe, I wholeheartedly agree - most folks are incredibly "challenged" when it comes to reading comprehension - or else they just plain lie and distort on purpose.

Larry never said he had the tape. Larry never said he heard or saw the tape. Larry never said the tape was being released Monday morning.

And now for even more ;)

I would bet a paycheck that "Student Guy" is "Fixed Point Theorem." Besides the obvious similarities in style and sarcasm, shortly on the same day (May 18th) that "Fixed Point Theorem" posted the "Why'd" version, "Student Guy" was busy at MyDD posting anti-Larry stuff. He even mentions Roger Stone, and I am not aware of any reference to Stone in this story, 2 weeks ago. I find that very interesting.

John
SluggoJD

Anonymous said...

HOW STUPID ARE YO GUY???? "Mythical" indeed! the videos been online for ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1vH2rjUshk