Check out Dave Weigel's debunking of Larry Johnson's smears. My sense is that when the CIA rigged elections in postwar Italy and Japan, they showed a little more finesse than this.
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The "Whitey" Video
07 Jun 2008 05:07 pm
Comments (60)
It gets better. The whole rumor has been lifted almost word-for-word out of a novel published in 2006.
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzc3ZWNhNThmM2JhMzliZDUxMWNmMmU5M2ZiNmM1YTY=
Can we all agree Johnson is a scumbag ?
It gets better. The whole rumor has been lifted almost word-for-word out of a novel published in 2006.
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzc3ZWNhNThmM2JhMzliZDUxMWNmMmU5M2ZiNmM1YTY=
Can we all agree Johnson is a scumbag ?
It's sort of sad.
Larry Johnson contributed a lot of good stuff over at TPM. Somehow, once Obama got in the picture, he went off the deep end. His stuff on Obama at TPM was crap - conspiracy theory about how Rezko was going to blow Obama off the map. Never happened and was clearly unlikely to happen based on everything know at that point.
Apparently Josh Marshall had enough, too, because Larry hasn't been at TPM for some time now since his last Obama post.
I had an email exchange with Larry about this, and he blew me off, too.
I don't know whether this is all about racism or some other bug, but Larry's just not all there about Obama.
There are plenty of reasons to think Obama will screw up US foreign policy and get us in a war with Iran, but all this "Obama hates whitey" stuff is just irrelevant.
It's on a par with Jon Stewart's hilarious question, "Are you going to enslave the white race?"
And even if Michelle Obama DOES hate "whitey", she'd not running for President. What do they think she's going to do as First Lady? Go around yelling about "whitey"?
It's ridiculous.
It gets better. The whole rumor has been lifted almost word-for-word out of a novel published in 2006.
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzc3ZWNhNThmM2JhMzliZDUxMWNmMmU5M2ZiNmM1YTY=
Can we all agree Johnson is a scumbag ?
First of all sorry for the repeat. I have no idea what happened.
And may I point out that it would be hard for Michelle to hate "whiteys" since SHE IS MARRIED TO ONE.
Richard Steven Hack: "Larry Johnson contributed a lot of good stuff over at TPM."
Yeah, you would like it. I've always thought he was an enormous hack and have been happily vindicated by recent events.
Gotta love the old make-the-bastard-deny it play.
I think this is the video they were talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP0itTD98W4
Its not as bad as Johnson said it was.
I dissent, your Panjandrunship. It's far, far worse, and doesn't improve on repeated viewing.
Yeah, that was bad - Obama is doomed if he campaigns on that thing!
Funny, I always thought he was a Republican, angered into telling us what we wanted to hear by the way Bush sold out Valerie Wilson.
Korha: "I've always thought he was an enormous hack"
No, he posted useful stuff on Iraq and the Plame case over at TPM. He also directly engaged the posters which very few posters besides MJ Rosenberg ever did. And he didn't mind trading insults with them, either.
I didn't agree with everything he wrote, but mostly he was correct about Iraq and other national security matters.
Apparently he's a Clinton freak, along the lines of the sort of Clinton freaks we've seen here.
He also went ballistic on me when I suggested that Huma Abedin might be a Saudi or Mossad (or both!) intel op. He knows Huma, apparently, which is interesting considering his own background. Maybe she's actually CIA! A "Triple Cross" agent!
Obama/Astley!
Read Legacy of Ashes. The CIA has always been this bad.
Larry Johnson is a drooling, tinfoil hat wearing, idiot. He needs to be placed in a straitjacket and committed to a mental hospital
As one of the commenters at Reason said, this one didn't even pass the smell test. Michelle Obama went on a rant against Whitey, next to Louis Farrakhan, at Trinity! Echoing Sista Souljah! And wearing an upside-down pentagram while worshipping Satan. And Hitler and Stalin were tap dancing in the background! And at the end she prayed toward Mecca!
That's not a rumor, that's a wingnut wet dream.
I used to read a lot of Larry Johnson's columns about Plame and the war. His defense of Plame was admirable.
Then the nomination fight came. His NoQuarter became an I hate Barak Obama site. Blind rage. And his people were the same way.
It's sad. You can't even talk to them at all. I stopped posting there. You get ripped to shreds if you say anything pro-Obama.
Funny, I always thought he was a Republican, angered into telling us what we wanted to hear by the way Bush sold out Valerie Wilson.
Yes, he's siding into bitter self-parody - but have you seen the number of comments on Noquarter? My browser crashes every time I try to open it up.
So, in the cause of promoting this site - I talked to three different Republican operatives who are charged with tracking down all available copies of a snuff film that has a frame where you can see John McCain's reflection in hte blade of a knife.
This will come out, and it will change everything. Run with it Matt, and see your ad revenue skyrocket!
Actually, this sounds exactly like the paid rumor mill crap spread around by the CIA & its allies in Central & South America -- the whisper & leafletting campaigns of the caliber of 'Hugo Chavez is kidnapping neighborhood girls and inseminating them with the frozen sperm of Che Guevara' type sh*t.
It's a measure of the contempt for the intended audience along with an attempt to get under the skin of your targets any way you can.
I just heard from a friend of a friend that his next door neighbor's dog says that Larry Johnson actually works for Dick Cheney. Johnson apparently first worked for Cheney when Johnson was a disinformation specialist at the CIA while Cheney was DOD Secretary under Bush I. According to this rumor, Johnson has maintained a front image as a liberal-leaning anti-terrorism expert so that he could plausibly disrupt the campaign of the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee with disinformation to head off threats to reverse the national security policies of Cheney/Bush. I have no idea if this dog is a credible source but I felt it was my patriotic duty to share this rumor on the slim chance that it might be true.
A bit off point, but I am sure I speak for many when I say that Michelle Obama is Smoking Hot!! Ya, she is also very bright, classy, great character and tremendously accomplished, and truly is the women behind the man, and all of that. And she is also Smoking Hot. No disrespect intended. Just an honest observation
Oh please please please Barack, find a way to RickRoll McCain this summer. No idea how, but please.
Whenever MattY links to a "debunking", expect the person at the link to be an establishment hack offering inconclusive or false evidence in order to support something that MattY either wishes was false or believes to be false based on his ignorance.
As for Johnson, he's certainly staked his reputation on this, which merits more thinking than MattY is capable of. Does LJ want you to think this must be true because he wouldn't stake his reputation since he presumably wants to stay in the public eye? Or, does that strongly imply that he's telling the truth at least about what he's said so far? Why would he put his own reputation on the line instead of, for instance, being like BHO supporters and using an endless line of sock puppets to push the rumor, perhaps with an anonymous blog?
Clearly, this whole issue needs more thinking than MattY can do, and would involve curious things such as BHO's non-answer, the nature of VideoProduction in 2004, and so forth.
Maybe MattY should kick these things around with those who have real world experience before making posts like this.
OK, TLB's wins my vote for dumbest post on this thread.
I agree with those who, wielding Occam's razor, slice the issue thus: are we really to believe that such a video exists, and that several people have seen it, but not one of them has posted it on the web? Is that really more likely than that this is a rumor that those various people (including one Larry Johnson) desperately WANT to believe?
No. Can't say it's impossible. Can say it's less likely. Much much much less likely.
[For what it's worth, three close friends have emailed me in the last two hours, all reporting independently that they have heard of a video that demonstrates that Larry Johnson is a total d-bag. Who am I to doubt such testimony?]
Larry Johnson doesn't know Matt Yglesias exists.
Is "debunking" a catch all now since a video would actually need to exist before it could be debunked.
I think exposes the asshattery or eta for you texters is a better fit.
1) I could understand it if Larry Johnson did not like Obama for some reason. E.g., for lack of experience. Although Hillary shares that same lack.
2) But I can't understand how anyone of Larry's background could support Hillary so strongly. It really doesn't make sense -- he, of all people, should be able to id the actors and know what they're doing.
3) He of all people should know what lies Bush has been telling -- and how Hillary has been strongly enabling Bush all the way.
I forgot to write my comment in a way that MattY can understand.
There are only two possibilities:
1. A bad tape will be released this year
2. It won't (or it won't be bad at all).
In the first case, LJ is vindicated and famous.
In the second case, LJ's pundit career is over, at least for several years. I have trouble seeing how LJ could rehabilitate himself, at least for several years. Of course, he's got other things to do so maybe he considers punditing expendable.
If he's playing a game, it would seem to have a very high price.
And, it wouldn't be very difficult at all for him to have started an anon blog, built up a rep for it (see Atrios), and then started to push the tape idea.
And, once again, MattY is letting the cocoon get in his way of seeing that even if there's no tape, many people are going to believe there is one based on Ms. Obama's wonderful statements and their wonderful friends.
Shorter TLB: There's no way all these people would be staking their future on publicly announcing they possessed video of an alien being if there weren't a large chance it were true, and Matt's failure to recognize this makes him a dumb dumb poopyhead.
I heard about the 'whitey' video from a Republican friend a week before Larry Johnson published anything. It is common 'knowledge' on that side of the fence.
When I heard the rumor my immediate reaction was perhaps this was why Hillary was hanging on.
This did not originate with Larry Johnson. He is not the source of anything. He is certainly guilty of passing on an unsubstantiated rumor as well as an unseemly amount of glee at the prospect. But this is a Republican operation all the way. Larry done some damage to his reputation (not that he seems to care) but I do think he has done us all a service in bringing this up now.
The point of this exercise (if rumors are to be believed) is that it will be released for maximum impact on the election in October.
Now if this video in fact exists as advertised I would think that whoever has it would have kept their mouth shut for maximum bang on the release. An early release would allow some sort of damage control. This perhaps assumes some competence and discipline on the right, something we have not seen a lot of lately.
If it in fact does not exist, or if it is some sort of bullshit perversion of the truth (my guess), it makes sense to make it public now. Months of semi-public festering could put Obama on the defensive.
Yeah, this is going to be one ugly campaign.
Larry Johnson - second rater - class of 1975 was a weak year - This wannabee E. Howard Hunt is a clown with an absurdly long discussion page on his wiki bio - Featuring stupid trivia from his Val Plame Glory days.
Why must you always run down hard-working White voters like Larry Johnson??!
why in god's name would anyone think obama's spoiling for war with iran?
and what's obama's grand plan for screwing up foreign policy? that wacky notion of conducting foreign policy to further the US's best interests? instead of more of the dick-swinging the country's become known for under bush?
Strangely, the number of people beyond Kelly The One-Note Whore who believe that Teh Brown Menace will overthrow the US government Real Soon Now has not grown, in spite of his mongering on every blog the Technorati feed brings up.
Oh yeah? Do you want to know the real reason this video hasn't been released?
Because if you're a white person and you watch it, seven days later you will die!
Here's a direct quote by Larry Johnson from his latest post about the tape:
I have not spoken directly with the people who have seen the tape, but I have spoken to two of my friends who are friends with those who watched the tape/dvd.
Honestly, at this point what further debunking do you need?
The scary (or maybe revealing) thing is that this guy is a professional intelligence analyst! Jesus Christ!
I kid you not, one of my republican friends told me about this video approximately three weeks ago, and said video was supposedly in the custody of Karl Rove!! In other news, the boogey man is real. Film at 11.
Aside, I hear Larry Johnson features quite prominently in a video of Mickey Kaus fellating goats.
In the second case, LJ's pundit career is over, at least for several years.
What? Why? Since when did being completely, dishonestly wrong ever pose an obstacle to a pundit's career? Bill Kristol parlayed it into a sweet gig at the NYT.
And didn't Johnson previously stake his reputation on a claim that Karl Rove was going to be indicted?
In the two most discussed versions of this fable, the rant occurred either (1) in June 2004, when Obama was a high-profile candidate for the US Senate (at an event that was closely covered by the local Chicago ABC affiliate), or (2) in 2007, when Obama was a US senator and candidate for president. The idea that a rant against "whitey" occurred during these time frames without any media mentions at all is ridiculous. This is obviously utter garbage, and probably a psy op by Johnson and his republican friends. The fact that Johnson put his name on it only indicates his eagerness to sell the con.
In the second case, LJ's pundit career is over, at least for several years.
And didn't Johnson previously stake his reputation on a claim that Karl Rove was going to be indicted?
Obviously, this didn't happen. Otherwise, Larry would have lost all trace of credibility and some of us wouldn't be listening to his fanstastic stories.
Likewise, Larry couldn't be lying now, because then he would lose all trace of credibility and he wouldn't be considered a serious blogger. Or something.
/Douché
PS, love the rickroll. It's actually probably the perfect response to this scam.
"why in god's name would anyone think obama's spoiling for war with iran?"
I said nothing of the kind. What I've been saying is that Obama does NOT understand that Iran is NOT a "threat" to anybody any more than Iraq was in 2002.
Obama's bullshit about Iran being a "threat" means his diplomacy and his sanctions will NOT - repeat NOT - have any effect. That is because they are based on the wrong premises and he does not understand that Iran can not and will not abandon enrichment because of their requirement for a nuclear energy program.
So where does that leave him in a year or two? Right where Bush is now - either shut up or attack Iran.
Fortunately for Obama, he won't have to choose, since Bush is going to attack Iran for him. Daniel Pipes said the other day that if Obama wins, Bush attacks Iran in November. If McCain wins, Bush will let McCain do the war.
The question then, if Obama wins, is what will Obama do to STOP the ongoing Iran war - as well as the Iraq war which will heat up when the Shia turn on the US in support of Iran?
What Obama SHOULD be saying TODAY to differentiate himself from Bush and McCain on Iran is that Iran is NOT a threat, but that the US would like to have more intrusive inspections to insure that and in return the US will give Iran security guarantees against regime change by the US or attacks by Israel, as well as cooperating with Iran in the development of their nuclear energy program as required by the NPT, full diplomatic relations and the like.
He should also state that the US will ask the UN to press for Israel to disarm its nuclear arsenal and that the US will press Israel for a just settlement to the Palestinian situation. This will enable the US to demonstrate to Iran that we mean what we say, and in return we can ask Iran to limit their support for Hizballah and Hamas (not that either of those groups really matter in the grand scheme of things.)
Since he isn't going to do any of that, foreign policy under Obama is not going to solve anything.
Worse, if he thinks - like idiot Matt does - that shuffling all the Iraq troops over to Afghanistan and unilaterally making attacks on the Taliban in Pakistan are going to help, things are going to go to hell in a hand basket over there quicker than they are already.
That is the problem with Obama - he's a fool. Maybe not a malicious criminal like Bush and Cheney, but he's definitely a fool when it comes to national security and foreign policy. Either that or he's just pandering to the Zionists and the idiot voters who don't understand what is going on.
He also went ballistic on me when I suggested that Huma Abedin might be a Saudi...
Huma Abedin is drop dead gorgous. As a middle easterner, I'm proud she's from my part of the world. I would tap that in a heartbeat.
He also went ballistic on me when I suggested that Huma Abedin might be a Saudi...
Huma Abedin is drop dead gorgous. As a middle easterner, I'm proud she's from my part of the world. I would tap that in a heartbeat.
What's wrong with calling someone Whitey? Is it because it's a cat's name? Like Blacky?
What's wrong with calling someone Whitey?
It's insensitive to Brewers fans still mourning the outcome of the 1982 World Series . . .
RickRolling is actually pretty funny. It's the first time I've fallen for the gag, though. I assume that the gag is long in the tooth by now, and it probably isn't as funny the 20th time along.
I wish I'd looked at the comments.
Ben nails it. Johnson has a record of making wild claims based on sources he does not name. Two years ago he was proven totally wrong, and his pundit career didn't stop, at least on the blogosphere and on Keith Olbermann. Lonewacko is giving him the benefit of the doubt - why, exactly? Other than his childish obsession with Yglesias and me?
C'mon, don't you think it would have surfaced by now if Larry Johnson had evidence and wanted it to? So that Hillary would benefit? Wouldn't he have produced it for her prior to yesterday?
Even Republicans are questioning it's validity over at NRO.
Get a grip. I can't believe we're even debating this.
At this point, at the very least, Johnson would have gotten in touch with a person who's seen the tape. He's claimed, alternately, to have talked to "five people" and then "two friends" who know folks who've seen the tape. He can't get one of these people to put him in direct contact with people who've seen it? Not even as he gets pummeled from all sides like this?
The reason he can't do this is that the people who say they've seen the tape are, themselves, liars who are playing a game of telephone. I know one of them and her story has changed as Johnson's details have changed.
Maybe the Japanese and Italians valued their democracies more and more finesse was needed.
Maybe the Japanese and Italians valued their democracies more and more finesse was needed.
Does this remind anyone of the rumor campaigns waged against McCain, and others by Rove?
Hey, maybe there is some incriminating video - maybe there's a video of McCain drunkenly assaulting a girl scout with a cue ball in a sock, its not outside the realm of possibility.
But there doesn't even need to be one, does there? Its enough that people are talking about it. You have people on both sides speculating on what it says and what its impact will be - was it "Whitey" or "Why'd he", trying to track down when and where it happened - not by doing any actual fact checking, but by using google and guesswork.
And Johnson wonders why Obama didn't clearly say that his wife didn't go on a racist rant against white people. What would that have looked like - a video clip of Obama denying that he's married to a racist being dissected on the news over and over again?
Oddly, I think I would find Mrs. Obama more appealing if she had spent some time calling out whitey. At the moment she strikes me as a rather dull bubbie/corporate drone.
There is no video.....if there was, it would have already been on the internet......
Comments closed June 21, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
I think this is one of MY's best insults ever.
Posted by Ben Cronin | June 7, 2008 5:26 PM