What the heck is going on here?
Written by Paul Zannucci on 10:40 PM
Is this the end for Clinton or the Clinton endplay. Over the last 24 hours or so we’ve learned twice that Clinton was going to concede and, now, twice that she is not. We’ve also heard a growing rumble of chatter regarding an already infamous, yet quite possibly imaginary, video of Michelle Obama raving about “Whitey”. This chatter has leapt from the blogs and onto cable news stations, with Bob Beckel this morning on FoxNews claiming that the “bombshell” would be released Wednesday morning. Given that Paris Hilton is already free, this can only mean something else, but the whole thing is getting more than a little confusing.
I guess there are three main possibilities. There’s a tape and the Republicans have it. The rumor is mostly true as reported. Second option, there is no tape but the Hillary camp has been floating rumors of one to serve an unknown purpose (Republicans wouldn’t be floating rumors at this point). Or third, the tape is not there and the Clintons aren’t pushing the concept. This is actually my pick.
Rumors of the “whitey tape” all started, so far as I can tell, some time back with Larry Johnson over at the No Quarter blog. Larry is so far up Hillary’s ass that you can barely see his toes hanging out her bottom. Instead of waiting for the email, he gets her talking points as she thinks them. Either that or little gray beings from outer space deliver them each evening telepathically. Given all that, I hardly ever know when to take his site seriously. I mean, I would give Johnson full credit for breaking the “Karl Rove will be indicted” story, but I have to deduct a point since, well, there was no indictment.
So anyway, Johnson started this rumor regarding the tape and that, naturally, got picked up by many other bloggers because most of us bloggers never went to journalism school and don’t understand the difference between an actual source and a raving lunatic. Eventually, the blogger chatter grew so great that even analysts on the cable news shows and respected websites began to disseminate the information. This news is everywhere. I even sacrificed 25 IQ points to read a thread on it over at democraticunderground.com while preparing to write this piece.
So what’s going on—the concession, the no concession, the concession, the no concession, the “whitey tape”? Beats the hell out of me, but I doubt it’s that Clinton is trying to secure the nomination on the heels of a bombshell video.
First of all, if there is a video, which I highly doubt, it is not going to be distributed by the Republicans tomorrow (Wednesday) as the rumors have it. I have no inside information on this, but why would the Republicans want to damage McCain and help Hillary? They have to hold this imaginary tape until the last possible moment and then release it to the media right before the November elections. The Republican organization is nothing if not naïve and clumsy, but even this is something they can handle.
Second, given that there is likely no video, what could be Hillary’s motives if it is her camp providing the information to Johnson? Is she blackmailing for a VP spot or to pay off her debt? Pretty unlikely, but let’s look at it. Hillary’s campaign is over $40 million in debt, and there have been rumors (the usual bloggers with their sources) that she already has been working behind the scenes to strike a deal with the Obama camp to pay off her debt. And that really wouldn’t be a lot of money to pay to get rid of her and her marauding hoard of blogging goons. After all, liberals are like human ATM’s to Obama. He can raise this money in less than a month, particularly since he’s clinched the number of delegates needed to be the nominee.
But besides the blogging goons, there’s another good reason to appease Hillary and this is where the problem sets. Many of her supporters are miffed. Actually, that’s quite an understatement. Many of her supporters are enraged, believing this election was stolen from them (they’re mostly getting this, so far as I can tell, from the blogging goons). And McCain? Well, he’s not that conservative, is he? From communicating with a number of Clinton supporters and reading on various sites, it would appear that a decent number of them would defect to McCain in the fall or just not vote at all. That just won’t work in what is predicted to be a close election. But there’s a solution. For only about $40 million (and maybe the VP spot) I know someone who can help to smooth that out a bit for you.
So there’s good reason for Obama to do what Clinton wants with or without a video. I could be wrong. There could be a video released in the next day or two that causes the superdelegates to begin a defection to Hillary. But I’ll be glad to eat crow if that is the case. I think it’s much more likely that she just calls it a campaign tomorrow and uses the leverage of unifying the party to get her debts paid and to plead her case for VP.
I guess there are three main possibilities. There’s a tape and the Republicans have it. The rumor is mostly true as reported. Second option, there is no tape but the Hillary camp has been floating rumors of one to serve an unknown purpose (Republicans wouldn’t be floating rumors at this point). Or third, the tape is not there and the Clintons aren’t pushing the concept. This is actually my pick.
Rumors of the “whitey tape” all started, so far as I can tell, some time back with Larry Johnson over at the No Quarter blog. Larry is so far up Hillary’s ass that you can barely see his toes hanging out her bottom. Instead of waiting for the email, he gets her talking points as she thinks them. Either that or little gray beings from outer space deliver them each evening telepathically. Given all that, I hardly ever know when to take his site seriously. I mean, I would give Johnson full credit for breaking the “Karl Rove will be indicted” story, but I have to deduct a point since, well, there was no indictment.
So anyway, Johnson started this rumor regarding the tape and that, naturally, got picked up by many other bloggers because most of us bloggers never went to journalism school and don’t understand the difference between an actual source and a raving lunatic. Eventually, the blogger chatter grew so great that even analysts on the cable news shows and respected websites began to disseminate the information. This news is everywhere. I even sacrificed 25 IQ points to read a thread on it over at democraticunderground.com while preparing to write this piece.
So what’s going on—the concession, the no concession, the concession, the no concession, the “whitey tape”? Beats the hell out of me, but I doubt it’s that Clinton is trying to secure the nomination on the heels of a bombshell video.
First of all, if there is a video, which I highly doubt, it is not going to be distributed by the Republicans tomorrow (Wednesday) as the rumors have it. I have no inside information on this, but why would the Republicans want to damage McCain and help Hillary? They have to hold this imaginary tape until the last possible moment and then release it to the media right before the November elections. The Republican organization is nothing if not naïve and clumsy, but even this is something they can handle.
Second, given that there is likely no video, what could be Hillary’s motives if it is her camp providing the information to Johnson? Is she blackmailing for a VP spot or to pay off her debt? Pretty unlikely, but let’s look at it. Hillary’s campaign is over $40 million in debt, and there have been rumors (the usual bloggers with their sources) that she already has been working behind the scenes to strike a deal with the Obama camp to pay off her debt. And that really wouldn’t be a lot of money to pay to get rid of her and her marauding hoard of blogging goons. After all, liberals are like human ATM’s to Obama. He can raise this money in less than a month, particularly since he’s clinched the number of delegates needed to be the nominee.
But besides the blogging goons, there’s another good reason to appease Hillary and this is where the problem sets. Many of her supporters are miffed. Actually, that’s quite an understatement. Many of her supporters are enraged, believing this election was stolen from them (they’re mostly getting this, so far as I can tell, from the blogging goons). And McCain? Well, he’s not that conservative, is he? From communicating with a number of Clinton supporters and reading on various sites, it would appear that a decent number of them would defect to McCain in the fall or just not vote at all. That just won’t work in what is predicted to be a close election. But there’s a solution. For only about $40 million (and maybe the VP spot) I know someone who can help to smooth that out a bit for you.
So there’s good reason for Obama to do what Clinton wants with or without a video. I could be wrong. There could be a video released in the next day or two that causes the superdelegates to begin a defection to Hillary. But I’ll be glad to eat crow if that is the case. I think it’s much more likely that she just calls it a campaign tomorrow and uses the leverage of unifying the party to get her debts paid and to plead her case for VP.
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