The thin whitey line

Today marks the end of the primary season that seemingly had no end. Voters in South Dakota and Montana are going to the polls to help select the Democratic Party nominee for president. Or, in this case, likely push Barack Obama over the top with the delegates needed to give him the nod.

Already, the campaign of close rival Hillary Clinton has been hinting at her concession, in order to help unite everyone behind Obama. As I write this, she is rumored to be conceding tonight. Likely, the majority of her supporters will eagerly switch over, but as is often the case in heated primary contests, there will be a few holdouts.

Last weekend, at the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws meeting, where they formulated a final plan to get the renegade delegations of Michigan and Florida seated at the National Convention, many Clinton supporters showed up to lay out their scorched earth demands - Hillary or nothing. Some were adamant about a woman being at the top of the ticket, though the specter of race loomed large, like crazed supporter Harriet Christian:

Yikes!

And, not surprisingly, she was invited to appear on FOX News not too soon after. Okay, maybe not a surprise. I guess she must speak for all women who will vote for an old white guy who divorced his extremely loyal first wife for being too fat, trading her in for a blonder, thinner and much wealthier and much more 'Stepfordy' model that he has allegedly beat up and called a 'cunt.' A guy who called Chelsea Clinton 'ugly' when she was still a child. Over an easy-going reliable family man like Obama in a rock-solid happy marriage to a very intelligent, ambitious and career-oriented woman. They're threatening to vote for a candidate that promises to stack the Supreme Court with conservative activist judges looking to gut Roe v. Wade. Yeah, that makes sense. Not!

Clinton's most hardcore supporters are desperate. How much so? They're even willing to trot out some rather ridiculous characters, such as Larry Sinclair, a homeless drug addict from, of all places, Duluth, MN, who claims to have had cocaine-fueled gay sex with the Illinois senator. It doesn't matter that he failed a much-hyped polygraph test anyway, or that his allegations have been grist mostly on tinfoil hat web sites like Rense.com. Conspiracy theories are often just fantasy put out there by people who wish it really was that way.

Alas, there's still people willing to go down with the ship and drag the Democrats with them. My way or the highway. Take Larry C. Johnson, for instance. Now, who's this Larry Johnson character anyway? Well, he spent four years as a CIA intelligence officer, which I guess makes him somewhat of an expert on foreign policy or whatever. He was a registered Republican who supported George W. Bush in 2000. He turned on the Bush administration over the Iraq War and whole Valerie Plame affair. Since then, he has injected himself into the presidential primary season, becoming a vociferous supporter of Clinton. Or, perhaps he is more of a foe of Barack Obama.

Let's face it, anyone reading his blog could easily come away with the conclusion that he really hates Barack Obama. I mean, really really really hates him. Johnson has done more to trash the guy than the Republican Party and FOX News combined! The whole crazy reverend thing. The bitter thing. Any kind of ridiculous anti-Obama talking point that comes around has probably been pounded to death by Larry Johnson.

And it's not just Johnson. Alleged Democratic pundits such as Taylor Marsh and former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, and supposed progressive sites such as Make Them Accountable are prepared to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, seemingly prepared to do anything possible to keep the most progressive Democratic front-runner we've had in years from becoming our next president. if this election has accomplished nothing else, at least we can now see who are friends really are or aren't.

And with the primary season, and Clinton's campaign, winding down, her supporters are grasping are lobbing their final assault, almost in concert with certain conservative-leaning media outlets. This time, Johnson promises, he's got his own atomic bomb. A game changer. One he vows is guaranteed to knock the 'bruthah' off his perch. Bigger than bitter. Bigger than the shoulder brush. Bigger than Rev. Wright. Something that would be worth millions to any adversary who desired it. And, to add some icing to the cake, it involves that alleged crazy-ass church he used to attend (that's really not all that crazy, BTW). See, in Larryworld, Obama's wife Michelle did the unspeakable: She said "Whitey." In that so-called crazy church they attended (which again, is not all that crazy).

Or maybe not.

Johnson has been hyping this thing for a while, continuously harping the White Power line. He got freaky Republican consultant Roger Stone involved, in addition to the usual gang of idiots at FOX Noise. Johnson promised to release the tape this week. The whole gang had hard-ons!

Only thing is, the whole 'whitey' meme is bullshit. And if the tape actually does exist, and is legitimate, it's not what it's been hyped up about. The BooMan Tribune has a good idea what it's all about, and on Sunday, the day before Johnson claimed he'd release the tape, spelled it all out for the clear thinking crowd:

My old friend, Larry Johnson, knows about manipulating elections from his training with the Central Intelligence Agency. He doesn't want Obama to win the nomination for whatever reason, and he's in full propaganda mode to do everything he can to frighten the superdelegates. He claims to have a shocking tape of Michelle Obama ranting in some anti-white diatribe. He promises to produce this tape tomorrow at 9am.

From what I understand, it is a tape of Michelle Obama criticizing the Bush administration.

How you'd write it:

Why did Bush cut folks off medicaid?
Why did Bush let New Orleans drown?
Why did Bush do nothing about Jena?
Why did Bush put us in Iraq for no reason?

How you'd say it:

Why'd he cut folks off medicaid?
Why'd he let New Orleans drown?
Why'd he do nothing about Jena?
Why'd he put us in Iraq for no reason?

How Larry Johnson wants you to hear it:

Whitie cut folks off medicaid?
Whitie let New Orleans drown?
Whitie do nothing about Jena?
Whitie put us in Iraq for no reason?

In other words, 'whitey' = 'why'd he.' Get it? Yep, that appears to be the big bombshell, the massive game changer that will give his girl the victory she allegedly deserves.

Now, maybe it doesn't matter whether she said 'why'd he' or 'whitey.' It's all about a concept called 'ratfucking.' The idea is as old as politics itself. The 'dirty tricks' squad of Richard Nixon's campaign, including head prankster Donald Segretti, an early mentor of Karl Rove, helped coin the rather crude phrase. Basically, throw out nasty, baseless accusations toward the rival, and make him/her try to deny them. It doesn't even matter if it's all a lie anyway. The concept was utilized by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to trash Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004.

Of course, the concept of ratfucking walks a rather narrow line, particularly in the age of the internet, where grassroots bloggers and rapid response teams could ensure that the lies blow up in the users' faces. And this new Michelle Obama meme looks like bullshit, smells like bullshit and most likely is bullshit. So much that when the promised release time came and went Monday morning at 9 AM, the tape was still not there. The hype still was.

Now, if this tape were actually that toxic to the Obama campaign, wouldn't it have already surfaced? Even though the Clinton campaign has hemorrhaged tens of millions of dollars in the course of securing the nomination, I'm sure they would have the wherewithal to obtain it. FOX News would definitely have it already, as would the Republican National Committee. Nothing is impossible in the age of the internet, particularly since Trinity United Church of Christ records all of their services and streams them over the internet. Likely, the Clinton campaign, the RNC and media outlets saw it in the process of closely scrutinizing all of Trinity's services with a fine tooth comb and cherry-picked all they possibly could. Anything worthwhile can probably be found on YouTube anyway, with the leftovers just sitting around in a pile somewhere. The 'whitey' video is all sizzle, no steak. Meaning that it's all hype with a big climactic letdown. I'll be surprised at this point if we ever see this whole thing. If this is indeed what the whole thing is about, then this could turn into Larry Johnson's Waterloo. His fifteen minutes of fame will have come to an end, with all his bridges scorched to dust.

Don't believe the hype.