It is well known that there is always a downside to all leaps in progress. In the case of the internet and blogosphere the upside was how legions of real experts on subject broad and wide were able to shatter the monopoly the news media held on informing the people on the issues and challenges of the day. The downside to the internet is all those who try exploit it for personal gain or fame – the hucksters and charlatans with agendas.

Sadly, these wannabe heralds of ‘truth’ are many times the American Idol rejects of political debate. Just like some really poor singers think they are the next hit sensation, there are people out there who think they are the next Dan Rather, Sean Hannity, etc. Combine these clowns with a raging ‘purity war’ to determine who is the most non-diverse, non-tolerant, non-democratically open on either side of the aisle (moderates are evil!) and you get some really wild and silly results. In the end we see clowns, wrapped in the stars and stripes, claiming they are the saviors of America while railing against all Americans who do not toe their agendas (sort of oxymoronic – don’t you think?).

The first, best example of the political version of an American Idol Reject, fighting a purity war for warped ideology all wrapped up in the American flag was Larry Johnson and his rumor of a Michelle Obama video slamming whites. From day one I thought this was mostly hype to set expectations about a video which did not send out the alarm bells on its own merit. One thing you cannot do these days on the internet is cry “wolf” and not produce even a mangy puppy. Johnson’s latest screed is quite telling, because he now claims much less knowledge than he did when this all started, but he does remind me of the lesson about crying “wolf”, a lesson the democrats need to be concerned about:

The recording that shows Michelle Obama saying disparaging things about white folks is for real. It is not part of some elaborate dirty trick. The people who have seen her comments describe it as “stunning” or “devastating.” 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.

Are they playing me? No, but it is a valid question to ask. Two of my sources, who have recounted the reactions of their friends who have seen the Michelle “performance,” live on opposite sides of the United States geographically and politically. They do not know each other and had no way of knowing that each of them was talking to me. This is one reason I believe the report of the “tape” is true.

When this began Johnson had 4 sources and he knew exactly where the offending action took place:

I now have it from two three four sources (three who are close to senior Republicans) that there is video dynamite–Michelle Obama railing against “whitey” at Jeremiah Wright’s church.

Over many posts we learned these sources were high up in GOP and Democrat circles, one was even an “Obama supporter” (hinting that the Obama team was aware of the tape). First there were 4 Rep sources:

Four Republican sources have told me that the tape exists.

Then we learned one or more of the ‘sources’ were democrats:

I have it solid from four separate sources–one of whom is a prominent person who also happens to be an Obama supporter. Two of the people I have spoken with–one a Republican and one a Democrate–have spoken directly to people who have seen the tape.

OK, if Larry is being consistent in the essence of his exaggerations (and that is a big if) then his two ‘friends’ – the Rep and Dem – are the only real sources he has, the ones mentioned in his last post. I am confident Johnson is a puppet being manipulated by a puppet master – one of these two ‘friends’ – which is why Johnson cannot back up his claims with any video. He was a useful idiot to play megaphone because he was so wound up on his party’s purity wars he would fall for anything if it was negative about the Obama’s. He did not seem to need a lot of convincing to run wild with rumors about something he had not seen, probably because it was right in line with his personal views.

Anyway, the point is Johnson is seeing the results of making wild claims which do not come true (sort of like how America will suffer defeat in Iraq):

now appreciate somewhat how Cofer Black, the head of the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center, must have felt as he tried to warn Condaleeza Rice and the Bush White House about a brewing terrorist attack in the days leading up to September 11th. And please, I am not equating the Michelle tape with the attacks of 9-11. Rather I am focused on the point of what happens when someone has incomplete information, which warns about a future event, and tries to raise the alert. Just because Cofer Black could not say in late July 2001 that the coming attack would be carried out by 19 hijackers on four commercial airliners did not mean his intelligence was wrong.

This tool is in full Walter Mitty mode, seeing himself as the lone voice of reason in a world gone mad. Notice how he wraps himself again in the American flag (which he does in each post)? Actually, I think is he one of the many voices of madness now facing an ever irritated electorate, an electorate who are fed up with these juvenile games. Check out this find from Flopping Aces regarding a black minister who is doing another version of the Obama smear, calling on Madam President Clinton to run as an Independent, and in return this guy will dump his Obama smears onto the public. It’s long and painful to watch – but it does illustrate well the downside of giving voice to anyone with a camera and some wild ideas.

You can see why the American Idol reject came to mind. What is driving all of this? It seems there are those in America who want to establish ‘pure’ or ‘true’ cliches who can claim to be the core of the GOP or conservatism, or the core of the Democrats or liberalism. I thought it was bad on the right side of the aisle with Hannity and others bolting the GOP and calling themselves ‘true’ conservatives (again wrapped in the flag and the image of Ronald Reagan). But check out how the Clinton supporters are being treated by the Obamabots:

The purpose of this diary is to respond to an earlier reccommended diary on the “signs of republican or McCain trolls”–or ways to spot what the author called “democrats supporting McCain.” The diary disturbed me as it seemed the penultimate way to trash every HRC supporter who said anything critical of Obama…in other words, “criticize Obama = republican troll”. The diary received many comments, and led subsequently to various commenters awarding “McCain points” to several HRC diarists in other posts, or to employ the “dismiss the argument” tactic by saying “is this snark?”

I don’t want the site’s obama people to forget that their behavior is transparent and how it is easy to see how they have approached and managed to take over so many blogs, and done so by maligning another democrat and half the democratic party that supports her. If you dare, follow below the fold.

Sounds like the cries of “RINO” and traitor that came flying out of the far right when Bush did not toe their line, creating a civil war that resulted in the GOP losing Congress in 2006. If the Obamabots are dissing the unclean on the democrat side (which they clearly are) then I can see the Obama campaign doing for Democrats what Bill Clinton did – which is destroy their base of support.

I have claimed that this year Americans wanted to stay out of the fringes, stay out of purity wars. Whichever party can create bonds of respect with the moderate middle will win, those who feel they must rant and rave against compromise and impurity in the cause will lose. With both sides taking the low road to some degree, it really is hard to figure out who will win this thing!