Tommy Christopher at Mediaite has decided to wade into the “Phantom N-Word” story and do the heavy lifting of the Congressional Black Caucus, Media Matters, MSNBC and all of the networks and publications that spread the false charges of racism emanating from the health care protests in Washington DC on March 20th. After reading Tommy’s lame attempt I see now why the other apologists for the Congressional Black Caucus have stayed silent for months on this issue.
Let me answer his two main arguments immediately and then provide detailed and sourced evidence to support me answers:
1. There is corroborating evidence from three eyewitnesses who said the racial slurs occurred
WRONG: There is one witness with no corroboration. And that witness is NOT civil-rights hero Rep. John Lewis. (more below)
2. The five videos showing the moment the slurs were supposed to have taken place don’t reveal what each and every person present is saying, therefore, it does not prove the racial slurs didn’t happen.
WRONG: The videos we have provided of the incident unequivocally prove that the scene described by the one witness is a complete fabrication. Furthermore, it is not incumbent on the accused to prove something did not happen, it is incumbent on the accuser to prove that it did.
To back-up his claim that there is corroborating evidence from three respected congressmen, Tommy links to two articles: The original report from McClatchy that started the “N-word” story in the first place and a subsequent piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Cynthia Tucker where she discusses the matter with Rep. John Lewis.
For three eyewitness testimonies to be “corroborating” they need to support one another’s version of the events. Let’s look at each person’s testimony:
First, Rep. John Lewis has never been quoted on the record by any publication saying he heard racial slurs. Even in the one-on-one interview Ms. Tucker conducted in the AJC, Rep. Lewis himself is not quoted.
Next, Rep. Cleaver’s testimony from the day of the alleged event is:
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said he was a few yards behind Lewis and distinctly heard “nigger.”
“It was a chorus,” Cleaver said. “In a way, I feel sorry for those people who are doing this nasty stuff – they’re being whipped up. I decided I wouldn’t be angry with any of them.”
Cleaver’s office said later in a statement that he’d also been spat upon and that Capitol Police had arrested his assailant. The statement praised the police, who Cleaver said escorted the members of Congress into the Capitol past the demonstrators.
The problem with Rep. Cleaver’s compelling statement and testimony is that he was no where near Rep. Lewis as he walked to the Capitol that day. Video evidence proves that fact. Watch:
Now that Rep. Lewis and Rep. Cleaver are eliminated as corroborating witnesses, Tommy is left with one man: Rep Andre Carson.
Rep. Carson inherited the seat his grandmother used to occupy and he has failed to denounce the anti-Semitic ramblings of Louis Farrakhan, the man who eulogized his grandmother at her funeral.
Now, let’s listen to Rep. Carson’s exact description of the events that day, moments after they allegedly occurred:
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Rep. Carson says of the scene:
“…kill the bill’”and then the n-word [imitates crowd yelling racial slur] Lewis, his chief of staff, and myself (a former cop) I’m closer to Lewis… [we were] very stoic, looked straight forward, and Capitol Police got the idea. They started surrounding us. It was like a page out of a time machine.
This account brings us to Tommy’s second point which is that the videos we have presented don’t prove everything everyone said therefore they can’t prove the slurs weren’t shouted. Of course, we never suggested they did, but the videos do prove a couple of things.
You can certainly see from the videos we presented that the congressmen are given a wide berth as they trot down the steps at Cannon. They are not surrounded. There are no Capitol Police intervening because there is no need for the Capitol Police. It also hardly looks like a scene that one would anticipate rocks being thrown.
On this point alone the testimony of Rep. Carson should be seen as suspect since his description of the scene is false, let alone his account of what was shouted.
But, specific to the alleged shouts of racial slurs from the individuals in the crowd, let’s again look at how Rep. Carson described the chant:
Cannon….coming out with John Lewis out of the elevator with his chief of staff, and it was just the three of us walking down the steps — ‘kill the bill’, ‘kill the bill’…n – word fifteen times.
Rep. Carson kept repeating the same thing: ‘Kill the bill, kill the bill, N-WORD” and he says he heard it fifteen times. The way Rep. Carson describes it you would think there would be a cadence where the “N-Word” slur fits right in with “Kill the Bill.” And since it is coming fifteen times, you would think that the various camera angles we have offered would pick up the shouts of the slur from the top of the steps, the bottom of the steps, the edge of the curb as the congressmen walk past and the edge of the curb when the congressmen walk into the street. But our cameras don’t pick up anything like what Rep. Carson described.
According to Tommy, if we can’t tell exactly what each person in the videos are saying, despite the fact we have offered video from so many different angles, we must believe Rep. Carson.
Speaking of those camera angles, Tommy asks why we only have 7 – 9 seconds of footage (implying we have left footage on the cutting room floor). The fact is, Tommy only grabbed footage from our latest video (in a series of seven) that we have presented over the past three months. Feel free to look at much longer versions of these videos here, here and here.
Finally, Tommy points to a man walking behind the congressmen. He calls him an “aide” and asks why he is pointing to someone in the crowd. Here’s your answer Tommy: He’s not an aide. He is Rep. John Shadegg from Arizona. And he is not pointing to someone in the crowd, he is giving a “Thumbs-down” indicating he is voting against ObamaCare. And the crowd cheers him for it. See for yourself:
We urge our readers to read all of the links provided here, look at the videos, look at the behavior and the credibility of the accusers and make up your own minds about this issue. The New York Times has already seen fit to correct their reporting on this episode. And it seems the readers of Tommy’s column have made their opinion well heard in the comment section of his post (Jim Treacher’s contribution is particularly entertaining).
Oh how we love Democracy.
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17 Comments
I’ve mentioned this before several times regarding this controversy. See this video angle for my point. Pay close attention at around .37. I don’t know if it’s Jackson, Jr. or someone else (to the white guy’s right). In his hands are 2 blackberrys being used to video the march (up close at .49 you see one in his right hand and immediately you see another in his left hand) pointed at the crowds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3dOdniifqo&fe...
Now, you mean to tell me you have 2 videos being recorded from point A to point B from a member of the CBC, in-step with the little antagonistic and arrogant march and even with two videos recording the march, THEY can’t come up with legitimate claims of the use of the n-word??? How come this FACT hasn’t been scrutinized by ANY media?
Because, once again, the accusation is a lie, lie, lie.
questioning these people's credibility is like wondering whether the Titanic actually hit an iceberg- or someone just pulled the cork…
Of course they are not credible. They are politicians, and Progressives to boot. Truth will always be a casualty to those who believe that 'the end justifies the means'. This whole charade was invented; Pelosi walking defiantly with her gavel
(gag) surrounded by the courageous Black Congressional Caucus- it was a setup from the getgo, and they hoped someone would say something untoward.
It didn't happen. So, they do what good little Progressives do, and made it up. It's the 'seriousness of the charge', you know. Their big problem- and they TRULY know this- is the 24/7 cbale news cycle and the internet. Their fabrications are 'outed' before they have any time to gain traction.
Keep up the good work out there…
It's been a proven fact that this whole "racist" incident is a fabricated lie for months. These people on the left are getting more desperate by the day. Also, if there was a shread of truth to these ridiculous allegetions, Breitbart would have a wallet that's $100,000 lighter. Man, these people are LAME!
These reporters are reporting the facts as they "see" them. The words were utered because they need them to be uttered. Case close. Otherwise, their whole agenda and Allinski tactics fall apart.
I guess reality depends on your spin to these guys.
There is also another video, when they are going down the stairs, and a guy standing at the bottom of the stairs with a video camera and filming the whole thing…teh BG video even has an arrow pointing at the guy. I think the title of the BG video was Who Is This Guy.
I have pointed out the Blackberries also… also note that the guy with the blackberries came back with a cop, as if looking for him, the guy was still standing in the same spot right in front of them–now don't you think he would have moved if he spit on a congressman and the police came back to look for him? After all two blackberries in his face should have held proof.
I remember one interview in which one of the "victims" used phrases, 'it felt like', 'I could hear it in my head', so his subjective reality proves that their was racism involved. The other argument presented by our own President that the reptile part of the human brain mistrusts what is unfamiliar, thus racism is alive and well. Yet another is that statistically in society that a small percentage may be racist, thus racism is present. So, be damned truth, to deny racism is in itself racist.
“Tommy Christopher is a racist. Prove otherwise, Tommy.”
-Jim Treacher
“So’s your face.”
-Tommy Christopher
Bwahahaha! What an adolescent response! Really? How old is this guy?
Tommy boy, when are you 0bammunists going to give up? No one believes your “racist” smears anymore … not even your buddies at the New Yuk Times.
Now Larry O’Connor over at Breitbart just made you look like a complete buffoon.
Next time, if you race-baiting liars want to convince intelligent people that someone yelled the “n-word”, make sure there is not a sea of video cameras recording every moment. Duh. Do all Libs have the IQs of ice cubes?
Let us use Hillary Clintons own words to inspire all of US today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxmpTMGhU0
The only honest and logical conclusion that can be drawn, after review of the video and audio (some for the second time), is that Carson and Cleaver are goddamned liars. The Left and their media sycophants know they are nailed, and after these last desperate attempts to rehabilitate their public servants they will say it is time to move on.
Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
As an aside, Lewis claimed he had been misquoted only after the tapes surfaced although he made insinuatons not unlike those of Cleaver and Carson. I don't have a link to Lewis' statements prior to the tapes surfacing, unfortnately.
Oh how it must annoy the folks at Mediaite that thinking people actually read their tripe and go out of their way to comletely blow Mediaite's "facts" out of the water. I admit I didn't read all the comments but, I would hazard to guess it was rational people over KoolAid drinkers ten to one. Despite the fact the article itself was BS one would think a "journalist" who says he has "three credible witnesses" could actually produce 3 and not two. I know, math is hard! Wow, I just realized, Tommy had a Winston Smith moment! One plus one is three! Repeat, over and over again.
Hat tip to Kathleen McKinley:
Rep. John Lewis NEVER SAID HE HEARD THE ‘N’ WORD. He has never addressed this situation soon after it happened. It is easily solved. Rep. Clyburn admitted that he never heard the ‘n’ word. You think with it being said 15 times, he might have. Only his aide claims to have heard it. I wrote and open letter to Rep. John Lewis at the time, and I sent it to him personally as well. He has never responded. Maybe Mr. Christopher can do his JOB, instead of trying to smear innocent people, and ask Rep. Lewis if he heard it or not:
Rep. John Lewis,
I may not agree with you on issues of today, but I know you were a great civil rights leader. I don’t think you would lie about such a thing. So as a man of honor, it is up to you to answer this directly. Did you hear the “N” word shouted at you 15 times, as the aide said?
If you tell me you did, then I will believe it. Until then, you are letting this lie take hold, and that is just wrong. The Tea Party is not about race. It is about liberty. We believe in liberty for all. We celebrate the many black speakers and leaders in the Tea Party movement and would welcome any and all to join us.
I am a child of integration Mr. Lewis. This is important for me to know.
Be the man of honor that I know you are Mr. Lewis.
Tell the truth.
Respectfully,
-Kathleen McKinley
http://www.KathleenMcKinley.com
=======================================
Many people have a great respect for John Lewis. I do not. John Lewis sent an aid out to lie for him in order to smear his political opponents with a vicious lie. John has used his reputation as a prostitute would use her body; he took a thing of beauty and turned it into something vile and ugly.
Why don't you tell us yourself whether or not you heard the "n-word", John? Be a man.
The truth is John Lewis is a shell of his former greatness … a shadow of a man whose honor died in Selma in 1965.
Yea, makes me believe that the CBC is well aware they are stuck with looking like idiots for a long, long time on this one. It's like that bugger stuck to your finger that just won't go away, no matter how hard you flick it.
As long as you are willing to argue over whether or not you are worthy of being part of the public debate, the liberal-progressive is happy as this is the only argument they can win – the argument is based upon subjective considerations instead of objective measurements and liberal-progressives can NEVER win an argument/debate based upon objective measurement.
This is their game, with their rules, played on their turf and with them being the referees. To have a chance of winning you must deny them one of those considerations, to wit: you have to not play the game at all, or you have to be able to change the rules, or you have to change the location of the game to somewhere neutral or you have to have a game where they aren't the player and the referee.
Since you insist on being players, strike the first one as a means of winning. You'll always be a sucker and play.
The second one is the important one – you have to change the rules. Luckily, this is your way out, so we'll come back to it.
The third one you cannot change either. The media is the turf and that won't change ever. So forget ending their homefield advantage. That's not happening.
The final one is changing their role from player and operator of the game to just being a player. To do that they have to want to have a reason to not be the referee. The only way they wouldn't want that is if the cost of being the referee was too high compared to the benefits being a referee gives them. This will only happen if the rules change.
This brings us to the rules.
The current rules allow them to call you a racist and you shut up and allow them to continue to steal your money because you are obviously a racist. You're too stupid to end this and come up with a solution, so you get your eyes gouged out because you don't have the courage to stand up and do the right thing (which would be to never vote for anyone who thinks race issues are important public policy considerations). The race-baiters are okay with this because they can make money for doing nothing other than yelling at you – which is all they can manage to do for a vocation anyway. This means you have to make the exercise more painful to them than the potential payoff would seem to suggest they could obtain.
You change the rules by making them pay a price they don't want to pay for playing the game. Remember, as long as you reward (subsidize) an activity, you'll get more of it. They don't care if playing with matches will burn down your house as long as it doesn't burn down their house. They'll stop playing with matches when they get burned.
The same is true here.
You have to frame the argument so that racism always creates what they believe to be an outcome that creates the risk of them having less of an advantage than they had before they did so. It has to be a cut the nose off to spite the face thing that they immediately experience, or the rules aren't going to change and the outcome becomes the same.
99% of Americans aren't smart enough to see how they can frame this and make the game change.
Are you a 1% American? Let's get some responses and have fun with this. Do you have the answer to the puzzle or not? Post your answer. I'll give you one that will work 100% of the time to end race card politics at the end of the posts. Let's see who we really are. Time to be honest. Do you have the answer or just want to play and see it?
Dun't tease me.
Hey, Andrew Breitbart has eviscerated the statist progressive thugs at their own game.
Because of his courage and tenacity, the benefit of the doubt now shifts to the Tea Party movement on all future racial smear attempts. Andrew exposed the Libs' vicious lie, made them crawl in a corner and avoid being interviewed. The 0bammunists' credibility has now been totally shattered.
Michelle Obama's buddies at the NAACP tried again to use the smear, but it backfired big time. It only strengthened Andrew's clout on the national stage, because it became obvious that the White House trembles in fear of truth tellers like Breitbart and Glenn Beck.
Tommy Christopher's lame little screed is a pathetic little joke. They got bupkis and they know it.
Soon all the minority representatives running for high public office will drive the Libs absolutely bonkers, because they are all likely to win. That will deprive the Leftists of their only hope of distracting everyone from their dramatic policy failures and corruption.
The answer to the puzzle is to understand how you must fight these fundamentally corrupt thugs:
"You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal? "
-Malone in the Untouchables
We are the new media. We are everywhere.
Oh, but the tease is half the game. There are the truth tellers and they are a help. They are helping to change the game, but the game isn't expensive enough for the liberal-progressives to stop playing yet.
We want the game to be very, very expensive, but I think if we make it violent we lose. I have something else in mind, though I certainly appreciate your position.
Ash nagz kimbatul.
Tommy on Larry's show tonight? Help make sure Marooned in Marin who was there gets in on the action. http://tinyurl.com/25yz5sv
Thanks for letting me know, unfortunately, I didn't find the message in time and missed it. I like the way Tommy has been ducking me, even after I left a message at the article he wrote on Mediaite.
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