Major Update: While the ‘rumors’ of the tape were hinted at this morning on talk radio, nothing major was discussed as far as I could tell (I only get to listen to small bits, if at all). But one bit of critical information was let out by Jed Babbit (spelling?) this morning as he sat in for Laura Ingraham: it turns out the tape does not have Louis Farrakhan and Michelle Obama, it has Mrs. Farrakhan and Michelle. This revelation tells me (again) that the media has the tape and are working with someone to time its release, still expected for tomorrow sometime.
As I predicted below and yesterday it seems Clinton will not end her campaign, but simply suspend it tonight, with the tape coming out (coincidentally) tomorrow before a wave of Super Delegate pronouncements hit the news. As I noted below I find the collusion with the media (left or right) on determining the timing of this news to be totally improper and manipulation of our democratic process. - end update
Democrat political heavyweight Bob Beckel said this morning on FNC that a ‘big shoe’ was about to drop on Michelle Obama (H/T to Doug Ross for the news and the link):
“shoe will drop on OBAMA regarding Michelle, tomorrow” Bob Beckel on FNC @ 6:23AM ET
He said he is hearing this from people he knows are credible. He thinks it is stupid of Repubs re timing.
He said it is a MAJOR SHOE. Was asked if it was worse than her thesis. He said much worse.
He also reported that all of Hillary’s advance people were told to wrap it up in their states and return to HQ.
Now this could just be CLINTON COVERING HER TRACKS on the MAJOR SHOE!!
If this is accurate (it is an email report blasted through the blogosphere from someone very reliable) then we should see or hear more news on the subject throughout the day. The timing is everything here. The voters are locked out of the nomination process after today. Now is the best time to kill off Obama’s chances so that there is the summer to let things cool off and hope the Democrat base is more afraid of McCain and the GOP than mad at Clinton (not likely) and reform behind Clinton.
Plausible deniability, as I explained yesterday, would be Clinton signaling the ’suspension’ of her campaign (not the ‘end’) and waiting to step into take over as Obama falls. The tape comes out and Obama starts to sink, so she can claim innocence since she had ’suspended’ her campaign. Even Beckel notes how bad the timing is if it is the GOP holding the shoe, but it is not bad for Clinton of course.