If Tapper had put down his chicken sandwich and rented The War Room, he'd know that Mickey Kantor did not call Indiana voters "shit"
SUMMARY: Referring to the false allegation that in the 1993 movie The War Room, Clinton campaign adviser Mickey Kantor called Indiana voters "shit," Jake Tapper wrote on his blog: "Were I not currently eating a chicken sandwich at Liberty East Restaurant in Charlotte, NC, while working on a World News piece about the economy and the candidates, I would go to Blockbuster, rent a copy of The War Room and settle this matter as much as possible." Media Matters for America did obtain a copy of the film and does indeed "settle" the matter; Kantor did not call anyone "shit," and he was not referring to Hoosiers when he said, "Those people are shitting."
In a May 2 post on his ABC News blog Political Punch, ABC News senior national correspondent Jake Tapper republished a May 1 post he had temporarily taken down, in which he asserted: "Bill Clinton's Trade Representative, a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and an informal adviser to her campaign -- once seemed to have some not-so-nice things to say about the Hoosiers his chosen candidate is working so hard to pursue. As seen in The War Room, watching election returns come in, [Mickey] Kantor seems to say in hushed tones to James Carville, 'Look at Indiana, wait, wait -- look at Indiana. 42-40. It doesn't matter if we win. Those people are s---. Excuse me.' " After noting that both Kantor and War Room director D.A. Pennebaker have reportedly denied that Kantor called people from Indiana "shit," Tapper added: "Were I not currently eating a chicken sandwich at Liberty East Restaurant in Charlotte, NC, while working on a World News piece about the economy and the candidates, I would go to Blockbuster, rent a copy of The War Room and settle this matter as much as possible." Media Matters for America did obtain a digital copy of The War Room and downloaded the relevant section. It is provided here and clearly indicates that Kantor is not saying, "Those people are shit"; he is, in fact, saying, "Those people are shitting," presumably referring to the Bush campaign's reaction to the poll numbers he was reading.
In the film, a 1993 documentary about former President Bill Clinton's campaign staff during his 1992 presidential campaign, Kantor is seen discussing poll numbers with Clinton advisers James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. Subtitles from the original movie erroneously state that Kantor says, "Those people are gonna shit," followed by "[Whispering]."
According to a May 2 blog entry by Politico senior political writer Ben Smith, Pennebaker asserted that in The War Room, "He [Kantor] says they must be shi**ing in the White House":
He said the initial expletive referred to the anticipated reaction in the Bush White House to the fact that Ross Perot's polling numbers were holding strong.
"What he says is he's surprised Perot's numbers are holding," said Pennebaker in a brief phone interview. "He says they must be shi**ing in the White House."
After Tapper published his May 1 post, the Drudge Report linked to it under the headline: "FLASHBACK: Clinton Informal Adviser on Hoosiers in 1992: 'S**t'..." The Drudge Report also linked to Pennebaker's assertion, from Smith's blog entry, that Kantor was being misquoted, under the headline: "Clip Said Doctored..."
A version of the video from The War Room, which Tapper did not post, but that has circulated widely online, suggests that Kantor also called the people of Indiana "white n---rs." According to Smith's blog post, Pennebaker said that remark "appeared to have been entirely fabricated, with new audio dubbed onto the original movie." In the original, Kantor appears to be asking Stephanopoulos, "How would you like to be Charlie Black at this point?" Black was one of the primary spokesmen for the Bush-Quayle campaign.
In a May 2 interview with The Huffington Post, Kantor said of the remarks in question: "And I was talking about the polling and not the people ... If you look at The War Room, this is not the way Carville or George interpreted my statement. This is frankly libelous."
From The War Room:
CARVILLE: It looks good. Now, let's just say: I like the text here.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Can you beep Wendy, please?
KANTOR: Oh, you got it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Looks pretty good. Looks pretty good.
KANTOR: Look at -- look at Indiana. Wait, wait. Look at Indiana, 42-40. It doesn't matter if we win. Those people are shitting. Oh, excuse me. [inaudible]
How would you like to be Charlie Black at this point? Look at Texas. Go down to Texas.
CARVILLE: Even?
KANTOR: Yeah, 39-39.
CARVILLE: Perot's kind of holding, isn't he?
KANTOR: Yeah, he held. His numbers held.
CARVILLE: I'm sort of surprised, frankly.
STEPHANOPOULOS: This could be a landslide.
UPDATE: As Media Matters was finalizing this item, Tapper posted an update in which he acknowledged that "Kantor Never Impugned Hoosiers."
Heck, if anyone can even explain to me how Mickey Kantor calling the people of Indiana "sh!t" makes any sense at all in this context, I'll stipulate it.
There's nothing to figure out.
It's called a dirty campaign tactic to do this. It's called a lie. It's called corporate Republican politics. It's called plutocrats who are not going to allow Democrats to win in November. And this is just the start.
Eat the sandwich with one hand and call an intern to fact-check for you with the other.
He doesn't want to. His express words show that he doesn't care about the facts. The facts get in the way.
Welcome to Journalism '08. What does anyone expect?-- look who their bosses are.
Whenever the RIGHTIES start throwing around "swear words", all I can think of is Bush and Cheney calling someone an a$$hole from a stage and Cheney using the F-Bomb in the Senate.
And if you haven't heard, Rev. Wright said GODdamn in his church. Just trying to keep everyone in the Repub-loop-can frame of mind. We'll keep Sen. McCains' description of his wife out of this election..Yeah, Right.
What a shame that again Clinton supporters are being called out on false charges of hate and racism. And don't think that it isn't exactly that - trying to get soon to be voters thinking that they were being called "sh*t" for being middle class blue collar workers who are more and more swinging to Clinton or trying to incense black voters in NC with the term "white ni**ers" thrown in to get their blood boiling at the use of the word. It is completely carrying on with the same meme as has been from the beginning when Bill Clinton was called racist for saying Obama's stance on Iraq was a fairy tale while it was spun into Obama's candidacy was a fairytale and therefore racism against him.
Since I don't support either candidate or have to push falsehoods, slander or smears against either, it is obvious if you watch from afar this whole race has been racist from the start and the flack Clinton is getting for "dirty tricks" is mild compared to this theme of Rovian tactics of making a couple who have been supportive of the black community for years into racists. Whoever put up this piece of garbage tape and tried to spin it while everyone junps on the bandwagon berating Clinton as if she personally said it or says they heard the same thing as the tape claims should be ashamed of themselves. It was totally obvious they were talking about the poll numbers and not people and how the White House must be fearing the possible upset.
Now I wonder how long it willl be before the Obama supporters come out and say Clinton did this to garner sympathy? That would be completely ridiculous but it will appear sooner than later on one of the friendly Obama blogs, you can bet your life on that!
Give Tapper a break, a man's gotta eat.And I guess he only works and researches during his lunch break, and naps the rest of the day.
I used this same tactic in fudging on my taxes this year. I shorted the iRS a few grand.When they called me on it I told them I would have double-checked my math, but I was having an arugula/O.J. float and just didn't have time. They were cool about it.
An OJ and arugula float? Man, that sounds refreshing. Jake Tapper could use one of those to rehydrate some brain cells that have obviously gone dry.
This seems like a smear on Tapper by the posters here, even MMFA states he updated his blog before this smear piece hit MMFA thread line.
UPDATE: As Media Matters was finalizing this item, Tapper posted an update in which he acknowledged that "Kantor Never Impugned Hoosiers."
I'm sure Tapper had no ill intent when he flagrantly put out a false story without checking it. And then a correction is issued. Hmmmn. Wonder how many saw the correction. Bet it wasn't as many people as read the poorly crafted blog entry. And now that the ill intentioned rumor is out there and has legs, we are supposed to give the guy a pass? Don't think so.
6 out of 10 Americans believe there was a conspiracy to cover up the conspiracy to doctor the youtube Mickey Kantor video clip of the 1993 documentary "the War Room". I swear I heard him call folks in Indiana sh*t.
And in frame 571, I swear I see a puff of smoke behind the stockade fence in the grassy knoll.
you guys, Here's your script for the blip in question:
KANTOR: Look at -- look at Indiana. Wait, wait. Look at Indiana, 42-40. It doesn't matter if we win. Those people are shitting. Oh, excuse me. [inaudible]
How would you like to be Charlie Black at this point? Look at Texas. Go down to Texas.
Here's the award nominee director version:
MICKEY
Look at Indiana. Wait, wait. Look at Indiana. Forty-two, forty. It doesn’t matter if we win. Those people are s—-ing (oh, excuse me) in the White House. How would you like to be… Look at Texas, go down to Texas.
Where did you get Charlie Black? Someone in your staff suggested it? The director never listed it. And you didn't get White House, but the director did, apparently because participants got together to recreate what was said.
You are as guilty as the guy who added words to help viewers decide what was said.
A friend of mine who used to transcribe telephone call interceptions and videos for government agencies would tell me that it was always a struggle because the agent in charge would try to influence the inaudibles. "oh he said this" or "a pot of beans means a brick of pot". or, "that's Daisy's voice" when the transcrber couldn't identify the speaker in the call. But an ethical transcriber only writes what he/she can hear and obviously you all heard differently. There are inaudibles because Kantor whispered, perhaps aware that there was a camera. You do a disservice by imposing your version on what would obviously be scripted inaudible or unintelligible by an ethical transcriber.
Tappers acknowledgment is the same. Who is he to pass judgment on the tape? The best he could have said is that "he found nothing in the tape to impugn Hoosiers." Leave the uncaptioned tape. Let the viewers decide unassissted.
One tape was doctored by adding text that could be drawn by what was said and was immediately pulled from youtube. The other was uncaptioned but also got pulled from youtube.
Wright's was doctored by splicing bits of this and that and was played by the media even now, over and over again. It's still sitting in Youtube.
Although trite, it is certainly true as far as the media, that the squeaky campaign gets the oil.