Beckel Stokes the Michelle Obama "Whitey" Video Rumor's Embers

Via JWF, Fox News' Alisyn Camerota recaps Democratic strategist Bob Beckel's appearance on this morning's Fox and Friends.

Were you watching at 6:25 when Democratic strategist Bob Beckel dropped a bomb on us?  He said he’d heard through his political pipeline that a big shoe was about to drop on the Obama campaign.  It has something to do with Michelle Obama.  Beckel wouldn’t say anything more other than this explosive story may happen tomorrow.   Do you think the GOP has something up its sleeve that could blow up Obama’s campaign?  If so, when do you think they’ll unleash it?

The presumption is that Beckel is tacitly referring to the rumored video of Michelle Obama demonizing "Whitey" at Trinity United Church, the ostensible existence of which has been loudly (if completely unverifiably) professed by the likes of Larry Johnson and Roger Stone in recent days.

The timing of it (were it to be true) would seem to leave more Clintonian fingerprints, but I could buy it coming from Republican sources too.  After all, the best thing to happen to the GOP this cycle has been the heavily armed, protracted battle between Clinton and Obama.  With the end of that intraparty scrapple in sight, thwacking Obama with a secret weapon of October surprise caliber might be a shrewd maneuver at this point, if the goal is to further protract the Democratic primary.  The nominee of party torn irreversibly in twain by Labor Day might be more easily beaten than an Obama with an eventually reconciled party (and media) behind him, who gets whacked with a damaging video in the final weeks of the general.  Might.  The clearest beneficiary of releasing such a tape now is still Hillary, so the fingerprints on this possibly manufactured rumor do tend to look more Clintonian than Republican.

While Beckel's appearance is interesting, the rumor still falls in the dubious category.  He, Stone, and Johnson are all very well-connected, but none of them even claim first hand knowledge of the tape.  It's all through their grapevines and media contacts and other nebulous sources.  For what it's worth though, while Stone and Johnson have an interest in the rumor being true (or, barring that, in the rumor being credibly advanced), given that Johnson is a rabid Clinton supporter and Stone is a long-time GOP operative, Beckel is certainly no Obama basher.  On the contrary, his appearances on FNC are typically characterized by unconflicted support for both Democratic candidates.  It would be somewhat curious for him to go on Fox and advance a now famously unsubstantiated rumor without good cause, given that he appears to have no personal or professional interest in clubbing the target of that rumor.

Previously: Michelle Obama's "Whitey" Video Drops Monday Morning?

Update:  There's the video of Beckel's appearance, via Allah.