Herenton the Magician or Paranoid Nutcase?

The story in the CA and Thaddeus Matthews’ blog today about the Herenton blackmail attempt is AMAZING! I don’t know if any of it is true but that is really beside the point at this stage. I’ve never seen an election campaign take on a narrative so quickly. Plus, the narrative is so comprehensive and effective. First look at the plausibility of the story. Herenton floats a story earlier in the week about rich businessmen trying to buy him off. I had been hearing about this for a month or two. It could be true because there are so many people who do want Herenton gone and it seems reasonable that some would pay him to leave. Since he didn’t take the money, now comes a story about a crazy plot to frame Herenton with a stripper. And look at the cast of characters in the plot. Nick Clark- He has a motivation to take out Herenton because of Joseph Lee’s ham-handed attempt at blackmail. An FBI agent- This is a hidden gem. African Americans and a lot of democrats are already suspicious of the government framing African American politicians. Let’s say the FBI really did have stuff on Herenton. Well, this story just screwed up the jury pool. An FBI agent tried to frame Herenton. Nothing the FBI may say about Herenton in the future has any credibility. Finally, you have Richard Fields. I don’t know what Fields used to be, but after the Ophelia stuff, getting thrown off the Democrat Excom, Thad beating the crap out of him, the Spence mailout, and his dirty fighting on behalf of Keith Norman, Fields seems like the nuttiest and dirtiest political player in the city. (Good luck to all you Fields apologists on the Excom if this story is true.)
This election for Mayor could be over today. Herenton only needs to show some credible evidence and not say much of anything for the next 6 months, aside to a passing reference to this scandal. He’s stabilized his base. All the oxygen got sucked out of campaign for the other candidates. People didn’t think Chumney or Morris could beat Herenton anyway. This story is politically awesome! Herenton should be a magician because he can pull the rabbits out of hats.

Update-I'm watching Herenton's press conference. He's not a magician, he just sounds completely CRAZY. If Herenton would have had the Police do a press conference, i might believe this. But this rant by Herenton makes this all sound like a hoax. Now he's going off on the CA. Damn, if this story is true or false it is still AWESOME! Only in Memphis. This town is so screwed up.