"And on the day after the day after".
You probably know the story well by now.
Conservative activist Andrew Breitbart posted a 38 second snippet of a speech by US Ag worker Shirley Sherrod gave to an NAACP on his website Big Government.com. The edited video came across as racist remarks that appeared to show Ms Sherrod's resentment in helping a poor white farmer in 1986 when Ms Sherrod worked for a non-profit rural farm aid group.
Then all hell broke loose. Because Shirley Sherrod, an African American woman from the Deep South who's father had been murdered by white racists in 1965, became the victim of an extreme right wing smear. And it got worse; Sherrod was condemned by the NAACP, and fired by the Department of Agriculture by order of Secretary Tom Vilsack, and then vilified by many in the mainstream media, none of whom knew the facts.
Breitbart and the lackeys at FOX NEWS ran with the story of Sherrod's alleged racism, showing the doctored speech as an example of the black racism that exists within the NAACP and in the Obama administration. The only problem was the accusation was false. As can be seen in the video below is the true context of Sherrod's speech, and remarks of the Georgia farm couple she helped in 1986 and who to this day regard as a friend.
As the truth began to unfold, there was backtracking by the NAACP, the Department of Agriculture and Secretary Vilsack, and by the White House, who today offered an apology.
But maybe it's too little too late.....Vilsack and the Department of Agriculture and the NAACP took a huge hit, as did the Administration; they threw Shirley Sherrod under the bus in an overreaction to the falsehood initiated by Breitbart, nurtured by the usual suspects at FOX NEWS, and sold to the rest of the news media as fact. Few did any followup, and Shirley Sherrod was sacrificed by Secretary Vilsack before he or anyone under him could or would investigate.
Did anyone in that department ever hear of due process?
Or to ask the question when did the incident of alleged racism take place?
But the Million Dollar Question is.....did anybody in the administration consider the source?
I'm a Democrat, and I voted for this President.....but right now, I'm more than a little ashamed of this administration. Shirley Sherrod, an anonymous public servant, had to resign from her job via Blackberry in order to protect the Obama Administration, even though she was being denied her day in court.
Welcome, Young Skywalker, to The Dark Side.
Shirley Sherrod was fired from her job because the Obama Administration was scared to death that Glenn Beck would be using her as his latest cause celebre, an example of what was wrong with America. And the NAACP, who wanted racist elements of the Tea Party movement ousted- and saw Mark Williams and the Tea Party Express- get the boot- was afraid of being hounded into extinction by Breitbart, FOX News, and the rest of the Right Wing Gasbags (please see ACORN, R.I.P.). The timing of the release of the Sherrod tape by Breitbart, just after the ouster of Williams, has a very, very, very foul odor about it.
Shirley Sherrod was lied about on Fox News, and by Andrew Breitbart, plain and simple.....and the people who should have been looking out for her- her bosses and the Administration- threw her to the wolves, and then were shamed into apologizing to her, and doing the right thing, even offering her another job in the Department.
If I were her, I'd take my time.
Shirley Sherrod is the only one to emerge as a winner in this sad affair....a great and loyal American, and a true role model, she maintained her dignity in this sad rush to judgment.
The villains? Fox and and Andrew Breitbart. They'll be back.....they're like athlete's foot, irritating and never quite curable.
And the fools....the main stream media, the NAACP, Tom Vilsack, Robert Gibbs.....and the buck has to stop at the top....sorry, Mr. President.
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