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To many familiar with the sleazy tactics of Breitbart (the infamous ACORN nonsense), it came as no surprise that the video he originally posted on his site didn't tell the whole story.
The video suggested that Sherrod was retelling an incident that took place while she worked for the USDA
FALSE: The incident Sherrod was recounting took place in 1986, when she worked for an advocacy firm in GA.
The video made it look as if Sherrod didn't help Mr. Spooner
FALSE: Not only did Sherrod help the Spooners save their farm, she became friends with the couple.
What’s actually a story of racial healing was distorted into something ugly by Breitbart. Because of his beef with the NAACP over their legitimate claims of elements of racism within the tea party movement, Breitbart deceptively tried to show that it’s the NAACP whose racist. Unfortunately, his tactics did damage to an innocent bystander in the process.
If you're interested in watching the full video, please visit the following link:
http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/
On Wednesday, Tom Vilsack (the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture) held a press conference in which he manned up and took the blame for asking Ms. Sherrod to resign so quickly. Vilsack said he also apologized to Ms. Sherrod and offered her a new position in the department. Also, the NAACP has apologized to Ms. Sherrod for their initial reaction (see below).
In light of the Breitbart “exposé” falling down like a house of cards, the reactions have been fascinating. There's been a mix of back pedaling, blaming, and B.S. throughout the blogosphere, The White House and the MSM (which does include Fox "News"). To their credit, some conservative bloggers posted retractions in which they apologized for rushing to judgment. Predictably, these posts also included jabs directed at three of their favorite targets: The Obama administration, The NAACP, and the non-Fox "News" portion of the MSM. Of course, no matter what these three entities did, the right would have found a reason to bitch about it. In a shameful sidebar, Breitbart made the rounds of various media outlets in which he told his side of the story. Amazingly, he even had the nerve to suggest that the Spooners were "plants" who fabricated a story in an effort to save Ms. Sherrod. Note to Breitbart: when you're in a hole, stop digging!
The left has also had their say too by blaming the aforementioned entities as well as Fox "News". Note to the Obama administration: don’t jump every time the likes of Andrew Breitbart and Fox "News" say “boo!” All it does is give them the power to be more reckless and irresponsible than in the past. Having said that, I do understand President Obama's predicament. As the first black President of the United States, he is held to a different standard than his predecessors when it comes to matters involving race. Although diplomacy is one of Obama's best assets, I wish he would sometimes go into MISTER Tibbs mode and figuratively slap down the right-wing noise machine when they get out of order.
The Shirley Sherrod story shows once again that we still have a lot of distance to cover when it comes to race relations in America. I also hope that it has made crystal clear to everyone that Andrew Breitbart and his ilk won't let a little thing like integrity get in the way when it comes to taking down those who have the guts to stand up to them. When Breitbart and his enablers claim to have any evidence exposing wrongdoing/corruption by their opposition, remember the words of Chuck D. and company: “Don’t believe the hype!”
To show your support of Shirley Sherrod, please visit Color of Change and join them in calling on the White House to reinstate Shirley Sherrod and to stop caving in to right-wing smears.
8 comments:
So disappointed... An amazing woman shot down in her prime, her passion... The politics of life continue to befuddle me...
Fact check: Fox News did not air the story until AFTER Sherrod resigned/was pushed out and under the bus by BO and crew. But sure, Fox always makes a handy scapegoat . . . regardless of the facts.
btw, for all the left's damning of Fox News, note that this administration takes it, and only it, seriously. Something to ponder.
Teresa: Unfortunately, I don't think we've seen the worst of it. On the upside, this story has helped to expose the dirty tactics of Breitbart and Co. Hopefully, this will wake people up.
Fuzzy: I'm not sure why you felt the need to post the fact check about when Fox aired the Sherrod story because I'm well aware of the timeline. However, Fox was the first to air the video. Which they did without knowing all the facts. Legitimate news outlets followed suit, but Fox led the way.
I'm not sure if the Obama administration does or doesn't take any other media outlets seriously and neither do you. I think the administration takes seriously the power that Fox wields, while also recognizing that Fox is not a legit news outlet. By the way, people on the right (those who have a brain and aren't afraid to use it) also criticize Fox.
Lastly, in my comments on Sandy's recent guest post, I asked you nicely not to use "BO" or any other negative term in reference to President Obama when you comment at Diversity Ink. In case you missed my comments on the guest post, I'm asking you again to refrain from the negative references to President Obama. I won't be asking a 3rd time.
Thank you for your post and the links. Breaking the story trumps fact-checking and now there is another casualty of this process. A woman with that strong sense of self and awareness of others won't stay down long.
It seems to me everyone involved overreacted and are now having to backtrack and give their apologies.
And I will say this: At least folks are apologizing.
I expect the administration to, but am still glad they did. I don't expect a cable news outlet to, as most never, ever do. But lo and behold...
All seems right with our understood universe. Fox is Satan, America's uberracist, and it'll somehow be better down the road no matter how much we spite today.
Many years and counting...
Judi: You're quite welcome. In the end, I think Shirley will be just fine too. In spite of Breitbart and company, Shirley has turned this situation into a positive.
Josh: Special praise goes to Shep Smith. As he should, Shep criticized Andrew Breitbart, Fox, the NAACP, and the Obama administration for how they handled this matter. I definitely have my issues with Fox, but he is one of the few people over there who has any credibility in my book.
Well, specific folks aside, I don't see one person who aired it at the network who isn't apologizing for it.
Say what you will about Fox News, but if all networks apologized when they screwed up they would be far more credible in my book.
The only time I've ever seen/heard anyone from MSNBC apologize about anything is when that woman called Jesse Jackson Al Sharpton. And she was so guilt-ridden over it she 'bout near fainted! lol Other than that... I can't recall anyone ever apologizng when they screwed up.
It's certainly no secret that some of Fox's opinion hosts are so out for blood that they wouldn't even care to research anything damning. It still says a lot, however, to admit a mistake instead of pretending it never happened.
That's rare in today's world, no matter where you look.
Although I didn't see Hannity apologize, I'm not saying he didn't. As for O'Reilly, he apologized as only he can. In addition to making himself part of the story (comparing what happened to Ms. Sherrod to how he gets covered by Media Matters), he still tried to attack her (suggesting that her comments about Bush may have been in violation of the Hatch Act). Bill is nothing if not entertaining.
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