I’ve been busy with other things but want to at least link to the blowup over Andrew Breitbart’s latest attempt at video propaganda. Breitbart put into circulation a video snipped from a speech by a black USDA employee who seemed to be saying she withheld help from a white farmer because of his attitude. The wingnuts jumped on this as proof that the Obama Administration discriminates against whites. The employee, Shirley Sherrod, promptly lost her job, and even the NAACP condemned her.
But then, the wife of the farmer who allegedly had been discriminated against by Sherrod came out in defense of Sherrod. “Eloise Spooner said as far as she’s concerned Sherrod worked tirelessly to help the couple hold onto their land as they faced bankruptcy,” says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Apparently, Sherrod’s talk was about how working with this white family helped her overcome her own issues about race. The NAACP now says they were “snookered” by Breitbart.
However, last I heard Sherrod was still out of a job.
Howzabout we have a new rule: if there’s a Breitbart video involved, everyone (and that means YOU, Vilsack, especially) takes two deep breaths, counts to 10, and asks, “OK, where’s the unedited footage?”
Has the Obama administration learned NOTHING from the ACORN debacle? Can we get Sherrod rehired and Vilsack sent on an ‘agricultural mission’ to somewhere unpleasant ASAP? The jungles of Equatorial Guinea, perhaps?
Man, if the Forces of Darkness can strike for such effect when they are out of power, just think what will happen if they get a majority in Congress. It’ll make the Clinton witch-hunts seem like a high point of modern government.
Breitbart should really be considered a pariah by every one; especially those who consider themselves real “journalists.” Neither he nor Faux News should be given a pass on this. It would be nice if Sherrod could sue Breitbart for defamation of character and win. Make a pauper out of Breitbart and Faux News.
Man. And I can sympathize with the NAACP. I mean, Breitbart? Who would *ever* suspect him of pulling a dirty trick with a video tape of questionable veracity?
I mean, god damn. Next you’re going to tell me that Republicans would complain that there might be a 4% tax hike on the top earners in the US while they’re simultaneously complaining about the deficit!
Well… getting snookered by someone as honest and upright as Breitbart is no shame to anyone. Do you remember his last great expose, where a couple of punks tried to take down an organization that assisted the poor, and Breitbart showed them to be frauds and phonies?
You would think, after having been punked once before on ACORN, some people might, just might think and ask for all of the material.
I mean, what’s Breitbart going to do next, release a video that it was James Earl Jones who shot MLK, and not James Earl Ray? And you know FOX would lap that up in a second, just to advance their ratings even if it results in racial war.
I’m no lawyer, but how can she lose in civil court? Sue him, sue FOX!!! The man had the whole film, and edited it to discredit an individual, the federal administration she worked for, and the POTUS.
That’s not even something as clever as propaganda. That’s just plain ol’ lyin’ BS!!!
I am no lawyer either, but this seems a clearcut case of libel. Information was distorted with malicious intent. Evidently the ACORN worker who pretended to play along with Breitbart’s minions in order to collect information, and then promptly called the authorities, is bringing a suit. Ms. Sherrod should as well.
I have only seen a couple of videos of Mr. Breitbart, but he seems a man of less than stellar talent who harbors a seething anger because he believes that he was passed over. He does not strike me as being very bright.
The other thing that springs to mind is that this recounts an event that happened 24 years ago and takes the form of confession and self reflection that lead to spiritual and moral growth. How can this be shameful and foreign to anyone who calls himself Christian?
My Ex-Pat fantasies are starting to stir again.
Now Breitbart is saying he never saw the whole unedited video.
OK. If you think that’s a good excuse. But, isn’t it your responsibility as a “reporter,” or “newsman,” to check?
I know a lot of editors at newspapers who got fired along with their reporters when they didn’t check to see if the reporter was fabricating, or narrowly, presenting information to skew a story the way the wanted.
I’m sorry gang I’m out of the loop here. Is Mr. Briebart one of the folks responsible for the fake pimp & acorn video? Who is he? A reporter at Fox News? I understand that Fox aired this video and the next day (or soon there after) the farmer said Ms. Sherrod was a family friend who worked hard to save the family farm. I don’t quite get this story, maybe I should re-read it.
Breitbart certainly screwed up by not insisting he see the entire video before putting it up…but the NAACP should have made the same insistence before denouncing her, and Tom Vilsack before he fired her. Now they all look stupid because everyone took a “ready-fire-aim” approach to this incident, and an apparently decent woman has been dragged through the mud and lost her job. It’s sad no matter how you look at it.
You don’t assume that he’s telling the truth about not having seen the entire video, do you? He’d say that whether it was true or not. Given a choice between admitting to carelessness or malice, of course he’ll insist he was merely careless.
Haven’t been here in a while.