Untangling the Shirley Sherrod mess

Washington Examiner ^ | Matthew Sheffield

[RatherBiased.com]

Now that the dust is settling in the mess involving Shirley Sherrod, the former U.S. Department of Agriculture director of Rural Development in Georgia who made controversial comments regarding race and class in a speech before the NAACP, a few things stand out that are worth remarking on:

The first is that blogger Andrew Breitbart in his initial post about Sherrod was incorrect in stating that the actions she described in her story took place while Sherrod was an employee of the federal government. He also should have been more clear that it was the NAACP’s cheering of her initial racist sentiments that was his primary target.

Breitbart also should have done better to put Sherrod’s previous racist behavior in the past with his writing but to impute, as David Frum does, that the full clip told “exactly the opposite of the story Breitbart had wanted to tell,” is patently false considering that Breitbart did in fact state that in the end Sherrod’s “basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help.”

Frum and many of Breitbart’s critics are clearly suffering from reading comprehension problems.

(Speaking of the full clip of Sherrod’s remarks, the NAACP still has not released the full tape of her speech. As Kate Pickert at Time.com notes, the video that is being called the “full” video actually is edited around the 21-minute mark, a particularly crucial point in her story as she describes abandoning black-white thinking. I have no idea whether the edit, which is clearly visible, is material or not. )

Another false idea being put out there, including by Sherrod herself, is the notion that Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, or any other Fox News Channel host had anything to do with Sherrod’s resignation. She had resigned before any of them talked about her at all. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and her producers also appear to have manufactured false clips purportedly showing FNC to be covering the Sherrod controversy before she had resigned.

All that said, however, Sherrod seems to have been the victim of a White House eager to swipe anything remotely connected to race under the rug (almost exactly one year after the Henry Louis Gates arrest incidentally). In part, the administration was following the lead of many bloggers who, as Ed Morrissey at Hot Air notes, did not pay attention to the full details of the story and how Sherrod’s racist actions had since been discarded.

The moment is a unique one considering how rarely the White House ever listens to anything that conservatives and libertarians get upset about. Were the administration to do so, it would not have pushed its health care or financial regulation agenda items, for instance.

Finally it’s worth noting that no one seems to be concerned that despite the fact that Sherrod seems to have abandoned racially discriminatory governance, she seems instead to have wholly embraced old-guard class warfare:

“Well, working with him made me see that it’s really about those who have versus those who don’t, you know. And they could be black; they could be white; they could be Hispanic. And it made me realize then that I needed to work to help poor people — those who don’t have access the way others have.”

Is that really what the purpose of working for rural development should be? How about just making life better for everyone?

[Jack Hammer]

Blah, blah, blah. Did she say it or didn’t she?

She did. End of story.

[LibLieSlayer]

Here are the only three points anyone needs to know about this.

1) sherrod is a racist b!tch
2) naalcp is a racist group
3) obama is a racist pos

That is all.

LLS

[NormsRevenge]

it made me realize then that I needed to work to help poor people — those who don’t have access the way others have.

—

Can Mother Shirley achieve her dream? - working the dusty backroads helping dirt pooor farmers.

This is gonna get somebody a Nobel Prize at this rate.. and for some lucky writer/reporter/provacateur/journolist maybe a Pulitzer to boot.

The story gets richer by the hour.

[FrankR]

I don't think the dust is settled, because the obamabots are going to milk this one for all it's worth, spinning and twisting it until their base, their stupid base, is happy with the most current answer.

And, there is no "untangling", it IS what is IS. When the left and the MSM "untangle" something it means, "Excuse us while be adjourn to the back room to think up a spin for all this.".

"Out of context" does NOT mean she didn't say what we heard her say...PERIOD.

[fullchroma]

Frum and many of Breitbart’s critics are clearly suffering from reading comprehension problems.

Thank you.

[DecentAmerican]

sorry, but my take(s) on the whole sordid affair:

Some people are assailing Sherrod as heroic or beautiful in her “redemption”. Regardless of whether or not she ended up helping the white farmer, WHY WHY WHY was there ever a consideration of race on her part? People call her a hero, but imagine if that were a white official making those comments about a black farmer....even if the white official were to redeem himself, would he be assailed a hero? Maybe if he were a liberal, ala Byrd!

Who got snookered? The NAACP were quick to blame Breitbart, but this was not a hidden video found in somebody’s closet, dug up for the purpose of a smear....THIS WAS AT THE NAACP’S OWN EVENT!!! Why did they do their own research? WHY didn’t they just ask one of their colleagues who attended the event?

Lastly, everyone jumped the gun before giving Sherrod “due process” and a thorough investigation before calling her racist. So, did the NAACP give the Tea Party due process and INVESTIGATE these long-debunked charges of racism and calling someone names, before the jumped the gun and call the Tea Party racist?

I hate double standards. It is the height of hypocrisy, and further signifies a deep seated hatred and racism within the liberal mind.

[Wombat Ark]

Anyone have a link to the NAACP video? I’d like to know what the audience reaction was when the speaker claimed to have had a non-racial epiphany.

[hampdenkid]

Basically, a good, even-handed piece by Matt Sheffield, who is one of the more outstanding young conservative leaders in Washington. The only area in which I would depart somewhat is in what seems to be his insinuation that the woman is, perhaps, not a racist. She most certainly is.

Anyone who refers to blacks as “my people” and “white people” as “them” is an inveterate racist to the core. For her to deny it (by saying a miraculous act of God made her tolerate we heinous honkies) shows she is nothing more than a race addict in terminal denial. And anyone who abides that balderdash is nothing more than an pathetic enabler (which, of course, Matthew is not).

[Matchett-PI]

Everything you’re looking for is here:

FULL TRANSCRIPT & VIDEOS: USDA SHIRLEY SHERROD, NAACP, BREITBART, FOXNEWS
FactReal ^ | 7/22/2010 | FactReal
http://factreal.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/full-transcript-videos-usda-shirley-sherrod-naacp-breitbart-foxnews/
Posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010 1:36:31 PM by FactReal
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2557211/posts

FACTS & CONTEXT: NAACP VS. BREITBART VIDEOS & TRANSCRIPT OF
USDA official Shirley Sherrod’s speech at the NAACP 20th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet on March 27, 2010.
First are the excerpt videos released by Andrew Breitbart. Transcripts and timeline have been added. Once the NAACP released the full video of their March event, Breitbart published the full video as well. The NAACP full video proved that Breitbart videos were continuous excerpts of Sherrod’s speech without being cut and edited as many in the press are reporting. FoxNews has also provided a timeline of their coverage. (video, report) At the bottom is the full video released by the NAACP. Full transcript has been added to the NAACP video.

Highlighted in yellow is Sherrod’s so-called redemption or revelation (that it is not about blacks vs. whites) which was included in the first video released by Breitbart.

(Excerpt) Read more at factreal.wordpress.com ...

[RatherBiased.com]

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/07/20/the-full-shirley-sherrod-speech/

[digger48]

What get’s me, is that her first interview to complain about this was with Media Matters, whose entire business model is based on taking things out of context and selectively editting film and soundbites to specifically harm conservatives.

I went there to watch the interview, but never made it past the incredible and demonstrably false LIES all over the home page. An absolute alternate universe from easily proven reality.

[gogeo]

WELL SAID!!!!!!!

[Sacajaweau]

IMHO....Overlooking the obvious....Her and her hubby have spent many years working for REPARATIONS for a farm that nobody wanted to work.

And that's racist because I'm not responsible for the sins of my father.

It's like me working to pay my bills and something somebody else MIGHT owe.

Found a place caled "Spooner Farms" in Iron City. Income $170,000. Payroll 3 persons.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

And so the media and Obamugabe weigh the situation:

Thrown the individual under the bus or throw the entire NAACP under the bus.

What to do...what to do?

IOW, they all understood Brietbart’s intent.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Word up to all: in the era of iPhones and inexpensive video capture devices - everyone should a) capture it all, b) archive it in some unalterable form (encapsulate it in a password protected pdf, for example) and then always 3) show your work by posting the entire recorded event. The Sherrod thing is bizarre enough by itself - but lack of completeness and accuracy by Breitbart is not helping.

Also - organizers of Tea party events would be wise to lock down a series of cameras and audio recording devices at and near any events - so that definitive information is available to dispel the myths that people in the opposition are generating. I realize it is hard enough to organize a public event - but you really need to devote some time to real time recording, so that some activist group cannot make something up after the fact an have it gain legs. It's a pathetic commentary on our times - but essentially what you need is the equivalent of a convenience store surveillance camera system to disprove the fabrications.

[BenLurkin]

She’s not a racist — she just thinks that Hussein is too white to be an African-American.

[brytlea]

Important:

(Speaking of the full clip of Sherrod’s remarks, the NAACP still has not released the full tape of her speech. As Kate Pickert at Time.com notes, the video that is being called the “full” video actually is edited around the 21-minute mark, a particularly crucial point in her story as she describes abandoning black-white thinking. I have no idea whether the edit, which is clearly visible, is material or not. )

[pgkdan]

She’s really not the story. The NAACP leadership laughing, clapping and sheering as she told how she put the screws to a white man because he was white IS the story.

[pgkdan]

She’s really not the story. The NAACP leadership laughing, clapping and cheering as she told how she put the screws to a white man because he was white IS the story.