Posted on 07/29/2010 12:33:22 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Via Ben Smith at Politico, the utterly predictable next step in the swamp that has become the Sherrod story has taken place:
Ousted Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday she will sue a conservative blogger who posted an edited video of her making racially tinged remarks last week.
The edited video posted by Andrew Breitbart led Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to ask Sherrod to resign, a decision he reconsidered after seeing the entire video of her March speech to a local NAACP group. In the full speech, Sherrod spoke of racial reconciliation and lessons she learned after initially hesitating to help a white farmer save his home.
She said she doesn’t want an apology from Breitbart for posting the video that took her comments out of context, but told a crowd at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention that she would “definitely sue.”
Sue Breitbart for what, though? Defamation? Sherrod is a public official, which makes that kind of lawsuit darned near impossible. Breitbart used the clip to criticize the NAACP, not Sherrod directly, although she certainly came into the line of fire. People are allowed to criticize public officials in harsh and even unfair terms, especially when they make public remarks.
A court is not likely to look favorably on this for another reason — Sherrod’s public statements about Breitbart. She accused him of being pro-slavery, which is a ridiculous and demagogic attack. Even if a court somehow found that Breitbart acted with malice specifically towards Sherrod to a level that overcomes the right to criticize public officials and that he lied about Sherrod specifically in doing so, under those same terms Breitbart would have a countercase against Sherrod. Otherwise, Breitbart has become enough of a public figure that Sherrod’s statements about him would probably not be actionable, either.
This lawsuit will make a big splash and keep the story alive for a while, but its value is strictly limited to PR. I somehow doubt that the Obama administration will see that as beneficial to its own objectives, either, as they seem as anxious to bury the story as anyone involved.
Imagine if political candidates could sue their opponents any time the opponent used a clip from a speech that also had things that countered that clip?
This new argument that anybody making a political point must of necessity also make the countervaling point for their opponent is stupid. In California, the LA times criticized a republican candidate for telling the truth in an ad, but not including additional information that might have mitigated the damage the truth did to the democrat.
Isn’t every video used on every newscast on every TV station -”edited”?
Should be an interesting trial, to figure out exactly who ordered her fired and whether everyone in that chain watched the entire video before announcing their decision.
GO ANDREW.
Oh, very, very carefully.
I answered the questions of a mongrel’s defense attorney in such a way to get me off jury duty, so I figure I can answer the questions of a mongrel’s defense attorney in such a way to get me on that jury.
I am a crafty cracker. I know that attorney’s for mongrels question jurors in an effort to remove those who would convict and retain those who would acquit. Knowing such motivations allows the crafty cracker to fashion the proper answer.
Infiltrate, nullify. Shut these mongrels down in court from the inside.
BTTT
Ol’ Shirley is quite the litigation thug-ette, isn’t she...
Where are Sherrod’s damages?
Even if one’s assumes that Breitbart wronged her in some way, you have to actually suffer damages in order to collect, no?
Was Andrew SET UP??? WHO gave the tape to ANDREW?? Did they give the WHOLE TAPE??
Not only did she not suffer any real damages, she ended up getting offered an even better government goldbricking job than the one she had before!
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