The Shirley Sherrod Fiasco (posted by DT)

My outrage of the day is reserved for Andrew Breitbart, the notorious right wing media mogul, who launched the recent attack on Shirley Sherrod, an obscure functionary at the Department of Agriculture. But my outrage isn't limited to Breitbart alone- the Obama administration needs to start learning something if it wants to compete with the Big Boys.

For those of you who are unaware, Breitbart put out a video that shows Ms. Sherrod, an African American, saying to an NAACP crowd that she didn't do everything she could to help a white farmer in her role in the Department of Agriculture many years ago. This was purported to be an example of the racism inherent in the NAACP and among liberals in general. There followed an uproar (stoked by Fox News of course) in which the NAACP condemned her, the Agriculture Department demanded her resignation, and the Obama administration backed the firing.

Then someone decided to go back and look at the whole tape, which reveals that the speech was really about Sherrod's redemption story, how she learned that poor white people have the same troubles as poor black people, and that her calling is to help them all- as she did in this particular case (the white farmer came out in strong support of her- "she saved my farm"). Now the administration is backpeddling, offering her the job back, and the NAACP is apologizing as well. I just checked Biggovernment.com and breitbart.com, and neither has offered an apology. Fox news also doesn't apologize.

Here's the story on Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39990.html

So to recap: conservatives lie, liberals run around scared and apologize, and now the lie has come out. Breitbart should never be taken seriously again- remember this isn't an error on his part- it was a deliberate smear, but of course he'll never feel the pain because the Right Wing Echo Chamber will keep supporting him. But what about the liberals? How often do we have to get kicked in the groin by these guys before we start fighting back?

Please please please, the next time the Echo Chamber pushes some non-issue to the top of the news, I would love to hear some powerful liberals tell them to shove it- "we'll act when the facts are in". And I should hope the Obama administration and their compatriots will go after those who use baldfaced lies to support their cynical agendas.