Actual unedited video.

The NAACP has retracted its original statement condemning comments made by a former Agriculture Department official who resigned after a video clip surfaced of her discussing a white farmer…

“Having reviewed the full tape by Shirley Sherrod, who is the woman who was fired by the Department of Agriculture, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe that the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans,” the statement from NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said.

Jealous later posted on his Twitter account that he “Spoke to Ms. Sherrod earlier today and personally apologized. Plan to meet with her face-to-face the next time I’m in Georgia.”

The organization also urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reconsider Sherrod’s resignation from her post as the department’s director of rural development for Georgia.

Breitbart originally posted the video, which was quickly picked up by Fox News…

Sherrod defended herself in a number of interviews Tuesday, saying her controversial comments were taken out of context. She had, she said, used a personal experience from nearly a quarter century ago in which she confronted her own racism and learned to move beyond it…

White House cowardice in the face of loudmouthed blather from right-wing nutballs is not justification for terminating someone fighting on behalf of poor people.

UPDATE: Tom Vilsack has apologized and offered Mrs. Sherrod a job back with the USDA.




  1. two to the head says:

    And now she’s not fired… oops. Vilsak has to eat crow.

  2. Rabble Rouser says:

    Pretty soon, someone will sue Brightbart, and own him. Then he will not be able to slander people, because he will not be able to afford the penalties.

  3. 10 22 says:

    Rainforest lagomorph

  4. brm says:

    I was going to help this black customer, but then I directed him to a black co-worker because he’d probably rather be helped by his own kind.

    i’d be tarred and feathered for saying this, of course.

  5. jbenson2 says:

    Last July, the Obama administation “acted stupidly” with Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge police

    Solution: beer summit

    This July, the Obama administration “acted stupidly” with Shirley Sherrod of the Georgia based USDA

    Solution: arugula salad summit?

  6. bobbo, are we Men of Science, or Devo? says:

    JB==it should not go unchallenged that everything Obama said about Crowley was right on the money. Yes, imagine if you will white people being arrested in their own homes for burglary. Right Wing Perfidy.

    Big difference between Obama himself and his Administration. Unfortunately, he can not be held to monitoring every sparrow that flies.

  7. RSweeney says:

    Let’s take the video as a whole:

    1. She admits using the color of one’s skin in her application of the law as a government representative.

    2. The NAACP audience by it’s reaction seems PLEASED with this racist act of #1.

    3. She has now grown beyond race in her biases to use class as the measure to decide the application of the law… moving from racism to Marxism.

    This is NOT a happy ending story folks.

  8. bobbo, are we Men of Science, or Devo? says:

    Sweeney–taking the video as a whole, did you listen to any of it? Because you conclude things that are flatly contradicted in the links also provided. Its almost like you are making things up in your own comfortable little dream world.

    Silly little racists.

  9. jbenson2 says:

    #66 Bobbo

    Challenge all you want, but the truth still stands – the Obama administration “acted stupidly” in both cases by reacting without having all the facts.

  10. Benjamin says:

    She was fired for planning to go on the Glenn Beck Program.

    From the Glenn Beck newsletter today,

    “Context matters

    After a tape was released where Shirley Sherrod made seemingly racist statements – the administration immediately terminated her (according to Sherrod) because she would ‘be on Glenn Beck tonight’ (gee, think you are in Obama’s head?). Glenn wouldn’t even have covered the story because Sherrod’s defense holds up – the full context of the speech was how she learned a lesson about NOT basing things purely on race. Now the story is – why in the world did Obama fire her? ( Transcript: http://glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/43289/, Insider Audio, FREE Insider Extreme clip)”

    (edited transcript URL so it would render properly.)

    The thing is, Media Matters takes quotes from Rush, Beck, and O’Reilly out of context to make them seem racist. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

  11. RSweeney says:

    One error in my reply… the story related was not in her role as government representative but as a private citizen in an NGO.

  12. bobbo, are we Men of Science, or Devo? says:

    #69–JB==so you want to go on record that police should be assumed they did the best they could when they arrest a homeowner for burglarizing their own home?

    You got Obama on the brain.

    Obama had all the facts he needed to opine quite correctly as he did. No subsequent “facts” changed the correctness of his actions.

    JB–do you think Crowly did everything correctly? Or should he have left after the Prof showed his harvard id with his home address on it? ((maybe the address wasn’t there?))

  13. Kel Reichelt says:

    Liberal Fascists are so pathetic, throwing the word “racist” around like it’s going out of style. Well, that’s just what’s happening, nobody gives a shit if they’re called racist anymore. And Fox News is #1 so deal with it little fascists. Hitler would be proud of you.

  14. Dallas says:

    Key take aways from this incident:

    1. Obama administration needs to be diligent of those fighting an internal war of politics to undermine his presidency.

    2. Fox News and Teabaggers are both scumbag organizations in cahoots to bring conflict and hate to the American sheeple.

  15. aslightlycrankygeek says:

    #71,

    Benjamin FTW. If the libs lose their ability to randomly accuse people of being racist without good reason and have people blindly running scared, they might actually have to win on the issues.

    You can tell by how bent out of shape all of them on here are that they have been owned. Accuse the TEA Party of racism without evidence – fine in their little minds. Post a video which shows an audience of the accusers themselves laughing about sticking it to whitey – they cry foul. Call Breitbart names. Call all conservatives racists. Moves of the desperate.

    This is not about Ms. Sherrod who already has here job back if she wants it but probably won’t take it because she is a star now. This is not about Breitbart who is doing the job “legitimate” journalists won’t and challenging baseless accusations. Its about the libs using the fear of baseless racism threats to maintain political power..

  16. sargasso_c says:

    Wikipedia on the Sherrod controversy.

    http://bit.ly/8ZkjFn

  17. jccalhoun says:

    Kel Reichelt said,

    Liberal Fascists are so pathetic, throwing the word “racist” around like it’s going out of style. Well, that’s just what’s happening, nobody gives a shit if they’re called racist anymore. And Fox News is #1 so deal with it little fascists. Hitler would be proud of you.

    And what are people who throw around the word “fascist” like it’s going out of style?

  18. Rick Cain says:

    Obama should know better than to listen to anything Breitbard and Little Green Footballs says.

    They’re paid professional smear merchants. They’re not journalists because journalists look for truth.

  19. bobbo, are we Men of Science, or Devo? says:

    Nice update, raising the issue of whether or not Vilsack should submit his own resignation to Obama. It “sounds like” the douchebag did not even get Sherrods side of the story before demanding her resignation.

    FAIL.

  20. Bobbo, am I not a verbose douchebag? said, says:

    #80

    Derp durp duuuuuuuh.

  21. Bobbo needs to get a clue says:

    By listening to No Agenda in the morning. Smarten up tough guy!

  22. Mr. Fusion says:

    The problem here is people generally take what they are told as the truth. Finding out we were lied to is always a big disappointment as our trust has been broken.

    Breitbart manipulated, or had someone else do it, the video. He boldly promoted it to discredit Sherrod, posting how she oversees a billion in Federal money (she didn’t, but that is another lie). He was happy when she was forced to resign. He even tweeted he hoped the DOJ would investigate her for “promoting racial discrimination.”

    Breitbart lied to us. Other news agencies took it at face value and reported it, most though just let it slide. It was only later that Sherrod came back and challenged the doctored video. Then the truth came out.

    Vilsack was wrong to rush to judgment. He too went with what he was told and believed it without giving Sherrod a chance to rebut the charge. Such is the power of a lie.

    The best outcome would be for Obama to invite her to the WH and offer her her job back. He should apologize for the government’s hasty and wrong reaction. Then the President can slam the whole racist, anti American, violent, right wing for their deliberate, planned ruining of America. While Obama might be a fair target, people like Sherrod, just trying to do their jobs, shouldn’t be. The whole tea bagger movement needs the light of day shone on it.

  23. moss says:

    EVERYONE with a modicum of common sense and humanity has apologized by now – excepting blowhard Breitbart.

    Perfectly accurate depiction of the difference between people who support or (perish the thought) fight for civil rights – and phonies who pat themselves on the back for some ivory tower ideology.

    You see it in the comments on this page – rationales excusing the attack.

  24. smartalix says:

    Why is that blog still in existence? All it does is distort the truth and pander to right-wing racists and neo-fascists.

  25. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    Cranky: This is not about Breitbart who is doing the job “legitimate” journalists won’t and challenging baseless accusations.

    I’d suggest looking up this guy’s history of political shenanigans. He’s a liar and a fraud, a well-paid tool of the right-wing. He should be in jail for the ACORN take down; he broke far more laws than they ever did. Seriously…the guy is a plague on polite political discourse.

  26. jccalhoun says:

    Rick Cain said,
    Obama should know better than to listen to anything Breitbard and Little Green Footballs says.

    Actually Little Green Footballs has mostly switched sides. The guy that runs it seems to hate Breitbard. Of course that isn’t to say that the site is any more honest than when it was on the other side.

  27. JMRouse says:

    To jbenson2 in reference to post #17 and anyone else here who thinks or claims that Fox News had nothing to do with this story blowing up the way it did, watch this: http://bit.ly/9Vy4ao

    If you want to get to the actual proof in question, start watching at 1:40.

    What pisses me off the most here is the fact that NO ONE did any real investigative journalism and checked the tape before airing it. If anyone had they would have see the fact that it was edited out of context and had come from someone with a history of manipulation and lies to push an anti Democrat agenda.

    Shame on Fox News (and CNN for their part) and SHAME on our administration and the AACP for having so backbone and reacting to this story without actually checking the facts.

  28. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    Pedro,the real story is the lying liars. Or do you feel what Breitbart did was appropriate?

    In the end, Fox “News” gets the black eye…nothing they say should be trusted at this point.

  29. wildcatbn says:

    Has anyone pointed out BB just found this video edited on youtube and reposted it? NAACP is the only one that had the unedited version and they still wanted her fired before they even looked at the tape.

  30. jman says:

    the bigger problem was the audience who was laughing and clapping while she described her racism.

    She not going to take the job back, she’s gonna sue and get some money.

    She already sued the D of Ag once and got $300k for “pain and suffering” and when asked if she’d sue this time she said “yes i probably will”

    BTW why does this say attack by TEA party in the headline. The Tea party had nothing to do with this, not Fox news. Fox didn’t air anything about it until after she had already been fired.

    Breitbart is the one at fault for running the tape. The other weird thing though is that the NAACP had the FULL tape themselves and still condemned the lady…….


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