The Republican National Committee has canceled a fundraiser with conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who is under fire for promoting an edited video that falsely portrays former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod as having boasted about discriminating against a white farmer looking for her assistance.
Breitbart was scheduled to appear with RNC Chairman Michael Steele at a reception later this month in Beverly Hills…
The spokesman said the fundraiser was cancelled “To better capitalize on the fall fundraising season that happens post-Labor Day, while also lowering costs by utilizing existing trips to California.”
Michael Steele is concerned about lowering costs?
Breitbart has been under fire for posting the video clip of Sherrod that led to a rush to judgment and Sherrod’s forced resignation. She was later vindicated when her speech to a chapter of the NAACP was shown in full.
I look forward to the exercise in sophistry requiring neocons and libertarians to defend both the RNC and Breitbart.
Greg, no I had never heard of them, nobody did until Fox ran the video on it’s top-40 rotation for about a week after the elections. And as you know, repeating it over and over makes it true.
Problem now is that those militants ARE often tied into the tea party as the GOP umbrella moves away from the middle and towards the wings. The ‘seriously-crazy’ side of the spectrum is finding a political home, and their ideas are getting traction. As a result the NAACP made their statement about racists in the tea party.
Soundwash, They’re not both the same. The right-wing press has gone off the rails on the crazy train, and normal press seems afraid to take on Fox news.
There is no left-wing equivalent for what they’re doing on Fox news these days.
Wow, I never thought I would see the day that the Republican Party was acting was acting with some honor, instead of just being the party of complete corporate stooges that they have become!
Disavowing Breitbart is a small beginning…. when are they going to cleanse themselves of stooges like the Texas senator that apologized to BP for making it set aside money to cover the cleanup? Oh right.. he is a hero now, defending the little man in the eyes of Republicans.
What next… admit the truth that Dubya and his Republican cadre were idiots that ‘led’ a fearful and gullible country down a path to totalitarianism, plutocracy and economic slavery for the common man, and that we are now succeeding slowly in reversing the economic, social and ethical damage inflicted?
I guess showing a short clip out of a boring hour long speech instead of the whole thing now constitutes “editing”? If that is somehow grounds for a lawsuit, everyone who has posted a clip of anything or anyone online can be sued. This will only hurt the RNC. Nothing else in that ridiculous speech had any impact on his point, which was that the NAACP had elements that got excited when she mentioned her prejudice against a white man in the past. For shit sakes – the NAACP agreed! They renounced the people in the audience who reacted they way they did. And you think somehow hearing that she claims to have changed her ways at the end of her speech does anything to change this fact? Did the audience renounce their prior laughs also at the end of the speech?
Democrats would never even mess with video – they would just spread lies and rumors without a shred of evidence. (See JournoList for some examples.) Whether you like Breitbart or not, he is twice the journalist of anyone today who claims that title.
The RNC should embrace supporters who are actually willing to do some real work. What a bunch of cowards!
#26 Greg Allen,
The fight between the original black panthers and the ‘new black panthers’ has been going on long before Fox News or the ‘Right Wing Media’. I remember hearing about this back in the 90s.
Or here is a link to a traditional media source if you don’t believe me.
http://tinyurl.com/3ybuf95
There was probably more about them in the news in the 90s than there has been recently. Yes, the New Black Panthers are kind of a joke, but they are big enough to get national media attention and big enough to challenge the few members of the original black panthers left.
By the way, if you have never heard of La Raza – you might want to educate yourself. Lets just say it is unanimous on Yahoo Answers that they are a hate group ( http://tinyurl.com/2fhoe4u ) yet Obama thought it was a good idea to speak at one of their rallies. Now ask yourself why you haven’t heard of them.
#26,
Here is a video giving you a good idea of what La Raza is about.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-rBJefInD9M
Be careful though – it is not the entire speech. Its edited!!!
Brietbart made a mistake and ran too quickly without a double check. Unfortunately that will throw a shadow on a lot of good he has done exposing the evil that is the modern Democrat party.
The GOP doesn’t mind scumbags like Breitbart…until he starts affecting their bottom line, then its time to kick him to the curb.
Sorry Andrew, thats capitalism.
Not sure if this has been pointed out or not, but this whole thing has been win-win for Obama personally, and the dems in general:
#1 He gets to like he is zero-tolerance on racism by “throwing Sherrod under the bus”
#2 He gets to look remorseful and appears to be acting with with purpose by giving her back a job.
#3 A known conservative blogger get discredited and creates a certain amount of guilt by association with his previous supporters.
this all seems far too convenient to me…
40,
If by convenient you mean the right is constantly throwing racist crap and this time got caught red-handed, yes.
With any luck the Paul’s and Tea Parties will throw the entire RNC under the bus. Kick out all the damned NeoCon fascists. Then once that threat to civil rights is eliminated we can go focus on the fascists on the other side.
RNC ? Breitbart ? A POX ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES !!! Nothing but LIARS !!! It is what REPUKES DO !!!