Ms. Sherrod and who let her down....

[Neil D]

I know that this should be in the politics forum....however, over the last week, an evil has risen it's ugly head. And it's time to talk about in around the "office cooler" so to speak. The more people to speak on this issue, the better. Therefore, since Townhall is where most people gather, and it is where this evil needs to be confronted.

I will let Keith Oberman give his opinion on the issues concerning Ms Sherrod firing.

Keith Oberman on the racist incidences and who bears the brunt of the blame.

[Jeannieb43]

Wow! Thanks, Neil.

Keith Olberman really speaks the truth.

That was powerful.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

unfortunately, misinformation is spoonfed to the American public all the time by a lot of different sources...

government does it..

news media does it..

the church does it..

liberals do it..

conservatives do it..

greenies do it..

educators do it..

companies do it..

[Neil D]

unfortunately, misinformation is spoonfed to the American public all the time by a lot of different sources...

In this case, ONE source "found" it and harped on it without checking all the facts or thier sources...

Is this professional Journalism or is this professional sensationalizm?

EGW has MUCH to say about sensationalizm and our responsibility to it.

Shame on US who taut the "fair and balanced" mantra!

[GreatLakesGramma]

My, that man does not mince words, does he!!!

Too bad there is so little news we can really trust. He rants against the rightist media, but the leftist media does the exact same thing. The one is as guilty as the other.

[phkrause]

I know that this should be in the politics forum....however, over the last week, an evil has risen it's ugly head. And it's time to talk about in around the "office cooler" so to speak. The more people to speak on this issue, the better. Therefore, since Townhall is where most people gather, and it is where this evil needs to be confronted.

I will let Keith Oberman give his opinion on the issues concerning Ms Sherrod firing.

Keith Oberman on the racist incidences and who bears the brunt of the blame.

Thanks for this post and link Neil. Unfortunetly hindsight is 20/20. I remember when this first came out and every FoxNews caster was all over this. Asking for her to be made an example of. Not one, and that goes for all the news stations, really investigated this. And also the government had over reacted because of the news media. And yes rudywoofs and GLG both sides do the exact same thing, they have for many years. And as I have said in many, many posts its only gonna get worse, because neither side gives a damn about us the people. And it seems many here on CA who love politics so much just can't seem to see that. Those from both sides. It amazes me that we can't see this as devisive. Politics is like a religion to some. Neil this video is right on, he blames all even himself and his station. The only one on FoxNews that I saw apologize was Bill O'reilly the rest seem not to care, I hope I'm wrong.

[GreatLakesGramma]

And as I have said in many, many posts its only gonna get worse, because neither side gives a damn about us the people.

I agree.

[Woody]

I see you have asked a question with an obvious answer.

The answer is that the buck stops with Obama. He made a mistake. Just like he did one year ago today when he accused the police of acting "stupidly".

What is Obama's problem? He doesn't do his homework. He is like a woman. He acts on emotions and not intellect. We need much better from a President.

[Bravus]

Quote:

He is like a woman. He acts on emotions and not intellect.

Oh no you di'int!

[Neil D]

If you guys relook at what Keith Oberman said, he is all over the left side of the media as well as the right....but, in this case, the right [specifically, FauxNews] promoted this, advanced this and harped on this story until the real facts came out...

Then they covered themselves with a "What? Me? I didn't do anything" report...and blamed the goverment, specifically Obama....

No, the problem is not the goverment, who has a direct history of reacting to these type of news stories. They only compounded the problem. The problem was a lack of PROFESSIONAL journalism.

A professional journalist checks his facts, and while the facts were eventually checked out, it was not FoxNews acting as THE professional news organization.

They harped and harped on the unfairness of it all...Hannity, O'Reilly..the morning FauxNews Team....and they played into your sense of justice and fairness.

And you,... YOU, dear Adventist,swallowed it hook, line and sinker....Even though, you were warned by some little ol' lady over a 100 years ago, admonishing you not to read the sensational news...She calls it "gossip"...

Ohh, I know...not all of you were watching FauxNews...Just the most vocal of you all......

[Woody]

I just got through watching the Glenn Beck show on Fox News. They just declared themselves innocent. They did a timeline on Glenn's chalkboard. They are in the right here. It's BO that is trying to blame them. Don't be confused folks. Get the FACTS on Fox.

[Neil D]

I just got through watching the Glenn Beck show on Fox News. They just declared themselves innocent. They did a timeline on Glenn's chalkboard. They are in the right here. It's BO that is trying to blame them. Don't be confused folks. Get the FACTS on Fox.

Ooooh, you do drink the kool aid, don't you?

Go back and click on the post that I gave you to look at... Here, I will give you the link again.....

Keith Oberman and Ms. Sherrod

And for you, Redwood, here is the printed text that I am sure you will recognise....

And today the proof lies in front of you, bleeding: the reputation of Shirley Sherrod, a woman who 24 years ago saw and overcame the vengeance in her own heart and achieved the kind of true greatness the rest of us can only hope we might express for one moment in the whole of our lives. Assassinated by Fox News! Assassinated by that scum Breitbart! Assassinated by all their meager-brained imitators on other channels and other sites, their limp fellow travelers who never asked questions first, but simply shot, and shot, and shot, and shot and laughed!

Let me make this utterly clear: What you see on Fox News, what you read on Right Wing websites, is the utter and complete perversion of journalism, and it can have no place in a civilized society. It is words crashed together, never to inform, only to inflame. It is a political guillotine. It is the manipulation of reality to make the racist seem benevolent, and to convict the benevolent as racist — even if her words must be edited, filleted, stripped of all context, rearranged, fabricated, and falsified, to do so.

What you see on Fox News, what you read on Right Wing websites… is a manipulation. Not just of a story, not just on behalf of a political philosophy. Manipulation of a society, its intentional redirection from reality and progress, to a paranoid delusion and the fomenting of hatred of Americans by Americans. And nearly every last word of it is never, in any tangible sense, true. Ask Shirley Sherrod.

[phkrause]

GIGO, has been perfectly explained!!

RW, What in the world do you drink!!

Its really amazing isn't it CoAspen!!! Even O'Reilly has already apologized yesterday, my wife told me.

[GreatLakesGramma]

I knew almost nothing about this until this thread was posted. I'd seen a headline about Ms.Sherrod considering a job offer after being fired for a supposed racist remark, but I did not read the article.

The video made me curious though, about who this guy was Mr. Olberman was lambasting so thoroughly, so I looked him up. I agree with him, that Breitbart is total scum. I'm glad Ms. Sharrod was vindicated, but once people sling that kind of mud all over somebody, it never comes completely off. Some people will continue to believe that the false accusation is true, and she may continue to get hate mail, hate phone calls, and possibly even death threats for many years to come.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I'm glad Ms. Sharrod was vindicated, but once people sling that kind of mud all over somebody, it never comes completely off. Some people will continue to believe that the false accusation is true, and she may continue to get hate mail, hate phone calls, and possibly even death threats for many years to come.

Maybe not. I have a feeling there will be an outpouring of brown-nosing the lady...she's already been offered another job with the Dept of Agriculture. She's had multiple apologies. Someone will probably offer her a handsome amount to make a movie about the whole thing. She can write a book. Some people will squeeze as much condemnation out of this as they can possible get, and keep it in the public's face for as long as they can.

Did anyone ever define "is"?

[GreatLakesGramma]

Even if the majority bend over backwards to make it up to her, there will always be a minority that will go the other way.

[Neil D]

Here another reporter talking about how some news organizations [specifically FauxNews] are feeding the public contrived "news stories"....

Racheal Maddow Show

Want more? Try this one...

The Rachel Maddow Show

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

hmm. So why did Shirley Sherrod not defend herself in the first place? All she needed to do was to tell her boss to listen to the entire speech she made, and put her "racist" comment into context to show that she was really trying to present just the opposite message.

In the meantime, she's eligible for unemployment, isn't she? But maybe not, since she was offered another position.

[Woody]

Quote:

All she needed to do was to tell her boss to listen to the entire speech she made, and put her "racist" comment into context

The problem was ... her boss was BO and BO does not listen to reason. That is why BO had her canned.

[Neil D]

hmm. So why did Shirley Sherrod not defend herself in the first place?

[Woody]

I have a question. IF Fox is SO bad ... Why does the president of the United States depend upon IT for whom he hires and fires?

[Neil D]

I have a question. IF Fox is SO bad ... Why does the president of the United States depend upon IT for whom he hires and fires?

The question is not about the president....

It's about Shirley Sherrod and what FauxNews did to her...

They were the ones who harped on and on and on that she was a racist.

It's about US listening to Faux NEWS....

It's about poor journalism and the results of sensational news to fill a gap in coverage...just to harm an innocent person...or persons...

That's not a news media, in my book, Redwood. It's a propaganda campaign...reminiscent of Nazi Germany...

And since FauxNews supports the CONSERVATIVE Republican agenda, you can see where this is going....

[lazarus]

I have a question. IF Fox is SO bad ... Why does the president of the United States depend upon IT for whom he hires and fires?

Obama's mistake in this situation is that he listened to fox foolishness. I would go as far as to say that he was intimidated by their right wing agenda. Obama was desperate to show that the NAACP was not racist.

Why seek to prove that you are not a racist to those who on the other hand fall over themselves to deny racism at every turn.

I that hope this will be a lesson to the Obama administration and not give them the "time of day".

Proof that fox is so bad. glen beck has a job at fox. I feel sorry for beck because when he crashes even fox will turn on him.

[lazarus]

The problem was ... her boss was BO and BO does not listen to reason. That is why BO had her canned.

Sorry Woody, you can't have it both ways. If the truth didn't come out and no action was taken against her you would be saying Obama is a racist for not firing her. Be honest. fox allowed their agenda and breibart's agenda get the better of them. They like to make stuff up. If you are interested in honesty you main challenge should fox and breibart.

[bonnie]

The racism of the NAACP should be open to question. During the story concerning the farmer they can be heard laughing and clapping can't they?

Unless you approved why would you laugh and clap at stories like that

Glenn Beck Defends Fired USDA Worker

Tuesday20 Jul 2010 07:28 PM

By: David A. Patten

Fox News host Glenn Beck is coming to the defense of Shirley Sherrod, the USDA official forced to resign after a videotape surfaced of her making what appeared to be racially charged remarks about a white farmer.

On his program Tuesday Beck said Sherrod deserved an opportunity to tell her side of the story before being fired.

"They didn't watch the whole video?" Beck asked. "When was the last time the NAACP didn't give someone the benefit of the doubt right away who was African-American? Again I point out the Black Panthers. Now if she is just relating a story from 1986, to make a point about how her racial perceptions changed, this woman deserves her job back."

The encounter that triggered the uproar occurred nearly a quarter of a century ago, well before Sherrod joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In the videotape, Sherrod is seen relating the story earlier this year to an NAACP audience.

She said when a white farmer asked for her help in saving his farm, and talked "superior" to her, she "didn't give him the full force of what I could do."

But Sherrod said the remarks that led to her resignation were taken out of context and selectively edited.

Earlier in the day, Sherrod told CNN that the White House "harassed" her to resign because it the controversy was "going to be on Glenn Beck tonight."

"They were not interested in hearing the truth," Sherrod said of the administration. "No one wanted to hear the truth."

Sherrod said the whole point of her story was learning to not judge a person based on race.

"All of that process, that's why I tell it," Sherrod told CNN, "because [of] everything that happened in dealing with him. He was the first white farmer who had come to me for help. Everything I did working with him helped me to see that it wasn't about race. It's about those who have, and those who don't."

Eloise Spooner, the wife of the farmer who sought Sherrod's assistance, called Sherrod "a good friend" in the CNN interview, adding: "She helped us save our farm … by getting in there and doing all she could do to help us."

Spooner said Sherrod had helped keep the family out of bankruptcy.

Despite the Spooners' support, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended the decision to demand Sherrod's resignation.

Vilsack said the department was trying to overcome a "sordid civil rights record" at USDA, and reiterated that the agency has "zero tolerance for discrimination." If Sherrod stayed on, Vilsack added, she would have difficulty carrying out her duties.

The NAACP initially blasted Sherrod, calling her actions "shameful." It quickly backtracked Tuesday as the full story emerged.

NAACP president Benjamin Jealous released the following statement: "The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed. This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition."

Jealous has reportedly asked the Agriculture Department to reconsider Sherrod's dismissal.

The controversy doesn't stop there, however. Sherrod is indicating it was the White House, not the Agriculture Department, that demanded she resign.

"They asked me to resign, and, in fact, they harassed me as I was driving back to the state office from West Point, Georgia yesterday," Sherrod said. "I had at least three calls telling me the White House wanted me to resign…and the last one asked me to pull over to the side of the road and do it."

The Obama administration maintains the decision to demand Sherrod's resignation came from the Agriculture Department.