I officially give up: American political discourse is hopeless

[Boris Godunov]

After a news meeting Monday afternoon, an e-mail directive was sent to the news staff in which Fox Senior Vice President Michael Clemente said: "Let's take our time and get the facts straight on this story. Can we get confirmation and comments from Sherrod before going on-air. Let's make sure we do this right."

Considering no one from Fox News contacted Sherrod to get her comments before they ran with the video, that at least demonstrates the utter incompetence and general ****tiness of Fox as a news network.

[DinoDoc]

Considering no one from Fox News contacted Sherrod to get her comments before they ran with the video, that at least demonstrates the utter incompetence and general ****tiness of Fox as a news network.

the network didn't touch the story until her forced resignation was made public Monday evening ...

Once Sherrod's resignation was confirmed, it was obviously a significant news story that media outlets were entitled to chase.

Same link

[Guynemer]

Untrue. O'Reilly recorded his show before her resignation; it was broadcasted later that evening.

[Hauldren Collider]

But O'Reilly is just a talk show host, he's not a reporter.

[Guynemer]

True enough as far as it goes, but that is not what is being asserted according to DD's quote.

[MrFun]

Speaking of Glen Beck... any thoughts on his Black Founders' episode?



Here's the links to more... I realize no one is going to sit through 40 minutes of Glen Beck though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlureu8RRb4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xce-uaKkjBk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT4pzkC4dqg

That's not Glen Beck - that's a guy who is a twin of Glen Beck. Right?

[MrFun]

If you have proof of this allegation you need to get it to Sherrod post haste in order to aid in her ability to press charges against Breitbart. Breitbart claims, and has so from the beginning, that he was provided only the editted clip. He claims he ran with it rather than verify context. Eivdence of neglect (akin to what all the other networks, white house and NAACP did) rather than malice. Seems rather an indictment of baseless racist accusation and how harmful it may be.

Okay. But even given this, he still should have apologized to Sherrod and as far as I know, he hasn't.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Okay. But even given this, he still should have apologized to Sherrod and as far as I know, he hasn't.

On the grounds that it is the moral and correct thing to do absolutely. On the grounds that it sets himself up for an admission of guilt that can be used aginst him legally probably not. Given that Breitbart is a journalist morals and correctness probably have little to no bearing. Onlys slightly more so than your average pol.

[DinoDoc]

Untrue. O'Reilly recorded his show before her resignation; it was broadcasted later that evening.

l2read people.

Fox executives say O'Reilly's staff, which is not part of the news division, sought comment from USDA throughout the day.

[The Mad Monk]

That's not Glen Beck - that's a guy who is a twin of Glen Beck. Right?

Sorry to shock you, but that is Glenn Beck, and as a regular listener, nothing in those clips are strange to me.

[The Mad Monk]

Yes, because Andrew was guilty of publicizing a selectively edited video of Sherrod out of context in order to initiate a hateful smear campaign.

As a result, Sherrod had to suffer not only job loss, but also hate mail and hate phone calls.

Not from and Glenn beck listeners, surely.


Way, way back on July 20:

Glenn Beck Defends Shirley Sherrod: It's Possible 'This Woman Deserves Her Job Back' (VIDEO)
Jillian Rayfield | July 20, 2010, 6:44PM226

Shirley Sherrod may have found an unlikely ally: Glenn Beck.

Beck defended the USDA appointee, who resigned after Big Government posted a controversial video clip of a speech she gave to the NAACP earlier this year. In the clip, she described an incident when she debated how much to help a white farmer in need of assistance, though she has said that her remarks were taken out of context.

Beck said today that it's possible she "deserves her job back."

Beck said on his show that he is "puzzled by this," and compared the situation to "taking a videotape of me at an AA meeting where I say, 'And you know what, I have to tell you something. I was drunk everyday. I was completely out of control," and stopping the tape before he said he found Jesus.

Beck continued: "There's enough there that makes you say 'hmm,' but it's the only tape that I have seen on her. The only one." He added that the NAACP made a statement saying that they plan to talk to Sherrod and and watch the video before making a further statement. "When was the last time the NAACP didn't give someone the benefit of the doubt right away who was African-American?"

"Now if she is relating a story from1986 to make a point about how her racial perceptions have changed, this woman deserves her job back. Again, me at AA. Something is definitely wrong here," Beck said.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/glenn_beck_defends_shirley_sherrod_its_possible_th.php

...and then, on the 21st:

Why Was Shirley Sherrod Ousted?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By Glenn Beck

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FNC



Let me show you the comments from Shirley Sherrod, the USDA's director of rural development in Georgia. Back in March, while addressing the NAACP, she said this about helping a white farmer:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIRLEY SHERROD, FORMER USDA OFFICIAL: I was struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farmland and here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land. So I didn't give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough. So that when he, I assumed the Department of Agriculture had sent him to me, either that or the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and he needed to go back and report that I did try to help him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Those are obviously racist comments that deserved to be condemned. But Sherrod was forced to resign before even being allowed to give her side of the story which, allegedly, is that she was just telling a story of an event that took place 24 years ago and, in fact, she is now friends with that farmer and she was only telling the story to show that she's learned her lesson that it's not about race, it's about who has and who has not.

Lending credibility to her side of the story, let me play her comments right after stating that she turned the white farmer over to "one of his own kind":

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERROD: That's when it was revealed to me that it's about the poor versus those who have, not so much about white — it is about white and black, it's not, you know — it opened my eyes. Because I took him to one of his own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now, I'm inclined to believe her, based on what she said right there. But the NAACP was quick to release a statement supporting her forced resignation. But, strangely, the NAACP won't release the rest of the tape so we can corroborate her claim.

Then on Tuesday, the NAACP released this updated statement: "The NAACP is conducting an investigation into the recent revelations about the situation with Ms. Shirley Sherrod including attempting to speak with Ms. Sherrod, the farmer in question and viewing the full video. Following a full and comprehensive process we will issue an updated statement."

When was the last time the NAACP didn't give someone the benefit of the doubt right away?

This much I can say, if she was simply relating an anecdotal story from 1986 to make a point about how her racial perceptions have changed, give her back her job.

Something is definitely wrong here. Yes, the Obama administration has a history of acting without all the facts:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I think it's fair to say number one, that any of us would be angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And they appear to have done the same thing to Shirley Sherrod that they did to that police officer.

How and why would you force the resignation of someone who is just relating a story of 24-year-old incident to make a point? How many times when a controversy comes up have we heard that someone was "misquoted" or they "misspoke" or we're told that "the only point they were simply making was that..." and then some point that bears no resemblance to the one they made; or they were just "taken out of context?"

Now here's a possible actual example of someone taken completely out of context and they immediately get rid of her.

All during the Jeremiah Wright fiasco with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, still a member of his church, we continually heard, you're smearing the poor man with sound bites! You're taking him out of context! Until finally we discovered that the only context for Reverend Wright was anti-American racism.

But now, on the day the video becomes public, Sherrod is harassed into resigning. Here's her description:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERROD: Why am I out? 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. I had at least three calls telling me the White House wanted me to resign.

TONY HARRIS, CNN: So the pressure came from the White House?

SHERROD: And the last one asked me to pull over to the side of the road and do it.

She said, "Well, Shirley, they want you to pull over to the side of the road and do it because you're going to be on Glenn Beck tonight."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Well, now that she is on Glenn Beck.

Here's my take on Shirley Sherrod: She should not have been fired or forced to resign. Again, based on the facts we have right now. And clearly, there's something else going on here. First of all, she said herself that it isn't about pitting the races against each other, it's about pitting the classes against each other:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERROD: That's when it was revealed to me that it's about the poor versus those who have not...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

So, it's about rich vs. poor. Based on that belief, Shirley shouldn't be fired, she should be promoted in this administration. Make her green jobs "czar." Make her the regulatory "czar" or manufacturing "czar" or the energy "czar" or director of Medicare/Medicaid. She fits right in with nearly all of Obama's appointments. Why didn't the USDA and Barack Obama wait until they knew all of the facts?

Something's not right here.

There are several things to consider:

• There is a possibility that they know how bad this is and they want to let the air out of the tire, because they knew they couldn't survive it. If this became a big deal and gained traction, it could have ended them. So, they wanted to take the air out before it gained traction.

What's happening here is she is guilty until proven innocent. They fired her and now they are back-pedaling. There's no due process here. Doesn't an American have a right to a fair trial? They have politically assassinated this woman. No one has heard the case for or against her; they just took her out. When did we stop having the right to face our accusers?

The White House is watching today because they think I will be celebrating this as some kind of victory. Well, I'm not and I won't.

Fact is, I never asked for the resignation of Van Jones. I asked for an explanation. I wanted to know how a revolutionary communist wound up in the White House. We never got that explanation.

I think Shirley Sherrod is asking the same thing: How did she get ousted out of the USDA and the NAACP without any explanation?

Something isn't right here. Stop the character assassination without due process. This is related to what we talked about yesterday. This is how this administration does almost everything. They make Congress irrelevant. They make fair trials irrelevant. They announce plans to execute Americans without due process. That's how they got health care done. That's how they put another Marxist in as director of Medicare/Medicaid. It's how they do everything.

Why are they getting rid of Shirley? Why is she being made an example of? Where are the journalists on this? There are a million questions here. Moms, dads, aunts, uncles of journalists — ask them: What the hell is wrong with you? If you see a journalist, ask them politely, what are you doing? Are you not curious? Do you know something we don't know, besides what Lindsay Lohan wore to jail today? Journalists are supposed to ask questions, what is going on with this story?

• I suppose they could just be afraid of the Tea Party, you and Fox News. Maybe the Van Jones syndrome really kicked in at the White House and they just didn't want to deal with yet another one?

But that certainly hasn't stopped them on other issues — like the health care bill, the stimulus package, the financial regulations, plowing forward on cap-and-trade and illegal immigration amnesty. They certainly haven't made any strong statements about the controversies surrounding the Black Panthers or the NAACP. So what is it?

• They could be just trying to minimize the damage — just like they did with Van Jones. Remember how the Mao-loving communications director, Anita Dunn talked about controlling the media? They know information is power.

• Since the NAACP hasn't released the tape in its entirety yet, maybe there are things that are even more incriminating on it? Maybe they believe that with her gone, the whole thing goes away?

• It's possible that Shirley Sherrod is just a sacrificial lamb to placate Americans who are growing concerned over the obvious reverse racism we're seeing now.

• It could be that with the elections coming up and all the polls going south, they didn't want another racist problem on their hands. It could be that their shoes were too tight. It could be perhaps that their heads aren't screwed on just right?

Or maybe the most likely reason of all was that their hearts are two sizes too small. Dr. Suess aside, maybe they decided they couldn't count on their usual cover from the mainstream media this time — that this tape was just so over the top and their media allies couldn't fight this losing battle for them?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,597263,00.html

[Al B. Sure!]

That's not Glen Beck - that's a guy who is a twin of Glen Beck. Right?

What do you think?

To be fair, I think his overall point with the special (didn't watch the whole thing but it's what I got from his conversation with one of the panelists) was that liberal historians have been systematically 'white-washing' history and ignoring the contributions of minorities. He had a political agenda behind it but I could be wrong. Also, that little partisan selfishness doesn't really undo the good of educating people.

[Boris Godunov]

the network didn't touch the story until her forced resignation was made public Monday evening ...

Once Sherrod's resignation was confirmed, it was obviously a significant news story that media outlets were entitled to chase.

Same link

And how does this abrogate the need for good journalism on the part of Fox? Considering when that email was sent, there was plenty of time to contact Sherrod, but nobody did so. Fox spent all Tuesday broadcasting the edited clip over and over, when they could have spoken to Sherrod first and discovered that it was a fraud. They failed to do so, thus giving a false impression of the facts to millions of viewers that should not have been given. That's piss-poor journalism by any measure.

the network didn't touch the story until her forced resignation was made public Monday evening ...

In my mind, the email Clemente sent is clearly showing they were "touching" the story. How is telling your staff to investigate it not "touching" it?

[DinoDoc]

I'm not defending the job of the media in the Sherrod fiasco, I'm saying that the claim that it was ginned up by Fox is hogwash at best and doesn't match the facts.

[Boris Godunov]

Hence why I said, "that at least demonstrates the utter incompetence and general ****tiness of Fox as a news network."