On Shirley Sherrod and Breitbart…
…my position so far is pretty much what Jonah Goldberg said.
Disclaimer: I haven’t actually watched the longer video in question, just the edited one. But when I see a host of respected writers on the right claiming that Breitbart goofed and that the longer video exonerates Sherrod, I’ll take it as highly likely that he did goof and that the longer video exonerates Sherrod.
The problem for Breitbart is that he is a figure with a huge target on his back, one whom the left would dearly love to take down because of the way he’s wounded them. He cannot afford to make any errors, and in this case he made a huge error by going with an edited video.
Breitbart claims that the video was sent to him already edited in a deceptive manner (perhaps he did not even know it had been edited?) But that’s the sort of thing he’d better be awfully careful to check and check again before he goes public with something; everyone knows that excerpts can be misleading. In fact, it was one of the charges ACORN leveled against Breitbart himself when he exposed them through videos he had made.
[NOTE: please see this newer post of mine on a related issue.]
i thought the point of the video was showing the reaction of the audience (naacp ppl) when she mentioned not helping the white farmer. they laughed and said amen at this point in her speech. it shows their racism.
i believe this was stated elsewhere too. i think ppl are intentionally focusing on her and her words when everyone should be focusing on the audiences’ reaction to her comments.
I agree with CM.
This episode demonstrates the siren call of getting hits. Breitbart had a dynamic launch with the Acorn videos and nothing since then has approached that level of attention.
The dynamics of web publishing on Breitbart’s level virtually compel a ceaseless search for volatile material like this. And they propel people at a greater velocity than caution would allow because of the fear a.n. other may put it out first.
I hope Breitbart takes a strong lesson from this. Fast and first are always the place to be.
Disagree with both CM and JuliB.
The “reaction of the audience (naacp ppl)” is the spin Breitbart is putting on it.
And that’s just what it is: Spin.
All of the possibility of “two wrongs don’t make a right” arguments aside, I wonder how the Left likes it?
Apparently, they are so well-tuned to the racist leanings of their hires that their first instinct was to believe every bit of it as presented.
I dont’ think Breitbart goofed, and I have openly second-guessed him before. I think he may have fallen into a bigger truth than we knew, precisely: that is that they know.
Without the first hint of a pause to consider, they went with it because they know it’s exactly what they would do under the same circumstances. Her assumed guilt by the race-mongers is just so much projection.
It’s what they wink at and allow and advocate from thousands of church pulpits, state conferences and civic meetings every week. The NAACP is thoroughly corrupt and assumes everyone else of color is. Racist!
And really, I could care less what Sherrod thinks of white people, but she had better do her job according to the law.
Even the Huffington Post seems to be backing away:
“The two-minute, 38-second clip posted Monday by BigGovernment.com was presented as evidence that the NAACP was hypocritical in its recent resolution condemning what it calls racist elements of the tea party movement. The website’s owner, Andrew Breitbart, said the video shows the civil rights group condoning the same kind of racism it says it wants to erase.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/21/shirley-sherrod-unsure-if_n_653927.html
Therefore, the context of this incident, is the exchange going on between the NAACP and the TeaPartiers about who is rascist. The video was the last in that exchange, and the NAACP’s reaction to the statements of Sherrod regarding the white farmer are presented by Breitbart as evidence of rascism in NAACP. Even the Huffington Post seems to recognize this. If one reads further, it is the Obama administration’s overly quick reaction which is getting zinged.
To all commenters here: Please see my newer post in response to the comment made by “cm” on this thread.
Well, maybe the HP is backing away from backing away. The site I posted leads to a site with a considerably shorterer article which leaves out the qoute about Breitbart.
I wonder, Vanderleun, if you have any facts to back up your assertion. And given that the goal of the video (which in full length was available to the NAACP) was not to impugn Sherrod but to impugn the NAACP, is your assertion even relevant?
I stopped in to make the same comment as CM. I as well haven’t yet watched the video in its entirety. But the fact is that Breitbart wasn’t out to skewer this bureaucrat, he was pointing out the actual embracing of racism by members of the NAACP who warmly clapped. This video was offered as a riposte of the NAACP’s condemnation of racism in the Tea Party. Quoting from Breitbart’s original post
That third paragraph should not have been in the block quote. I apologize.