1/21 Of The Story - The Vilsack Affair

I think that folks are right to be hard on the Obama administration and particularly on Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack over the whole Shirley Sherrod affair.  The way the Administration comported itself reeked of fear, shortsightedness, and unfairness.  I won't take up your time rehash the sordid details, you've already read them somewhere else from someone who is probably a better writer than I am (if you haven't Glenn Greenwald has a good outline and a few links).  I will say that you should take two or three minutes (the length of the edited video) and read Amy Davidson's post from the New Yorker.

Then you should take 43 minutes, when you have a chance, and hear what Sherrod actually had to say.  It's not a bad talk and her message is a good one...



Now that things are starting to get put back in place and appropriate apologies are being made one can only hope that this travesty will serve to make the media and the Administration take a deep breath and ask all the important questions the next time a right wing site sets out to smear someone.