If there’s anyone who needs to apologize, it is a Shirley Sherrod unfit for public service and the NAACP—not Andrew Breitbart, who did precisely what he claimed he set out to do.
That would be funny if it were not so sad.
BTW- Media Matters has the entire Sherrod smear timeline, for those interested.
Also, Willie Nelson comes to Sherrod’s defense. The lunatics on the right are now attacking one of the best friends “Real Americans” in Georgia and across the country have.
jeffreyw
And Lincoln’s apology to Booth is way the fuck overdue.
Zifnab
Truer words…
donquijoterocket
Every time you get to thinking the wingnut world cannot get any more craven or perverse you’re proven wrong, there’s seemingly no end to the turpitude and depravity of which they’re capable.
Martin
And the Jews have yet to apologize for defaming Hitler, who also did precisely what he claimed he set out to do.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
I hate being wrong, but don’t mind it when other people point out where I am wrong. This is why I do so much reading and tend to not be absolute in my reasoning.
Conservatives don’t mind being wrong, but hate it when others point it out. Whatever they have convinced themselves of must be the truth, and they will accept nothing to change that. We used to call this acting like a spoiled brat.
norbizness
FREE LINKS FOR DANNY BOY!
Scott
When will Shirley Sherrod apologize for causing Andrew Breitbart to out himself as an ethics-free racist lying douchebarge?!
Pangloss
No wonder Bill Bennet is such a failed gambler— the GOP has a penchant for doubling down on weak hands.
Violet
ABC is pimping Breitbart (yes, that’s two separate stories). Stay classy, ABC.
Via TooManyJens in the Open Thread below.
Kryptik
Don’t forget, you’ll be sure to hear John King give voice to this exact mindset soon. Human Events IS his favorite paper, after all.
Good fucking lord all…
Ash Can
Isn’t this the same Dan Riehl who got nervous when he had to share a DC Metro car with people of color, and fantasized about beating them up? SSDD.
El Cid
If anyone needs to apologize, it’s the NAACP for promoting such racists as Martin Luther King Jr. for devoting such time to racist causes as exclusively focusing on voting rights for the blacks.
cleek
Breitbart didn’t hide anything! she’s a racist! burn her!
Cat Lady
And the GOP outreach to the 27%ers kicks into overdrive. Epistemic closure – they haz it!
Redshirt
I’m getting a certain tingle up my leg that I’ve come to associate with “Teachable moments” – are we nigh?
cleek
@Redshirt:
no, not on a weekday before noon.
check back in 9 hours.
oh.. nigh… no . i dunno.
El Tiburon
What an incredibly galvanizing moment. Breitbart was getting hit from every conceivable angle.
Hopefully Breitbart will pick-up the moniker he so rightly deserves anytime he is mentioned: “Disgraced” Andrew Breitbart.
Or, he will get a gig on CNN. It could really go either way.
Violet
@El Tiburon:
He’s just getting more attention because of it. See the two puff pieces on ABC I linked above. TWO pieces. As if one isn’t enough. Ugh.
Bella Q
@El Tiburon: No reason it can’t be both. See, e.g., Eric, son of Eric.
cleek
can we stop pretending this is The End Of Breitbart yet ?
Bulworth
@cleek:
I see we’re already entering into reichwing revisionism, soon to be complete with “Blacklisted: The True Story of American Hero, Andrew Breitbart”.
On salefor free if you sign up at newsmax.comViolet
@cleek:
It’s hardly the End of Breitbart. It’s merely the end of the opening act.
Kryptik
@cleek:
I for one never assumed it would be. After all, unless media outlets are willing to outright shun and blackball him, this is an unqualified win for him. And judging from ABC preparing puff pieces on his ‘influence’….yeah.
Shalimar
If you want to find someone in the rightwing blogosphere being an unsympathetic asshole, Dan Riehl is always a good first stop.
General Stuck
I think Fallows might be right, at least I hope so.
The way I can tell Fallows might be right, is because every time I think of this story, I need to wipe the drool from my chin.
applecoreinaz
It really is easy to ignore shitstains like anyone who supports and reads Breitbart. It’s when people start supporting en masse just out of reaction – dumb reaction – that my despair for this country’s future gets a notch more pronounced and desperate.
TooManyJens
@Violet: In retrospect, the Terry Moran interview wasn’t as bad as I thought initially. He at least pointed out that Breitbart is a bullshit-peddler. Still, interviewing him is a win for Breitbart.
GregB
Andrew Breitbart, the most trusted name in race-baiting. By the way. Have any of these news organizations ever confirmed that Andrew Breitbart is indeed Andrew Breitbart?
GambitRF
The guy who Cheney shot in the face apologized to Cheney. There’s precedence for this sort of thing.
Bob L
The Willy Nelson article is interesting. kind of makes sense now they would try a hit on Sharrod since she spent her carrier doing the very thing the Right loaths; using government to help people.
Violet
@TooManyJens:
Giving him attention at all is a win for him. No such thing as bad publicity and all. At most he should be treated with disdain and, as Fallows suggests, the “Have you no sense of decency?” question. Even better would be to shun him for his actions.
He’s acting as a media terrorist. He threw a big bomb, but this time a lot of it blew up on him. As with most terrorists, the best way to deal with him is to ignore him, clean up the mess and be vigilant in not allowing it to happen again. Don’t give him attention; that’s what he and any other terrorists want.
wasabi gasp
You never know who your real friends are until you burn a cross on somebodies lawn.
Tom Hilton
Riehl:
Perhaps Dan Riehl should use the Google to find out for himself.
Kryptik
@Violet:
That doesn’t work when he and similar assholes already have a seeded support base, as well as an on-tap megaphone in Fox News, which, like it or not, is taken seriously enough at least by other media outlets to essentially parrot. Ignoring them just gives them room to operate, influence, collude, and instigate without oversight.
Shunning him does no good unless you can get his support base to do so as well. We’re not his audience, after all. His audience is the wider media and pols, who do his distribution work for him.
Tom Hilton
@GregB: I think they have confirmed that, but I haven’t seen any confirmation that he was born in this country. Until and unless we do, he should be deported.
Kryptik
@Tom Hilton:
Yeah, it’s not like she lived racial violence and discrimination herself, couldn’t be that.
Redshirt
I do like the general tone of what I’m reading though – it seems that enough folks are finally realizing that hey! There’s this massive propaganda machine that’s been poisoning America and the world for the last 30 years!
Maybe. I’ve read references to “War” several times today, and that’s the first I can recall. It’s time.
Hal
So I was just watching The View with Shirley Sherrod, and can I just re-iterate what a fucking idiot Elizabeth Hasselback is? I know, that’s a redundant statement, been made a million times, but Jesus Christ.
Sherrod is telling her story, and when it is time to ask questions, Hasselcrack asks her about the “controversy” regarding her ending comments, in which Sherrod commented:
She then also asked if Sherrod had violated the Hatch Act (a question BTW, she read off of a piece of paper, making me think someone gave her some “real” questions to ask.)
I almost felt embarrassed for her, but, Sherrod’s WTF face when Hasselcrack asked if she violated the Hatch act was priceless.
Total lose for The View. I expected more from Joy and Whoopi, but I guess you can’t whip your friends ass when you have to work with her day in and day out.
Kryptik
@Hal:
She’s interviewing for a spot on Fox & Friends, most likely. This was her audition.
kommrade reproductive vigor
And those kids who made ReHeil leave a brown stain on a Metro seat should apologize to him. And his dry cleaner!
These people amuse me greatly.
Bulworth
What did Sherrod say in response to this?
I realize no one on the reich thinks there’s any racism in their midst, so for Hasselbeck and Rhiel the whole thing seems very unfair to them. Was Sherrod’s NAACP speech before or after the actual passage of the bill–before or after the spitting and teabagging mob descended on Capitol Hill to “kill the bill”?
danimal
The 27%ers will support Breitbart, but the rest of the world is much more aware his disgraceful tactics. When Obama invites Sherrod for a beer next week, it will be a political win, even though Vilsack’s decision to force her resignation was cowardly and hasty.
aimai
How soon before the Right accuses Sherrod of being a “race hustler” who has used this “accidental” vault to the public eye to “enrich herself.”?? I see that right on the horizon.
Plus, the whole Breitbart defense now looks like a giant “Cavuto Mark”–since he’s essentially insisting that he didn’t assert anything so much as leave a big hanging question for the viewer to decide.
aimai
Svensker
@Hal:
The Hatch Act? WTF? The wingnuts are going all out to try to weasel their way out of this one.
twiffer
ah, i understand. there is nothing wrong with lying if you set out to lie from the start. now, i’m just going to beat my head against a brick wall till that makes sense.
PeakVT
Shirley Sherrod, a Family Farmer’s Friend
Now that’s a real scandal. How can she not be a agribusiness tool and live with herself?
brendancalling
re: willie nelson. As a long time country and bluegrass music musician, i am well-acquainted with the lunatic right-wing fringe, and i can tell you there is no one these people won’t throw over the bus. i’m on a list-serv dedicated to bluegrass music, and anytime anyone mentions something remotely progressive (politically speaking), the right wingers go berzerk.
Take the example of Ralph Stanley, who is quite literally a living legend, and one of only two first generation bluegrass musicians alive. The minute he endorsed Obama, the list serv lit up with all sorts of vile garbage. “Ralph is senile”, “he should shut up and play his banjo”, “he’s old and stupid”.
These people have no dignity, no self-respect, no honor, and no consciences. Walking garbage, so far as I’m concerned.
Gus diZerega
Conservatism seems to be morphing from a political tradition with important insights, even if not sufficient in itself, into nothing more but a social disease of narcissistic and proudly ignorant bigots.
Mike in NC
>I see we’re already entering into reichwing revisionism, soon to be complete with “Blacklisted: The True Story of American Hero, Andrew Breitbart”.<
Regnery is probably ready to provide a six figure advance on his upcoming book, "White Like Me".
PS – Isn’t Willie Nelson the original DFH?
You Don't Say
Thanks for the link to the Media Matters time line. I was just thinking about this and hoping I could find some place with the minute by minute.
Jager
@brendancalling:
When Obama used Brooks and Dunn’s “Only in America” in Denver (The campaign asked for permission, unlike the R’s)
They were pounded by “fans”, same for Brad Paisley when he played for the White House music series…but, what the hell, Willie is used to it, bless him.
liberty60
@brendancalling:
It is fascinating, how bluegrass and folk form sort of an intersection of right and left wing people.
Until the Southern Strategy, blacks and hillbillies had poverty and hatred of the banksters in common.
Jager
@liberty60:
Went to Bill Monroe’s Festival in Gnawbone Indiana one summer years ago, hotter than the hubs of hell and twice as humid. It was “the intersection of right and left”. I asked my Kentucky-born friend Dennis John why so many of the men had their collar buttons buttoned…DJ said it was “so they could maintain their intensity”
NonyNony
@liberty60:
Until the Civil Rights Act blacks were mostly voting Republican. Which was far less racist and at least 100% less crazytown than it is now but was still the party of banksters.
Moral of the story? American politics are fucked up and have been for a long, long time.
jaime
You mean the man who’s site became popular exploiting the Natalee Holloway case, the man who really couldn’t give a shit that his brother died of AIDS in a gutter somewhere because he deserved it, and the man who probably ends every sentence about Obama with “NI%&$R!!!” before deleting it from every post on his site about black people before publishing, is shamelessly doubling down on the Breitbart-palooza?????
YellowJournalism
@Svensker: Sherrod pointed out that there are many public servants higher up than her that do not keep themselves from saying partisan things. She also pointed out that her comments were directly related to the issues facing America’s poor, regardless of race.
Only Sherrod said it in a much cooler, stfu kind of way. That woman is awesome.
Edited to add: It was a rather informative interview, despite the stupid question from Hasslehack. (A question that makes me wonder where the right is going now. I hear Beck has already called Sherrod a marxist for her comments.) It was interesting and depressing to hear about her journey back home after she was told they were going to ask her to resign, including the part where she had to pull over as she was forced to make her official resignation right there and then rather than wait until she got back to her home office.
DownValleyTrash
God Bless Willie fuckin’ Nelson.
and God Bless Ms. Sherrod.
No Farms, No Food.