Tell Breitbart to Apologize for Smearing Shirley Sherrod

There's one silver lining in the case of Shirley Sherrod, the black Obama USDA appointee who was wrongfully attacked this week by FOX News, the NAACP and the White House after video footage surfaced suggesting she was racist.

Once the truth came to light — the footage had been heavily edited — indignant activists were able to successfully push the above to apologize. So far, folks from Bill O'Reilly to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have been falling all over themselves to make amends after condemning Sherrod without first hearing her side.

One player's response, though, remains unsatisfactory. Though conservative publisher and firebrand Andrew Breitbart — who posted the video that first landed Sherrod in hot water — says he "feels bad" about what happened, he's still refusing to apologize.

It's not exactly a surprise that Breitbart is unwilling to apologize to Shirley Sherrod. Sure, the NAACP and Obama's administration were quick to blindly jump on Sherrod. But it was Breitbart who first — and knowingly — kicked her to the ground. He'd like you to believe that "they [the media] made this about her," that he was simply reporting on what other media was saying. Bullhockey.

Join other Change.org members in calling on Breitbart to quit shifting the blame to other media outlets and to apologize to Sherrod for his irresponsible "reporting."

Let's talk brass tacks here, folks. Breitbart knew the video he posted to his site could be personally and professionally damning for Sherrod. Still, it was too tempting, and too incendiary for him to resist. Why not score some quick, cheap political points (and traffic), the way he did with the faked pimp video that targeted an ACORN office last year?

Since the truth about Sherrod's real speech has come to light (ably covered yesterday by fellow Race in America blogger Jenn Fang), Breitbart's excuses have unfolded in noxious style. First, Breitbart claimed that he only had access to the edited version of the video. But that does not exonerate Breitbart — any more than it does FOX, the NAACP, or the White House — from his failure to research the clip to ensure that the story he spun was factually sound. Breitbart later claimed that his focus was only on the audience receiving Sherrod's words — not Sherrod herself. Right. But that argument, of course, ignores how Sherrod's words were taken out of context in the first place. Not surprisingly, Breitbart's losing some major credibility here.

Not that he cares. For Sherrod, The damage is done. Sherrod suffered the ordeal of being both chastised by the NAACP and dismissed from the administration. Her trust in the White House was shaken, and our ability to talk as a country about racism without stooping to political sniping has deteriorated still further.

This controversy isn't just about Sherrod or Breitbart. Ultimately, it implicates us all as well. Since the scandal broke, I"ve heard and read a number of comments citing Sherrod as an example of Obama's total ineptitude — or evidence of his supposedly fascist style of governing. Breitbart — who deliberately stoked this conflagration — needs to step up and take responsibility for what he's caused. Tell Breitbart that his site, BigGovernment.com, should publish an apology to Sherrod today.

Photo credit: shalf