Defamation law in the United States is much less plaintiff-friendly than its counterparts in European and the Commonwealth countries, due to the enforcement of the First Amendment. In the United States, a comprehensive discussion of what is and is not libel or slander is difficult, because the definition differs between different states, and under federal law. Some states codify what constitutes slander and libel together into the same set of laws. Criminal libel is rarely prosecuted but exists on the books in many states, and is constitutionally permitted in circumstances essentially identical to those where civil libels liability is constitutional.You know, it's Free Speech. Or Freedom of the Press. Whatever works.
Shirley Sherrod says she was forced to step down by the White House even though her comments, in which she says she withheld support for a farmer because he was white, were really part of a story of racial reconciliation. In an interview, Sherrod said the White House's wishes were relayed by an Agriculture Department undersecretary.posted by XQUZYPHYR at 11:42 AM on July 20, 2010 [3 favorites]
Shirley Sherrod, who resigned Monday as the department's director of rural development for Georgia, told CNN she had four calls telling her the White House wanted her to resign.XQUZYPHYR: I trust the AP to be accurate and precise almost as much as I trust Breitbart.
...
Sherrod told CNN that she got four calls Monday from Cheryl Cook, USDA rural development undersecretary. In the first, she said, she was told she was being put on administrative leave. In the second, she said, she was told she needed to resign.
...when USDA deputy undersecretary Cheryl Cook called her and told her the White House wanted her to resign. “They called me twice,” Sherrod told The Associated Press in an interview. “The last time they asked me to pull over the side of the road and submit my resignation on my Blackberry, and that’s what I did.”I'm not saying I don't believe Sherrod was told and believes she was forced out by the White House. I'm just saying that we don't actually know that yet, and there's been no comment at all from anyone higher ranking than Vilsack, despite how the press has been covering it.
A USDA spokesman would not comment on whether the White House was involved, but Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a statement saying the agency has no tolerance for discrimination.
In this day of polarized politics, it's incumbent on good citizens to be vigorously truthful. Even in the heat of battle, partisans should own up to their mistakes. Rectifying errors builds credibility. Honest self-criticism ensures a healthy debate and a healthier democracy.His gaff? Flicking off a demonstration by people marching for Invisible Children, against the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, not people protesting young US soldiers. His penance? An editorial that ended with a link back to invisiblechildren.com. Sleep well, you sleazy fucker.
OK, fine. I messed up.
"The NAACP, which originally condemned USDA appointee Shirley Sherrod, is now saying it is conducting an investigation of her story and will issue a new statement.posted by ericb at 12:32 PM on July 20, 2010
'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,' the NAACP said in a statement to CNN. Following a full and comprehensive process, we will issue an updated statement.'
... The owner of the video company who shot the video tells TPMmuckraker he has sent the full video to the NAACP." *
"This afternoon in a Hot Air blog post, Ed Morrissey wrote:posted by ericb at 1:09 PM on July 20, 2010'[Former USDA official Shirley] Sherrod and others can complain about Fox News and the editing of the tape, but two points should be remembered. First, Andrew Breitbart made it clear to me last night that this was the entirety of the speech he had in his possession. He also wants to find the whole speech and is trying to get it.'... All day, we've been asking when Breitbart was planning to release the full tapes. Now, it looks like he may never have had one. If what Morrissey says is true, Breitbart tried to destroy the life of a largely unknown Obama administration official and called her a racist, and he didn't have the full context to back it up. As Erick Erickson just tweeted, 'I'm hoping there is more to the video of Shirley Sherrod, because otherwise it seems like the right just got the scalp of a penitent lady.'
The sad kicker: The first sentence of Breitbart's smear of Sherrod was 'Context is everything.' But he never bothered to get context of Sherrod's comments. He simply didn't care. He wanted a scalp, got one, and took a curtain call.
It should go without saying, but if this is true, it really should end for all time the media's willingness to play along with Breitbart's fact-free witch-hunts."
Yesterday, I asked for and accepted Ms. Sherrod's resignation for two reasons. First, for the past 18 months, we have been working to turn the page on the sordid civil rights record at USDA and this controversy could make it more difficult to move forward on correcting injustices. Second, state rural development directors make many decisions and are often called to use their discretion. The controversy surrounding her comments would create situations where her decisions, rightly or wrongly, would be called into question making it difficult for her to bring jobs to Georgia.Holy shit, if it wasn't for valkyrn's comment about liberal media I would say that's the biggest load of horseshit I've read all day. So basically, Vilsack is backpedaling around the defense that Sherrod had to be fired because if she wasn't, people would constantly complain that the administration was racist. You know, like the guy who fabricated a video to claim that the administration was racist.
Our policy is clear. There is zero tolerance for discrimination at USDA and we strongly condemn any act of discrimination against any person. We have a duty to ensure that when we provide services to the American people we do so in an equitable manner. But equally important is our duty to instill confidence in the American people that we are fair service providers.
Now that purported declaration -- that she got three calls from the White House demanding her resignation -- seems off to anyone who follows these things.posted by Anything at 3:02 PM on July 20, 2010 [2 favorites]
[...]
here's the thing: We can't find any evidence she actually said that, either in the video or in CNN's transcript. What she did say, our review of the video shows, was: "I had at least three calls telling me the White House wanted me to resign."
That's very, very different.
Vilsack told CNN on Tuesday that he "didn't speak to anyone at the White House. ... I made this decision, it's my decision. Nobody from the White House contacted me about this at all." A White House official also told CNN that "the White House did not pressure her or the USDA over the resignation. It was the secretary's decision, as he has said."Now that the facts are out, we can judge the response of the White House in the short term as the rest of this nonsense plays out. But by all means do not let me stand in the way of your self-erected circular firing squad or anything.
Our suspicions are first aroused when we see that the self-declared apostles of ethics and of the 'right to difference' are clearly horrified by any vigorously sustained difference. For them, African customs are barbaric, Muslims are dreadful, the Chinese are totalitarian, and so on. As a matter of fact, this celebrated 'other' is acceptable only if he is a good other - which is to say what, exactly, if not the same as us? Respect for differences, of course! But on condition that the different be parliamentary-democratic, pro-free-market economics, in favour of freedom of opinion, feminism, the environment... That is to say: I respect differences, but only, of course, in so far as that which differs also respects, just as I do, the said differences. Just as there can be 'no freedom for the enemies of freedom', so there can be no respect for those whose difference consists precisely in not respecting differences. To prove the point, just consider the obsessive resentment expressed by the partisans of ethics regarding anything that resembles an Islamic 'fundamentalist'.posted by AlsoMike at 7:19 PM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
It might well be that ethical ideology, detached from the religious teachings which at least conferred upon it the fullness of a 'revealed' identity, is simply the final imperative of a conquering civilization: 'Become like me and I will respect your difference.'
For those of us who admired the temperament of the Obama campaign and hoped the combination of intelligence, patience and confidence exhibited during his 2008 win would become part of their style of governing, this stupid, panicky and insecure response indicates that the right wing noise machine has some of the Obama crew rattled. Being provoked by a fringe provocateur is one of the dumbest political moves around, because it simply greases up the puke funnel. Mainstream media looks at this case and believe that they missed a major scoop: Sherrod was out before most of them had even filed a story on the controversy, and they’re not going to let that happen next time.This is NOT, no matter how many ponies we all wish for, going to teach the media to treat stories like this more sensitively. It's going to do the opposite- inspire them to jump on arbitrary accusations from bloggers faster, hoping they'll be the ones to get a scoop. It's Matt Drudge times a billion, making it more and more justified to throw any shit they're served at the wall and seeing if it will stick. And Vilsack's incompetent reaction to this incident facilitated that so yes, that's why of all the people who should be out of a job for it, it's him. Because he has created an irreversible situation for his administration that increases pressure on it. And it would have been avoided by taking a bathroom break and making a phone call before doing anything first.
NAACPFWIW - note that there is a strong distinction to draw between racism and racial discrimination. They are not equivalents.
July 20, 2010
(BALTIMORE, MD) - NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous issued the following statement today after a careful investigation into the presentation of former USDA Official Shirley Sherrod.
"The NAACP has a zero tolerance policy against racial discrimination, whether practiced by blacks, whites, or any other group.
The NAACP also has long championed and embraced transformation by people who have moved beyond racial bias. Most notably, we have done so for late Alabama Governor George Wallace and late US Senator Robert Byrd -- each a man who had associated with and supported white supremacists and their cause before embracing civil rights for all.
With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias.
Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.
The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech. They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.
Moreover, this incident and the lesson it prompted occurred more that 20 years before she went to work for USDA.
Finally, she was sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption. In the full video, Ms.Sherrod says she realized that the dislocation of farmers is about “haves and have nots.” "It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people," says Sherrod in the speech. “We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn’t matter.”
This is a teachable moment, for activists and for journalists.
Most Americans agree that racism has no place in American Society. We also believe that civil and human rights have to be measured by a single yardstick.
The NAACP has demonstrated its commitment to live by that standard.
The Tea Party Federation took a step in that direction when it expelled the Tea Party Express over the weekend. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from other leaders in the Tea Party movement like Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, who have been virtually silent on the “internal bigotry” issue.
Next time we are confronted by a racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the Tea Party like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate in responding. The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed. This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.
According to the USDA, Sherrod’s statements prompted her dismissal. While we understand why Secretary Vilsack believes this false controversy will impede her ability to function in the role, we urge him to reconsider.
Finally, we hope this incident will heighten Congress’s urgency in dealing with the well documented findings of discrimination toward black, Latino, Asian American and Native American farmers, as well as female farmers of all races."
But three Democratic sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, singled the White House’s initial response to the incident out for praise in the regular 8:30 a.m. staff meeting Tuesday morning. The sources differed on the substance of Messina’s praise, but concurred that he had praised the speed of White House communications in response to the flap, which was driven by a misleadingly-edited video posted to Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website.Heckuva job, Sackie.
One source, who is unhappy with the administration’s handling of the incident, paraphrased Messina’s remarks: ’We could have waited all day – we could have had a media circus – but we took decisive action and it’s a good example of how to respond in this atmosphere.’
"They were looking for the result they got yesterday," she said of Fox. "I am just a pawn. I was just here. They are after a bigger thing, they would love to take us back to where we were many years ago. Back to where black people were looking down, not looking white folks in the face, not being able to compete for a job out there and not be a whole person."Better, from Greg Sargent:
This is pretty incendiary stuff. Sherrod is clearly not going away, and now she appears determined to force a larger conversation about the Breitbart-Fox News axis's broader efforts to stoke white resentment towards the nation's first African American president.I've also seen multiple blog posts now suggesting that Sherrod has grounds to sue the USDA. I really hope someone's working on an apology that actually includes the words "sorry." Because it's getting clear that Sherrod is rightly pissed off.
Of course, if the White House's goal is to avoid racial controversies, this blast from Sherrod isn't going to make it any easier for them to take a stand and resolve this.
But let's have that conversation about what Breitbart and Fox are really up to, say I! Looking forward to Fox's coverage of this.
"I feel bad that they made this about her, and I feel sorry that they made this about her," he told MSNBC. "Watching how they've misconstrued, how the media has misconstrued the intention behind this, I do feel a sympathy for her plight."posted by saulgoodman at 9:28 AM on July 21, 2010
Breitbart says his intention was never to prove that Sherrod, until this week the Georgia state director for rural development, was racist. He says the video he posted proves instead that the NAACP is racist
NPR: Conservative Blogger Pushes For NAACP TakedownThe article, while acknowledging that "the battle for the narrative is on" devotes the remaining seven out of nine paragraphs to helpfully summarizing and restating Breitbart's own version of the narrative, citing only conservative commenter Charles Krauthammer and "a top NAACP official" on the side critical of Breitbart's misrepresentations, and not once actually acknowledging unambiguously that they have since been confirmed to be misrepresentations.
Andrew Breitbart and his conservative allies see the the NAACP as hypocritical and want to wrest it from its privileged place in the national conversation on race.
USDA Flap Shows 'Post-Racial' Future Has Not ArriveMoral of the Story: Pulling cheap, immoral political stunts that involve defaming innocent people in order to get the media to talk about some issue you want to bring up and frame in a particular way still works every time.
The decision to fire Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod — an action Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has now rescinded — is clearly part of a larger debate about discrimination and racial sensitivity in the public sphere.
It's also evidence that hopes so often expressed during the 2008 presidential campaign that Barack Obama would lead the country into a "post-racial" future have thus far gone unrealized.
In the course of a lot of criticism of mainstream journalism, I'd be remiss not to explicitly mention CNN and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, two Atlanta-based news organizations that did the real spade work debunking this travestyposted by Joey Michaels at 2:18 PM on July 22, 2010
"At the National Association of Black Journalists convention Sherrod said she would 'definitely' sue Breitbart over the video and isn't interested in an apology from the firebrand blogger."posted by ericb at 1:46 PM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]
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