Andrew Breitbart

Breitbart: I Was Targeting The NAACP. Honest!

Rachel Slajda | July 23, 2010, 9:19AM

Andrew Breitbart

After we reported yesterday that the Shirley Sherrod scandal came the same week as the Senate may vote on authorizing $1.15 billion in restitution for black farmers, Andrew Breitbart wrote us that that had nothing to do with it.

"No. Seriously. On everything I hold dear," Breitbart swore in an email to TPMmuckraker. As he has since the full-length video of Sherrod's speech came out, sparking a backlash against him, Breitbart reiterated that none of this was ever about Sherrod personally.

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Shirley Sherrod

Gibbs Apologizes To Sherrod; She May Get Her Job Back (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 21, 2010, 3:01PM

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today offered an apology to Shirley Sherrod on behalf of the Obama administration.

He said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is trying to reach Sherrod as well, to offer his own apology and to "talk about their next steps."

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Shirley Sherrod

Breitbart Feels Sorry For Shirley Sherrod (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 21, 2010, 11:52AM

Andrew Breitbart

Andrew Breitbart, who posted the clip of USDA official Shirley Sherrod that got her fired, said today that he feels sorry for Sherrod.

"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."

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Shirley Sherrod

Vilsack Reconsidering On Sherrod, But Does She Even Want Her Job Back?

Rachel Slajda | July 21, 2010, 9:14AM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

In a statement sent at 2 a.m. today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack backed off his previous statements defending the forced resignation of Georgia rural development director Shirley Sherrod and said he's willing to reconsider.

"I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner," Vilsack said.

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Shirley Sherrod

WATCH: Full Video Of Sherrod's Speech

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 7:40PM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

The NAACP just posted the full video of Shirley Sherrod's speech in front of the Coffee County NAACP this past March.

The relevant part starts about 16 minutes in. Sherrod is talking about how her father was killed by a white man when she was 17; that night, she says, she made a commitment to stay in the South and work toward change.

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Defends Shirley Sherrod: It's Possible 'This Woman Deserves Her Job Back' (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 20, 2010, 6:44PM

Shirley Sherrod may have found an unlikely ally: Glenn Beck.

Beck defended the USDA appointee, who resigned after Big Government posted a controversial video clip of a speech she gave to the NAACP earlier this year. In the clip, she described an incident when she debated how much to help a white farmer in need of assistance, though she has said that her remarks were taken out of context.

Beck said today that it's possible she "deserves her job back."

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NAACP

NAACP Backs Off After Watching Full Tape: 'We Were Snookered'

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 6:21PM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

In a new statement, NAACP president Ben Jealous has backed off his original criticism of Shirley Sherrod after watching the full tape of her remarks.

Jealous, who originally called Sherrod's actions "shameful," now says the whole thing a "teachable moment."

Jealous said that, after reviewing the full tape (which we still haven't seen) and speaking to Sherrod and the white farmers in question, the NAACP has realized it was "snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias."

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Shirley Sherrod

Breitbart On Sherrod's NAACP Speech: 'I Did Not Edit This Thing'

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 3:58PM

Andrew Breitbart

The crux of the Shirley Sherrod controversy is what she said outside of the two-minute video clip posted by Big Government -- whether she was, as she claims, telling a story about how she overcame racial prejudice while helping poor farmers in Georgia, or whether the clip is a good encapsulation of her views. So we asked Andrew Breitbart, the founder of Big Government, why he hasn't posted the full video.

"I don't have it," Breitbart told TPMmuckraker in an interview. Breitbart said his source sent him just the edited clips at first, but is in the process of sending the full video.

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NAACP

NAACP Now 'Conducting Investigation' Into Sherrod Video

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 2:08PM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

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.

"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."

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Race

USDA Appointee Forced To Resign After Edited Speech Released By Breitbart (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 1:03PM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod, an appointee to the USDA, was forced to resign yesterday after Big Government posted a video of a speech Sherrod gave in March. In the video, Sherrod, who is black, recounts how, 24 years ago, she didn't help a white farmer as much as she could.

In the speech, given to a local Georgia chapter of the NAACP, Sherrod recounts a time when, while she was working for a land assistance fund, a white farmer came and asked her for help.

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Tea Party Express

Tea Party Express' Mark Williams: King Of 'Accidental' Racism

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 19, 2010, 12:50PM

Tea Party activist Mark Williams.

Is the Tea Party Express' Mark Williams a racist? He certainly says he's not. But Williams -- the spokesman for one of the tea party movement's most Republican establishment-connected groups -- has shown himself to be a virtuoso when it comes to, I guess accidentally, writing and saying racist things. (Two quick examples: There was that time he called Muslims "animals of Allah" in an email and that other time he called President Obama an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug" on camera.)

This week, Williams' accidentally racist chickens have come home to roost. After posting one of his most overtly racist (accidentally, I guess) statements ever to his personal website after the NAACP passed a resolution calling on national tea party leaders like Williams to condemn racist rhetoric seen at tea party rallies in the past, Williams has found himself ostracized by a growing number of tea party groups across the country.

Not even his friends are standing up for him now. It's a surprising end for the man who helped to transform the tea party into a Republican political force.

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