It is pretty clear now that the news media, the NAACP and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were duped by another piece of dishonest “reporting” by right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart and his cheerleaders at Fox News.
Vilsack is now saying he’ll review the forced resignation of Shirley Sherrod, the black USDA official in Georgia falsely accused of racist remarks through misleadingly edited video of a speech.
The Washington Post has a full account, including video that features the white farm family Sherrod supposedly discriminated against. They speak movingly in her defense.
Many lessons here, the first of which is the extent to which the mainstream media and cowardly public officials have been bullied by right-wing punks and liars.
UPDATE: White House seems to indicate it understands it got rolled.
UPDATE: Looks like an apology is in order. Indeed, Tom Vilsack offered a “profound” apology and restoration of the job.
UPDATE: Joe Conason says it’s now time for media to do the long-missing due diligence on Breitbart’s dishonest trashing of Acorn. The good news is that, except on Fox, Breitbart has been severely devalued (not that he ever deserved the value he was accorded.)