Obama apologizes

Obama apologizes

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and BEN EVANS
Last Updated: 4:02 PM, July 23, 2010
Posted: 2:38 AM, July 23, 2010
WASHINGTON -- President Obama apologized yesterday to former USDA official Shirley Sherrod over her ouster amid a racially tinged firestorm that has enveloped the White House.

But even as Obama said he was sorry, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who sparked the uproar by posting a heavily edited video clip of Sherrod addressing the NAACP, remained unrepentant.

Breitbart has said he put the clip online to illustrate that racism exists in the NAACP, an argument he was using to counter allegations by the civil-rights organization of racism in the Tea Party movement.

Breitbart described himself yesterday as "public enemy No. 1," but did not offer an apology.

"I am public enemy No. 1 or 2 to the Democratic Party, the progressive movement, and the Obama administration, based upon the successes my journalism has had," Breitbart said in an interview with Politico.com.

Obama expressed his regret in a phone call, telling Sherrod he hopes she will accept the Agriculture Department's offer of a new position and saying she could parlay "this misfortune" into an opportunity to use her life experiences to help people, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," Obama said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had "jumped the gun" by pushing Sherrod out, "partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles."

"I've told my team and I told my agencies that we have to make sure that we're focusing on doing the right thing instead of what looks to be politically necessary at that very moment. We have to take our time and think these issues through," the president said.

Sherrod was forced to resign as a USDA official in Georgia earlier this week after Breitbart posted an edited video of her telling the NAACP audience of her reluctance 24 years ago to help a poor white farmer seeking government assistance.

The unedited video shows her recollection was part of a speech advocating racial reconciliation.

Obama spoke to Sherrod after a slew of nationally broadcast interviews in which she said she wanted to talk to him about her wretched week. She said she felt there was no need for him to apologize, as Gibbs and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had done earlier.

Sherrod told CNN her talk with Obama was "a very good conversation."

She said she is uncertain whether she will accept Vilsack's invitation to return.

It's disgusting that this guy doesn't even feel sorry for getting somebody fired and potentially ruining their lives for no reason.
Say what you want, but I have yet to hear about a liberal journalist/commentator editing a video to get somebody fired.

BubbleBliss wrote:
It's disgusting that this guy doesn't even feel sorry for getting somebody fired and potentially ruining their lives for no reason.
Say what you want, but I have yet to hear about a liberal journalist/commentator editing a video to get somebody fired.

Agreement on sentence one.

Sentence two? He never edited it. That's how he received it. He received it from an anonymous person at the NAACP. Plus, the NAACP had the full unedited video at their HQ yet they jumped on the scab bandwagon along with everyone else when they would've looked at the whole unedited video first before condemning her themselves.

TexasBlue wrote:Sentence two? He never edited it. That's how he received it. He received it from an anonymous person at the NAACP. Plus, the NAACP had the full unedited video at their HQ yet they jumped on the scab bandwagon along with everyone else when they would've looked at the whole unedited video first before condemning her themselves.

According to what I just read on Wiki, not all of that is the case.

"The full 43-minute video[B] was produced by a Douglas, Georgia, company that filmed the banquet for the local Georgia chapter of the NAACP. The owner of the video company, Johnny Wilkerson, said on July 20 that he was sending the full video to the national NAACP and would post it in full once he got permission to do so.[13] As of August 1, 2010 (2010 -08-01)[update], Breitbart's source for the video was not publicly known."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resignation_of_Shirley_Sherrod

When it comes to political things like this, i never trust Wikipedia. I actually have an account there and if i wanted to, i could go in and edit to say whatever i like. I have edited other things there (non-political) and it stays.

But........

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.

Breitbart said he'll post the full video, if he can get permission from the video production company who filmed it for a local NAACP chapter. He also maintained that he didn't edit the clip and that it was sent to him already edited.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/breitbart_i_did_not_edit_this_thing.php

My argument isn't whether he was right or wrong. He says he got the clip he posted as it was. If anyone can prove that he's lying about that, bring it forth.

I've already stated my opinion on the vid and how i retracted my stance from earlier. It isn't an issue.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but... wasn't his intent in posting the video to make the NAACP look bad in retaliation for them calling Tea Partiers racist? Sherrod was just collateral damage. She wasn't his target.

alland wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but... wasn't his intent in posting the video to make the NAACP look bad in retaliation for them calling Tea Partiers racist? Sherrod was just collateral damage. She wasn't his target.

That's what he claims. I'm not so sure, but he could be telling the truth on that because even as Sherrod went on with her story, they were laughing till she got to the part of how things changed her mind.

Point being, there's racism on any side.

I doubt very much that he would admit to editing the video. Saying that an anonymous source sent it to him from the NAACP is a perfect excuse because if that's the case there's obviously no way that the person who sent him the edited video would come forth.

Of course that's what i knew you'd say. Nothing honest comes out of the right wing, huh?

TexasBlue wrote:Of course that's what i knew you'd say. Nothing honest comes out of the right wing, huh?

I know you're being sarcastic, but still, there have been those on the right who have called him out on this:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/22/boehner-shep-journalists-breitbart/

Why is it so hard for you to do the same?

alland wrote:I know you're being sarcastic, but still, there have been those on the right who have called him out on this:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/22/boehner-shep-journalists-breitbart/

Why is it so hard for you to do the same?

That's why i said a few posts above

My argument isn't whether he was right or wrong. He says he got the clip he posted as it was. If anyone can prove that he's lying about that, bring it forth.

I can't say he's lying. I never accuse anyone of lying ever, liberal or conservative, unless there's concrete proof. But that's just the way i am.

TexasBlue wrote:
I can't say he's lying. I never accuse anyone of lying ever, liberal or conservative, unless there's concrete proof. But that's just the way i am.

That's fair enough.

TexasBlue wrote:Of course that's what i knew you'd say. Nothing honest comes out of the right wing, huh?

Well, seeing that the guy doesn't even feel bad for getting somebody fired I'd say he's not the kind of guy who tells the truth 100% of the time especially if it makes him look bad. But of course for you everything honest comes out of the right wing.

And you're one to talk, you dismissed something that came from Wiki even though it provided citations.

Chill out both of you or I will lock this thread too.