The Sherrod Affair
I've come to realize she's not the story, and the video's not the story -- the reaction is the story (by everybody from the Obama administration to Peggy Noonan, with her "teachable moment," to denunciations of "conservative media," to Sherrod herself, talking about "conservative, racist people" and calling Andrew Breitbart "racist" and saying "he would like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery").
I'm against racism, racial preferences, and affirmative action, and favor an MLK approach: "Judge people by the content of their character" (and their merit for the job or government handout).
Interestingly, people have been rather quiet about the disproportionate amount of money Sherrod got for an settlement to black farmers (other farmers got $50,000 each plus loan offsets and tax forgiveness for an average of $72K each; she and her husband got $150,000 each). Now, there was a track A and a track B, where you had to show a "preponderance of evidence" to get more money, and perhaps he and she did. Each. Nobody will ask about that now, so we won't know.
And finally, speaking of money in far greater sums, Politico's @mikeallen tweeted:
email du jour: Amazing that this sherrod story has completely eclipsed finreg, the largest change in our banking regs since great depression
Listening to Sherrod very carefully in the past few days, it's clear to me that she's just another in a long line of race baiters. The current version utters this mantra: "Dare you disagree one iota with Barack Obama and the Democrat Party and we will label you a racist. So will our many friends in the media (as evidenced by Journolist) and academia. Proof? We don't need proof! For if all of us are calling you a racist at the same time, then it must be true!!"
My other observation of this whole affair is that our society has collectively gone from "Analysis & Opinion" to "Just Opinion". I believe that 24/7 Cable TV News launched us on this path and now the Internet is guaranteeing it forever more. This saddens me. More than a little.
Robert W. (Vancouver) at July 24, 2010 6:55 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/24/the_sherrod_aff.html#comment-1736060">comment from Robert W. (Vancouver)Calling somebody racist is a discussion-ender. It's all you need to know. It's how the Tea Party is dismissed, as if there isn't a legitimate call for fiscal responsibility and smaller government.
Amy Alkon at July 24, 2010 7:07 AM
Reynolds is speculating this morning that the reason that the USDA flinched so quickly was because Sherrod was known to be a race-baiter. Whatever replaced JournoList did a amazingly good job of coordinating the initial response. But now Sherrod's got an open mic, she's sounding a lot like Rev. Wright, and Obama's stuck with her. And the MSM can't make her go away because they created her.
There's been lots of discussion about Jim Webb's statements from yesterday. Reynolds points out that Webb won his office because of the George Allen "macaca" incident (in which "context" was held by the MSM to be irrelevant), and that Webb ran as a moderate but has since voted for nearly all of the Dem's hard-left proposals.
Cousin Dave at July 24, 2010 7:42 AM
"But now Sherrod's got an open mic, she's sounding a lot like Rev. Wright, and Obama's stuck with her"
Maybe Obama would rather spend the next couple of months talking about imaginary racists than the economy, or unemployment.
Martin (Ontario) at July 24, 2010 8:54 AM
I still haven't changed my opinion of her, although the more this is unfolding, the uglier it gets. Especially, people turning the blind eye to this woman's possible shady dealings and how she got her job at the USDA.
I heard an interview with Brietbart yesterday he had with a news network. He stands by the video and he said the exculpatory language she is using to exonerate her (that it wasn't white against black but poor against rich - oh, okay so it's class warfare now) was actually written on the screen in the end. I reviewed it again, and there it was.
Now she wants to seek legal action against Brietbart. Huh? For what?
Feebie at July 24, 2010 9:20 AM
Class warfare and race are to politicians, what food and water are to everyone else.
jksisco at July 24, 2010 9:34 AM
Yeah Dave, the Webb opinion in the WSJ was a bit amusing given how he's voted since elected. Still, it is somewhat of a wakeup for the administration that they are indeed losing support. Obama could end up like Johnson, not seeking a second term.
Sherrod really isn't doing herself any favors at this point. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." She was "vindicated" and should have let it go. The white house and the press will play her to their own advantages, not hers.
Sio at July 24, 2010 10:01 AM
I believe Ms. Sherrod's remarks and actions since the airing of the tape are proving Breitbart to be a bit closer to the mark than most want to admit.
jimg at July 24, 2010 11:59 AM
I want to know what happened before the time when she had the revelation. I mean, was that the first person she ever worked with? Or where their others before that were treated unfairly and if so how was that corrected?
I have not bothered to watch the video myself. I have heard that the audience is mildly cheering the racist story before the moral is told. If this is true, it says a lot about the organisation holding the event.
The Former Banker at July 24, 2010 10:51 PM
You know what is really terrible? The short so-called racist comments were taken out of a 43 minute speech in which she mainly talked about her father's murder, shot by a white man who was not indicted despite three eyewitnesses, and the impact that had on the rest of her life. This woman is better person than me, I'd carry that shit with me for the rest of my life. The speech ends with this sentiment:
"But I've come to realize that we have to work together and -- you know, it's sad that we don't have a room full of white and blacks here tonight 'cause we have to overcome the divisions that we have. We have to get to the point as Tony Morrison said race exists but it doesn't matter. We have to work just as hard -- I know it's -- you know, that division is still here, but our communities are not going to thrive -- you know, our children won't have the communities that they need to be able to stay in and live in and have a good life if we can't figure this out, you all.
I just can't figure out how people are still attacking her.
Sam at July 26, 2010 4:10 PM
> I just can't figure out how people
> are still attacking her.
First, because some of us don't think anyone should be doing the kind of work she was doing for the government, or making a judgment about on how much help she could offer a taxpayer on such personal impulses, and because if the skin colors were flopped, she'd lose her job no matter what. For those of libertarian impulse this is a double-header of atrocity. Throw in the lawsuit thing, and there's just no possible recovery
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at July 27, 2010 12:22 AM
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