I never thought I would be writing about an obscure, mediocre government bureaucrat for a third consecutive post. One of my favorite targets has been Sarah Palin, and I've often mocked Fox News Channel for having a slobbering love affair with all things Sarah Palin. Well, now, CNN seems to be trying to exploit the Sherrod kerfuffle for ratings in its own slobbering love affair for all things Shirley Sherrod.
There's an interesting part of this story I wasn't aware of. Of course, NAACP issued a strong condemnation of the speech segment that Breitbart had posted, even though it already had copies of the speech before Breitbart ever posted the infamous segment. But even more interesting is the fact that Sherrod herself seemed to be aware of the imminent release of the video and had forwarded a copy of the speech to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack nearly a week before Breitbart's posting.
I have no interest in promoting CNN's sympathetic interviews, including Anderson Cooper's interview with Ms. Sherrod. But accusing Breitbart of racism, an all-out attack on the first black President, and wanting to turn back the clock on race relations is absurd; her own interviews now are becoming more morally unjust than her original clip. Ms. Sherrod owes Breitbart a personal apology.
We live in a politically correct world of victims--no doubt the bottom 95% of workers whom Obama favors. I'm sick and tired of people whom demonstrate a lack of civility by throwing around charges of racism, sexism, and homophobia (among other charges) with little credible evidence other than a difference of opinion. It was very clear why Ms. Sherrod's speech was excerpted: there had been baseless allegations of racism made about the Tea Party (including reports that progressives had sent plants to Tea Parties to guarantee controversy); the NAACP was one of the chief institutional promoters of that point of view.
Ms. Sherrod doesn't accuse the people whom threw her under the bus--the NAACP and the Obama Administration--of misconduct, but she thinks it's unfair for Andrew Breitbart to hold her responsible for things she said, as she actually said them. She unconscionably, ludicrously and wrecklessly hurls racist allegations at the Bush Administration, Fox News, and Andrew Breitbart. Such spurious allegations transform the meaning of racism to refer to anyone whom objects to the politically correct status quo. What it does is desensitize people to LEGITIMATE issues of racism, sexism and the like.
Somehow I'm not impressed by someone whom describes, in her own words, sending a white farmer to a lawyer to one "of his own kind" calling someone else a racist. Andrew Breitbart's "racism" was publishing an excerpt of Sherrod's speech on his website. Sherrod throws around the word at the drop of a hat, as if she's some self-evident, self-appointed race czar.
Ms. Sherrod's lack of civility and the intellectually shallow and lazy, polemical analysis of the kerfuffle in fact is yet another indictment of the growing vacuousness and irrelevance of modern American progressivism.
Charlie Rangel: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
It's become clear that the Democrats have a mess on their hands with yesterday's announcement that Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), on a leave of absence as chairman of Ways & Means, would be tried for various offenses (including the questionable use of rent-control apartments, use of his mailing privileges, and other matters). The GOP is still smarting over the Congressman Mark Foley scandal (involving young adult male pages). This scandal involves one of the Congress' most powerful legislators, and let us not forget what happened in 1994 when previous power broker Rostenkowski lost reelection.
Political Cartoon
Chip Bok notes how the Obama Administration, first rebuked on the 6-month drilling moratorium by their own experts and then by a federal judge, is determined to jam their moratorium down the nation's throat, directly increasing America's dependence on foreign oil and destroying lucrative American jobs in the process, as a matter of principle and electoral privilege. The Obama Administration is sort of like the jerk you remember as a kid, the kid nobody wants to play with, because he can't bear the thought of losing, and so he decides to change the rules in the middle of the game or knock over the game board so nobody wins.
Quote of the Day
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
Walter Lippmann
Musical Interlude: Chart Hits of 2003
Beyoncé, "Crazy in Love"
Céline Dion, "I Drove All Night"
Jewel, "Intuition"
Dido, "White Flag"
Clay Aiken, "Invisible"
