Video: Vilsack apologizes to Sherrod, offers her new job
posted at 6:45 pm on July 21, 2010 by Allahpundit
It’s a long clip but the first few minutes will give you the flavor. Say this for the guy: He makes no excuses. This is an unabashed grovel, accepting personal responsibility for the decision to can her and offering his every sympathy to her for having been put through the media wringer. His explanation for why Sherrod thought the White House wanted her fired is that the supervisor who spoke to her on Monday might have told her that a WH liaison with the USDA was informed of Vilsack’s decision to fire her — and Sherrod simply misunderstood. Although of course, that wouldn’t explain why Jim Messina was high-fiving his communications team on Tuesday morning and it wouldn’t explain why Sherrod herself claimed she was told that it was fear of Glenn Beck’s reaction that spurred all this.
As for why he pulled the trigger so quickly, Vilsack claims it’s because the USDA has a long, long history of discrimination and he wanted to set a tone of zero tolerance. That does jibe with the statement he released yesterday. No word on the new job — it’s not the one she held before she was fired but rather something “unique,” and she hasn’t accepted yet — but doubtless we’ll hear more about that tonight or tomorrow. If you make it to the 12-minute mark, note that Sherrod apparently tried to give Vilsack and company a heads up in advance that this was coming but, allegedly, messed up the e-mail address. I hope that’s true; if the White House actually had time to prepare for the media storm and dropped the ball anyway, they’re even more ham-handed than I thought.
Blowback
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I had a hunch early on that this story was big. But now it looks like it’s going to get bigger than I ever thought. And faster, too.
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 8:46 PM
Can’t resist…
Lourdes on July 21, 2010 at 8:49 PM
Yeah it was pretty funny. His premise was that ACORN wasn’t about to discriminate against a pimp and his ho just because they were white.
hawkdriver on July 21, 2010 at 8:50 PM
I’m already through my first bag of popcorn and ready for another.
How entertaining to watch the most “post-racial” administration, (evah!) out “Republican” the Republicans when dealing with a racial smear. Obama and the NAACP had to dump her before the next Glenn Beck broadcast. Damn knowing the facts.
FOX is so into their heads.
And now followed by the slow nose bleed expose’ of dirty linen regarding the lib media’s Journolist collusion and rat f*@k tricks using racist smears against Obama’s critics in 2008. Tisk! Tisk!
C’mon ma! Fire up the popper!!!!
chickasaw42 on July 21, 2010 at 8:51 PM
Yeah, I’ll respond. You’re doing a great service, and I thank you.
Gang-of-One on July 21, 2010 at 8:58 PM
Finally, what should have come out about Obama and his comrades two years ago is coming to the surface for all to see. Jeez, the damage done to country and citizens is tremendous. Sure wish we had a media that did the job they were given special privileges to do so we didn’t have to go through all of this. I think of what my sons and their eventual children are going to go through. When this is all done and over with, hundreds if not thousands of these folks have better be behind bars paying for damage done; I include many from the media in that equation.
Like Rush said today, there is no media left in this country. All there is left are Liberal Progressives disguised as journalist. We must tear down every element of the Progressive Liberal war machine; public education, media, performing arts, unions (those who are tainted in this,) campuses for higher education… The entire machine must be torn to shreds. Hunt down every member of ACORN and like groups. This is the largest organized crime gang ever assembled and it’s called the Democrat Party.
Keemo on July 21, 2010 at 9:00 PM
AWWWWRIGHT! BOR says tomorrow’s show will have a lot more on the Sherrod story, that’s there’s a lot below the surface on this story and a lot more to come on it in the future from FNC!
Yeeehaaaaaa!
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 9:01 PM
Getting to the point where I can’t afford the popcorn…
Keemo on July 21, 2010 at 9:03 PM
Apparently Ann Coulter hasn’t seen the whole video yet.
Monica on July 21, 2010 at 9:05 PM
ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Wake me for the fireworks.
seejanemom on July 21, 2010 at 9:08 PM
Thanks. Enjoyed that. The only thing missing was Andrew Breitbart’s face, done in lights, swirling in the background.
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 9:08 PM
This whole thing is taking on more twists and turns than the Levi and Bristol story. In fact, some of these characters are making Levi and Bristol seem downright mentally healthy by comparison.
Tav on July 21, 2010 at 9:09 PM
Why?
hawkdriver on July 21, 2010 at 9:09 PM
Yup. Seems the story is developing so fast that it’s hard to keep up with it. That’s why I was surprised that O’Reilly, who can be a little late to the party at times, seems to be out ahead of the pack on this one.
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 9:11 PM
Vice Underchief for the Advancement of White House Lawn Jockeys
Because to patronizing white Liberal Democrats like Vilsack, there is only one good use for Black Americans, and that is as their little pets.
Plantation politicians are getting pathetic in their transparency.
seejanemom on July 21, 2010 at 9:14 PM
Yep. I hope someone really gets into this story. The Pigford v. Vilsack is a can of worms. She sues him, ends up with a huge settlement based on dubious claims and then ends up with a cushy job working for Vilsack.
Old Shirley knows how to work the system. So much for her “redemption” story. What a crock.
Cody1991 on July 21, 2010 at 9:16 PM
The piling on of Breitbart is tiresome.
I really would expect better of his peers.
Apparently, any way to cut the competition down to size works just fine.
Sad.
seejanemom on July 21, 2010 at 9:17 PM
Exactly right. Another Conservative circular firing squad.
hawkdriver on July 21, 2010 at 9:19 PM
There WAS no redemption, not if you listen all the way to the 33:16 mark and here the story of 2 northern black cousins forcing a sale of a farm (500+ acres) and she hires 2 honest white lawyers (the others Nickle and Dime) and they manage to save most of the farm. Here’s the kicker: 62 acres with the creek are being sold to a white man. You can see the disgust on her face.
And then her “committment to south Georgia, I can’t say that in north Georgia, but they don’t seem to have any problem getting money” at the 42:43 mark. If she is suppose to help the whole state then she shouldn’t have this job.
journeyintothewhirlwind on July 21, 2010 at 9:31 PM
Yes, no matter how Ed and the others try to paint the story, she is what she is. Did you see the story at Mediaite? She’s just a leftist hack and a racist to boot.
Cody1991 on July 21, 2010 at 9:34 PM
Wowza. I’m torn between whether he was sent there at the recommendation of Kevin Jennings or if it’s a Socialist/solidarity/resist kinda thing. Either way, it’s a win-win for Barry, using nuance to appeal to the base.
Buy Danish on July 21, 2010 at 9:34 PM
If you know her background and listen to Vilsack, it seems pretty clear. She’s going to be offered, de facto, the Ag Czar of Pigford Settlements, which will put her in a commanding role for massive reparations and redistribution. They may call it a civil rights position or something, but engineering Pigford settlements is the gist of what it’ll be. It’s to co-opt her. It’s a huge plum, or hush money job.
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 9:37 PM
What peers? You mean the old media? They’re not journalists. They just write whatever the conventional wisdom is. Good journalists ask questions, get answers, then ask more questions. Breitbart isn’t an objective journalist, but at least he digs.
hawksruleva on July 21, 2010 at 9:39 PM
Sigh…you two are what us hicks in northern New England would call a 2 holer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8Mf4xKRhIU
Del Dolemonte on July 21, 2010 at 9:59 PM
Greta introduces her show tonight with a reference to the WH handling of Sherrod: “TALK ABOUT STUPID….”
Let’s have a big scoop of Sherrod, kiddies. Just doesn’t get much better than this.
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 10:02 PM
Byron York, on Greta’s show, makes a very good summary of where we are on this story and says there’s a lot more to come.
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 10:15 PM
Anyone see Glenn’s show today? He had his pipe and the red phone. He just mopped the floor with 0bama and his racists in the WH. Remember, they were trying to make this about Glenn and Fox News Channel.
Hope we have a thread about his show today. I was just laughing through out the whole show. Even Glenn made a comment about how the WH had this presser at 5:00 ET when his show starts.
Mirimichi on July 21, 2010 at 10:35 PM
Not yet unless her husband’s connection to Ayers, the Pigford case, or the WP (cindy munford post) story of what she said about Fox are part of the mediaite story.
Am I missing anything?
journeyintothewhirlwind on July 21, 2010 at 10:39 PM
You know that the whole gang of radicals during the ’60′s and ’70′s decided that rather than attack the system from without (because their homegrown acts of terrorism were backfiring), they would attack from within. They sought careers in education (like Ayers and that phony Chief Thunderthud out in Colorado) or law (like Dohrn and Lynn Stewart). They were h*llbent on reshaping America into their Marxist/Maoist utopias.
Ayers in particular wanted to subvert through racial unrest as his writings confirm.
onlineanalyst on July 21, 2010 at 10:49 PM
Usually I find him just mildly amusing. Today I was laughing so loud my dog came from the other room to see what was going on.
petefrt on July 21, 2010 at 10:55 PM
It may be time to sing “The Name Game” with Shirley.
onlineanalyst on July 21, 2010 at 11:05 PM
Sure glad Sherrod isn’t a Rightie, that would be unforgivable.
The administration’s response shows their true colors.
Redistribution comes even before race.
Speakup on July 21, 2010 at 11:08 PM
Did the last part of that video clip say that Sherrod was meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus before she makes a decision? What does that group have to do with the price of beans?
onlineanalyst on July 22, 2010 at 12:37 AM
So who was it who (successfully) set Breitbart up by sending him a tape that ended where it did?
ProfessorMiao on July 22, 2010 at 6:36 AM
Vilsack is pathetic. Is this job so important to him that he can stand before the cameras and lie with a straight face about the known facts of this firing? What does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul? Nothing.
Kissmygrits on July 22, 2010 at 9:00 AM
I was among the first on this site to note Sherrod’s class warfare. What I look forward to is the exact situation being reversed and watching fools like you lie about their past statements.
As for “punks” and “pukes,” thanks for those lovetaps. But you and I both know that you would never speak up to me like that in person. In fact, I have you pegged as one of those guys who is waiting for their turn to slip in a n-bomb in front of somebody black.
I think it was you who posted the John Lennon song link with the word “ni**er” visible for dramatic effect? You’re so obvious. Consider yourself lucky that our paths don’t cross.
What thread was that?
The Race Card on July 22, 2010 at 2:43 PM
Thought so.
The Race Card on July 22, 2010 at 3:45 PM
Back up your statement with facts or retract it.
PackerBronco on July 21, 2010 at 7:59 PM
Bill O’Reilly apologized to Shirley Sherrod for taking her comments out of context Wednesday night on “The O’Reilly Factor.”
That’s just one example. There were several others.
rjl1999 on July 22, 2010 at 6:30 PM
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