Go Get 'Em Shirl

Shirley Sherrod has at least one lawsuit in the offing in connection with her firing by the USDA when an edited video shown by recently deceased conservative Andrew Breitbart made it look like she said something racist. USDA director Tom Vilsack couldn't even wait to see if she had any proof that, as she claimed, the whole video would have shown exactly the opposite. Now, it appears that, as we might have imagined, the White House was consulted and in cohort with Vilsack.

White House officials were in close contact with the Agriculture Department in the hours leading up to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s decision to fire USDA employee Shirley Sherrod in 2010, according to nearly 2,000 pages of internal emails released by the administration.

[...]

USDA officials asked Sherrod, who is black, to resign after the original video emerged. Once it became clear a day later that Sherrod’s speech was about racial reconciliation, not division, Vilsack apologized and asked her to return to the department — an offer she declined.

President Barack Obama also offered an apology after her ouster created a racial firestorm.

[...]

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday repeated the administration’s statement that the decision to oust Sherrod was USDA’s alone. “The emails confirm what we said at the time, which is that the White House had no involvement in the decision made regarding Ms. Sherrod’s employment, her firing, but were made aware of the decision that had been made by the Department of Agriculture,” Carney said.

  WaPo

Yeah, don't make the mistake of thinking the White House is going to step up and take responsibility for anything. Especially during campaign season. And good on Shirley for declining that offer.

Here's Charlie Pierce's response:

I sincerely hope Shirley Sherrod and her lawyers win so big that they have to dig up Andrew Breitbart and collect the pennies off his eyes. I sincerely hope, at some point, Shirley Sherrod gets in a room with Tom Vilsack, and with the incumbent president of the United Stares, and with everyone of his micturating staffers, and she spits on every damn one of them.

[...]

This is what happens when the people running politics accept as axiomatic that spin is everything. This is what happens when, because of that, courage is defined by keeping your own job.

  Charles Pierce

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.