Snookered? Not So Much

When looking at the Shirley Sherrod situation a couple of days removed from it, I've notice there's a lot of smearing going on, primarily from the Left. First, they started by smearing mud on Sherrod herself, with the Obama Administration asking that she resign and giving the lame excuse that her now-infamous speech was going to become a focal point of conservative media. The NAACP and the Department of Agriculture both jumped on the bandwagon, apparently without looking at the entirety of the video of the speech. (Odd, considering the NAACP had the entire speech all along...)

Once Sherrod was pushed out, the Left then tried to smear Fox News and Andrew Breitbart, saying they were responsible for having Sherrod fired. Um, not really. Fox News and Breitbart only made the video public knowledge instead of having it tucked away in the archives like the NAACP. Once the "it's Fox News's fault" narrative was invented, the Left jumped on it. The NAACP said they were "snookered" by Fox News, and CNN's Campbell Brown went so far as to criticize the NAACP for letting themselves be snookered.

One tiny problem with the narrative: it doesn't fit the timeline. Sherrod was already on the way out by the time Fox News was running the story, and the NAACP had already criticized Sherrod for her comments. So, how could Fox News "snooker" the NAACP when they weren't even covering the story yet before the NAACP made its statement?

The answer: they can't, legitimately. Instead, what they're doing is trying to make themselves out to be the victims instead of the willing perpetrators in a much larger scheme designed to deflect attention away from the fact that Sherrod's comments were made at an NAACP meeting...and the membership at that meeting acted in a way that could be considered racist in that you could hear laughter and other comments during the part where Sherrod said that she didn't help a white farmer as much as she could have initially.

After the media attention the NAACP garnered for their criticism of the alleged racist elements of the TEA Parties, they couldn't afford to be seen as racists. What better way to lose what credibility they gained by attacking the TEA Parties than to be exposed as racist themselves.

Beyond that, the Obama Administration bears a lot of responsibility for their actions against Sherrod. They jumped the gun without knowing the facts (gee, that's almost a pattern for this Administration), and when the real story came out, they were left having to apologize. Wait, didn't the Left get their collective panties in a wad over George W. Bush's alleged "shoot first, ask questions later" approach to issues?

I have to say that I did find some of Sherrod's statements and admitted actions racist because they were not motivated by anything other than seeing one's skin color. Has she learned her lesson since then? According to her, she has. Until I see otherwise, I'll take her at her word. However, the NAACP and the Obama Administration have some more "teachable moments" to endure before they finally get it.

And let's hope they get it before they fire other Administration officials for no reason.