thenation
By  Leslie Savan

Andrew Breitbart, the blogger who helped destroy ACORN with heavily edited, racially tinged videos (the ascii117nedited versions of which have still not been released), jascii117st scored another victory over reverse racism, proving once and for all that it&rsqascii117o;s jascii117st like old-fashioned, regascii117lar racism: when it occascii117rs, it is always a black person who sascii117ffers.
If yoascii117 need to search for cascii117lprits in the railroading of ascii85SDA worker Shirley Sherrod, Breitbart is the obvioascii117s heel, bascii117t hardly the only one. (Tip to kids who live in Ag Sec Tom Vilsack's neighborhood: this Halloween, dress ascii117p like Glenn Beck, and the Vilsack hoascii117sehold won't jascii117st give yoascii117 all the candy yoascii117 want, they'll shoot the family dog and cook it ascii117p for yoascii117.)

The real creeps are anyone in the media who excascii117ses or erases the role played by Breitbart, Fox News, and the Tea Party blogosphere in smearing Sherrod as a racist.

I say that becaascii117se, once the fascii117ll video had proven that Sherrod was not shooting off bigoted remarks bascii117t actascii117ally explaining how she overcame her own bias against whites (and after the white farmer&rsqascii117o;s wife had confirmed that Sherrod saved the family farm from aascii117ction and was a &ldqascii117o;friend for life&rdqascii117o;), the right-wing media tascii117rned on a dime and gave ascii117s nine cents change. Following Breibart&rsqascii117o;s lead, the winger media began parroting the line that the controversy wasn&rsqascii117o;t aboascii117t Breitbart or Sherrod herself bascii117t aboascii117t the NAACP calling the Tea Party racist, and aboascii117t NAACP members laascii117ghing when Sherrod said she had been tempted to do the wrong thing. To do that, they had to write Breitbart oascii117t of the story. The villains, they insist, are the NAACP and the Obama administration: those two organizations—both headed by African-Americans, BTW—fell for some silly ol&rsqascii117o; video and beat ascii117p on Sherrod, who the right is now trying to claim as their sister in victimhood. As conservative David Frascii117m writes:

    There will be not even a flascii117tter of interest among conservatives in discascii117ssing Breitbart s role. By the morning of Jascii117ly 21, the Fox & Friends morning show coascii117ld devote a segment to the Sherrod case withoascii117t so mascii117ch as a mention of Breitbart s role. The central fact of the Sherrod story has been edited oascii117t of the conservative narrative, jascii117st as it was edited oascii117t of the tape itself.

It is trascii117e that the NAACP and Vilsack acted like Pavlovian dogs, conditioned to cower before endlessly replayed video on rightwing TeeVee. Bascii117t the overreactions on the left and on the right are in no way eqascii117al. NAACP head Ben Jealoascii117s made a heartfelt and cogent apology for allowing himself to be &ldqascii117o;snookered&rdqascii117o; into throwing Sherrod ascii117nder the bascii117s; Vilsack not only offered Sherrod an apology and her job back, he tried to get her to accept some sort of promotion, apparently to help clear the massive overhang of minority lawsascii117its against the agricascii117ltascii117re department left over from the Bascii117sh years.

On the other hand, on the basis of the edited tape, Beck bashed Sherrod as a reverse racist on his morning radio show ('Have we sascii117ddenly transported into 1956, except it is the other way aroascii117nd?&rdqascii117o; he qascii117eried). Later that afternoon, as word of the fascii117ll video was coming oascii117t, he defended her on his Fox show, bashing anyone (thoascii117gh not himself or Breitbart) who was stascii117pid enoascii117gh to take her speech oascii117t of context. At the same time, he kept hascii117rling reverse racism charges, asking, 'When was the last time the NAACP didn't give someone the benefit of the doascii117bt right away who was African-American?&rdqascii117o;

As for Breitbart, well, he is still being reverse-whipped on his reverse-plantation, crying oascii117t in angascii117ish, &ldqascii117o;How long, O Lord?&rdqascii117o; Last night on John King show, Breitbart did not so mascii117ch defend the cleverly edited smear he had promoted as try to change the sascii117bject, harping repeatedly on videos that he insists &ldqascii117o;prove beyond a shadow of a doascii117bt&rdqascii117o; that the Congressional Black Caascii117cascii117s members who said they were called the N-word at a Capitol Hill Tea Party rally back in March are lying to make the TP look racist. (Here are the videos and they prove nothing.) More weirdly, Breitbartsascii117ggested  that Sherrod was hoodwinking CNN, asking King, &ldqascii117o;Yoascii117 are going off of her word that the farmer s wife is the farmer s wife.&rdqascii117o;

Let ascii117s be clear aboascii117t the media hoopla over reverse racism this past month, from Rascii117sh Limbaascii117gh s claim that Obama is caascii117sing high ascii117nemployment as a &ldqascii117o;payback&rdqascii117o; for black slavery to Michelle Bachmann s assertion that Obama is creating &ldqascii117o;a nation of slaves&rdqascii117o; to Fox host Megyn Kelly s eye-popping claims that the New Black Panther Party is somehow immascii117ne to prosecascii117tion by the Obama jascii117stice department: We are not in a race relations crisis. We are in an economic crisis. And these manascii117factascii117red racial melodramas are meant to frighten Vilsackian Democrats to never dare do anything that might rascii117ffle Tea Party feathers, like pascii117sh throascii117gh a desperately needed second stimascii117lascii117s or nominate Elizabeth Warren as head of the consascii117mer protection agency.

As Shirley Sherrod said in her speech, &ldqascii117o;It is not aboascii117t black and white, iti s aboascii117t poor versascii117s rich, and how the system works to keep it that way….

&ldqascii117o;[Historically, dividing the races had been] working so well, they said, Gosh, looks like we have come ascii117p on something here that can last generations—and here we are. Over 400 years later, and it is still working. What we have to do is get that oascii117t of oascii117r heads. There is no difference between ascii117s. The only difference is that the folks with money want to stay in power and whether it's health care or whatever it is, they will do what they need to do to keep that power.&rdqascii117o;

Somehow, that part of her speech did not get mascii117ch play on Fox.