Fire Tom Vilsack and Give Shirley Sherrod His Job

This is how stupid the issue of race has become in this country:

A black woman who uses the story of her long-ago racism and how she overcame it as a way of teaching others to overcome their racism is demonized as a racist by mendacious teabaggers.

But that's not the stupid part. Here's the stupid part:

A white man appointed to a cabinet position by the first black president of the United States then fires the black woman based on the false version of her racism spread by the teabaggers, and without even giving the black woman a chance to explain the truth.

And here's the inexcusable part: after the true full story comes out, the white man refuses to reconsider his stupidity and insists the black woman who teaches others how to overcome their racism deserves to lose her job.

Apparently for the crime of telling the truth.

Digby has the these-idiots-deserve-to-lose-Congress-to-the-repugs part:

After ACORN and now this, I really have to wonder if the Democrats and Brietbart aren't actually working together on a whole Sistah Soljah campaign. It's a little bit hard to see why anyone over 10 years old would fall for the same ruse over and over again. (Hey, maybe their focus groups show that simply alienating liberals isn't going to impress those swing voters so they need to alienate the black vote too...)

But I also have to wonder if they know what the optics of this are. If two-bit sociopathic wingnuts can scare them to this extent with obviously doctored videos, what happens when they see a real threat? Are they going to flap their arms like penguins and run around in circles screaming "they're coming to get us, run for your lives!!?" At this point, that doesn't seem entirely ridiculous.

Seriously, this shows tremendous weakness. Andrew Brietbart is a con artist and and right wing entertainer whose antics should always be met with a cynical laugh and a shake of the head. To fall for his schtick more than once is political malpractice.

SNIP

"Her decision 'rightly or wrongly" will be called into question" because some right wing hitman put out an edited tape that makes her sound as if her point is the opposite of what it is, so she had to be fired.

They are telling wingnuts everywhere that all they have to do is gin up a phony controversy (especially about a black person, apparently) and the administration will fire them so as not to shake confidence that they are "fair service providers."

This is sheer cowardice.

Fire Tom Vilsack and give Shirley Sherrod his job.

UPDATE: Michael Bersin has posted several excellent updates in comments here.