NAACP and the Tea Party: Last throes of the fear-and-smear machine?
Screenshot
of a prescient tweet from July 24, 2009. What a year of
fear-and-smear it's been, and it all seems to be coming to a head a year
later as JournoListas' leaked memos and Andrew Breitbart's video
revelations emerge into the disinfectant light of day and the Tea Party
strikes back.
By Sissy Willis of sisu
"They got into a fight with the tea party, and all
of this came out as a
result of that,” Shirley Sherrod told CNN last night "in reference to
the NAACP’s resolution
last week accusing the tea party of having used 'racist' tactics,"
reports Politico this morning. NAACP "got into" a fight with
"the" tea party? Puleeze. They tried to PICK a fight by throwing
gratuitous accusations at no one in particular, hoping something would
stick. There's no single Tea Party. It's not a monolith like the
politically correct, JournoLista
talking-points-of-the-day, police-state army of race
mongers who would smear us as they unwittingly psychologically
project their own modus operandi onto the grassroots Army of
Davids that threatens their bitterly clinging grasp on power.
Tammy Bruce condensed the essence of Sherrodgate into one eloquent tweet
last night.
If you'd followed and perhaps participated in the sausage-making
process on blogs and Twitter last night, you would have seen in tooth and claw the
life-and-death struggle between left and right to control the narrative.
On the right, members of the Tea Party movement with modern-day
muckraker Andrew Breitbart — that signature "take-no-prisoners"
gleam in his eye — leading the charge. In the middle, calmer voices
like War Correspondent The Anchoress, who argued for a measured approach. On the left,
do-as-you're-told foot soldiers of the
big-government, nanny-state army, determined to smear us
with their racist mantra. Compare Sherrod's word choice — the passive
"got into a fight" — with what actually happened. NAACP PICKED a fight,
using the occasion of finding itself in the spotlight to hurl the absurd
charge of racism at us. From Politico:
NAACP President Ben Jealous declared
that the organization had been "snookered" into
condemning [Sherrod, whose "abrupt firing" is now being "reconsidered"
by her boss, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack] …Jealous pointed to the NAACP’s
recent conflict with the tea party, but
blamed the “lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit
legitimate opposition” …“Next time we are confronted by a
racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the tea party
like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate
in responding. The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was
deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to
create a controversy where none existed.”
"Twitter is like cable news on meth," Congressional
Correspondent for the LA Times James Oliphant twittered around
midnight last night. The excitement was visceral as the armies of the
night clashed in the seemingly endless hours of tweet-to-tweet combat.
When the dust settled next morning, twitterbuddy Jimmie of The Sundries Shack
basked in the
realization that something consequential had happened. Genie out of
the bottle. Can't put it back.
Special Forces Commander Dan Riehl's thoughtful
final report, "Breitbart's Landmark Video And A Genuinely Post-Racial
America," is worth your time to put it all into perspective:
In both the full video and a 3 minute excerpt I produced,
Sherrod labels the entire Republican Party racist, claiming they simply
can't stand to see a black man in the White House. She also
characterizes totally legitimate political opposition to ObamaCare from
average citizens as mean and ultimately racist in the end. Had some
previous Bush appointee called the Democrat Party a bunch of
race-baiting hucksters, or poverty pimps – putting black citizens in
that camp, too – there is no way said official would be able to keep
their position. Yet, that is precisely what Sherrod did, only it was
Republicans and her political opponents she so openly smeared …I believe shouting back against the
same old racially divisive
politics of old is precisely what Andrew Breitbart did in releasing this
recent video. And I'm proud to stand solidly by him in the fight. I
only wish more good people on the Right had the judgment and vision to
understand the larger dynamics and ultimate worthiness of an admittedly
very difficult battle. I believe it's a worthwhile fight, one it seems
America must have if we are ever to get to the genuinely post-racial
future every American should want.
Update: Dana Loesch
agrees with us.
Update II: Michelle Malkin "Buzzworthy" link!
Crossposted at sisu and Liberty Pundits.
Mr. Willis:
“NAACP PICKED a fight, using the occasion of finding itself in the spotlight to hurl the absurd charge of racism at us.”
Well of course they would. Breitbart’s Monday piece very specifically pointed out that the entire point of his release of the Sherrod video was to demonstrate the NAACP audience members’ reaction to her tale of her indulging in racial discrimination.
The dullards, whether they be internally or externally misdirected, have all latched onto the resulting travails of Ms. Sherrod as though that had been Breitbart’s point all along.
NAACP, however, apparently went out and bought itself a clue,(presumably after Breitbart himself restated his point on “Hannity” last night), and now realizes that its’ members approving reaction is the REAL story here.
So they default to the “Journolist Playbook”.
And while Ms. Sherrod’s reprehensible behavior of 24 years ago still is entirely subsidiary to what Breitbart has said all along he was trying to illustrate, she DOES serve a very useful function.
Would you be willing to tolerate someone with Shirley Sherrod’s attitudes in charge of your government-run health care?
Thank you both Mr. Riehl and Mr. Brietbart. Too long has the right been playing with etiquette against people who think nothing of playing the race card and backroom dealings. You get it. It’s a pleasure to finally witness it.
Dan,
I don’t know if you read American Thinker’s discussion on this but you should:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/07/forty_acres_a_mule_sherrod_sty.html
It may be that we are missing the real story as to why the WH was quick to get her fired. They have other reasons for wanting her out of the news entirely and ASAP.
Pasadena Phil: Yes, I’d seen that. Thanks for the link. Too late to close the barn door: The mule has already been stolen?
The real story,IMO, is that this story is getting waaaaaaaaay more coverage than the journolist story, and I think that is by design.
One has to wonder. In 24 months we’ve seen Obama pull out Jeremiah Wright, Skip Gates, and now Shirley Sherrod.
How is he not the most racialist AND racially divisive President in the history of this country? Do African-Americans not understand that the election of Barack Obama has set back race relations in the U.S. by at least 50 years?
We’re on the verge of mass race riots here in this country, and every drop of blood spilled MUST be laid at the feet of “Barry” and anyone who voted for him.
jd: I noticed that too. The magician’s misdirection. Could be.