Tommy Christopher at Mediaite has decided to wade into the “Phantom N-Word” story and do the heavy lifting of the Congressional Black Caucus, Media Matters, MSNBC and all of the networks and publications that spread the false charges of racism emanating from the health care protests in Washington DC on March 20^th. After reading Tommy’s lame attempt I see now why the other apologists for the Congressional Black Caucus have stayed silent for months on this issue.

Let me answer his two main arguments immediately and then provide detailed and sourced evidence to support me answers:

1. There is corroborating evidence from three eyewitnesses who said the racial slurs occurred

WRONG: There is one witness with no corroboration. And that witness is NOT civil-rights hero Rep. John Lewis. (more below)

2. The five videos showing the moment the slurs were supposed to have taken place don’t reveal what each and every person present is saying, therefore, it does not prove the racial slurs didn’t happen.

WRONG: The videos we have provided of the incident unequivocally prove that the scene described by the one witness is a complete fabrication. Furthermore, it is not incumbent on the accused to prove something did not happen, it is incumbent on the accuser to prove that it did.

To back-up his claim that there is corroborating evidence from three respected congressmen, Tommy links to two articles: The original report from McClatchy that started the “N-word” story in the first place and a subsequent piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Cynthia Tucker where she discusses the matter with Rep. John Lewis.

For three eyewitness testimonies to be “corroborating” they need to support one another’s version of the events. Let’s look at each person’s testimony:

(more…)

The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., was the scene of an historic event, August 4, 2010. For the first time in U.S. history, black conservative leaders from across America gathered for a national press conference. Their purpose was three fold. One, to rebuke the NAACP’s resolution accusing the tea parties of being racist. Two, to introduce themselves to America. Three, to dispel the myth that black conservatives are as rare as Bigfoot sightings.

As the organizer and spokesperson of Tea Party Express that hosted the event, I am constantly confronted by the liberal mainstream media, “Where are the conservative blacks?”

The NAACP’s politically motivated attack on the tea party movement based on unfounded charges of racism created the “perfect storm” for black conservative leaders, organizations, authors and entertainers to bond together to defend their fellow patriotic God-fearing Americans.

The National Black Conservative Press Conference featured speeches and Q & A by a “dream team” of America’s top black conservatives.

Of the approximate 30 to 40 media outlets in attendance, two black reporters, one from “Black Enterprise” and the other from another black media outlet were stunningly hostile and closed-minded during the Q & A. (more…)

***UPDATE:  “Hardball” Defense of Breitbart Memory-Holed

***

Today, on MSNBC’s Hardball, Chris Matthews acknowledged (and appears to be the first member of the mainstream media to acknowledge) that the video Andrew Breitbart posted in his July 19th Big Government article about an NAACP audience’s reaction to a particular moment in Shirley Sherrod’s speech, does in fact include Ms. Sherrod discussing her redemptive revelation (transcript from Newsbusters):

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, there you go. [Quoting Ms. Sherrod] “I opened my eyes. I realized it wasn’t about black and white. It was, but it was about other things, about poverty.” So … that part, that part in there about redemptive revelation was actually in the initial tape.

This then prompts Mr. Matthews to ask his guests, Governor Howard Dean and Joan Walsh, a question that answers itself:

Yeah, but why do you think if this was a complete slime job, why do you think Breitbart kept that in there, Governor? Why did he keep in that part – let me let the Governor in here. Why did he put the redemptive part in here at all?

Dean admits he has never even viewed that 2:36 video in its entirety! Nor has he even read Andrew Breitbart’s original article, which states:

Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from “one of his own kind”. She refers him to a white lawyer.

Of course that has not stopped Dean from appearing on multiple networks and ripping Fox News as being racist for having played the video of Shirley Sherrod released on BigGovernment.com (yes, the same 2:36 video he has not watched all — any? — of). (more…)

By now every political junkie is aware of the fact that Andrew Breitbart is being hunted down like a rabid dog in a crowded neighborhood. The accusations against him are that he took a video “out of context,” thereby exaggerating racial statements made by Shirley Sherrod, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, and forcing her out of office. His most prominent accusers, Keach Hagey & Kenneth P. Vogel, write for the Politico where they posted an article titled: “The Tucker and Breitbart Show.”

While Hagey and Vogel’s article is ostensibly aimed at proving that Breitbart jumped the gun by posting a video of Sherrod that was “misleadingly edited,” this seems but a subterfuge by which they might not only lampoon Breitbart and Daily Caller publisher Tucker Carlson, but keep attention away from the fact that Breitbart’s goal in focusing on the Sherrod story was correct: inasmuch as it fits into his larger goal of highlighting the ongoing racial politicis of the Obama administration and the NAACP.

Of course, the reader will never be able to ascertain Breitbart’s goal from reading the Politico piece, which is nothing less than an old fashioned pile-on with Breitbart at the bottom of the pile.

For example, instead of delving into hard evidence that supported their accusations against Breitbart, Hagey and Vogel employed quotes from various bloggers, television personalities, and even House Minority Leader John Boehner in such a way as to taint the reader’s opinion of Breitbart, thereby preparing the reader to accept the idea that he had indeed “misleadingly edited” a video for shock value. But Breitbart didn’t edit the video. Rather, he aired the excerpts he received. And this seems like a crucial important point for writers at the Politico to have overlooked.

(more…)

As the November mid-term elections draw near, race arsonists’ political distractions are seen in full action.  Facing defeat at the polls, the Left is desperately resorting to its only remaining trick.

With different styles and brands of utopian-driven influence — from the dependent welfare state of the American Democratic party, the socialism of Marxist/Leninists’ Workers’ Paradise, the Open Society of Soros’ idol Karl Popper, or any of the current collective salvations of social justice — examining the tactics as they occur is an enlightening exercise.

On Sunday’s This Week, President Obama’s defacto spokesman, V.P. Joe Biden, was sent to poison the well. Host Jake Tapper asked, “The NAACP had a convention in the last week, and they passed a resolution saying that elements of the Tea Party are racist. Do you think elements of the Tea Party are racist?”

The presidential reply is as follows:

Well, the truth is that at least elements that were involved in some of the Tea Party folks expressed racist views, you saw that on television. But, I don’t think — I don’t — I wouldn’t characterize the Tea Party as racist.

There are individuals who are either members of or on the periphery of some of their things, their — their protests — that have expressed really unfortunate comments. And, again, it was all over TV, all over your network, you know? A black Congressman walking up the stairs of the Capitol.

(more…)

For those scoring at home, we’re using the ten-point-must system. Enjoy:

As soon as the mainstream media discovered the Shirley Sherrod speech was longer than the clip posted on Big Government, they practically tripped over their underwear to pounce on Andrew Breitbart.

The craziest example was Keith Olbermann coming to work from vacation to broadcast a rambling “frothing at the mouth” He started by telling the story of Alfred Dreyfus, an eighteenth-century French Officer who was falsely convicted of treason because he was Jewish. At least I think he was talking about Alfred Dreyfus, Olbermann kept mentioning someone named Draayfus.

Olberman followed by going after Andrew Breitbart as if he was to become unhinged. In fact he reminded me of another Dreyfus, the Herbert Lom character, Police Commissioner Charles Dreyfus, Inspector Clouseau’s mad boss in the Pink Panther movies.

…But this evil has not become institutionalized just because of the hard, soulless work of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes and the scum Breitbart. Our society has not bought into the premise of this 24-hour parade of feces dressed up as news just because of a clever marketing plan….

..We didn’t first ask if the doctored clip perverted by the scum Breitbart did not seem to be leading up to a “however.” We didn`t even today, when even this network let this pornographer of propaganda Breitbart come on and spew his lies and his venom and his fraudulent, obviously false self-defense…”

Olbermann and the mainstream media missed some important points; the first of which was the Sherrod story exposed the laziness of the media. They didn’t read or listen well. (more…)

Lemme get this straight: the media is talking about context. They want context!

They’ve never cared about context in the past. When a person talked like a racist there were no excuses, no context, no explanation, no recovery allowed or given. Ask any conservative who’s been wrongly accused of being a racist knows exactly what I’m talking about.  The list is long. Limbaugh, Beck, Allen, O’Reilley—on and on.

How about some context with the New Black Panthers, you media kings?

Finally, after years of knowing the video is out there of the New Black Panthers intimidating voters at polling places in Philadelphia and after weeks of seeing video of that same New Black Panther guy urging the murder of “crackers” and “cracker babies,” it’s now okay for the media to start showing the video.

They can now change the context of that video and instead of seeing it for what it is—they now put it in the context of right wing media trying to make race an issue. What the…?

They just needed something to justify changing the context. Because they think they have caught Andrew Breitbart in a racial ruse in regards to Shirley Sherrod they can now unload all their anger on Andrew.

Yes, it is anger, and it has been building for a long time. (more…)

Frightened by websites that don’t only report on stories that are Soros- and Obama-administration approved, CNN decides it just better to demand that free speech be shut down.

Yesterday on CNN’s American Morning, Kiran Chetry and John Roberts interviewed Shirley Sherrod about her response to the recent controversy over the release of her comments at an NAACP dinner.

When Roberts pressed Sherrod about what she would like to see Andrew Breitbart do in response to her summary firing by Labor secretary Tom Vilsack over her comments she said, “apologize.” That was the extent after rephrasing multiple times, “an apology.”

Apparently that wasn’t enough for Chetry. She responded by saying, “Would you like to see his site shut down?”

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann came back from vacation to rant about the Sherrod story and now CNN is directing, completely unprompted by their guest, Sherrod to demand that Breitbart’s site be shut down. Olbermann and the rest of the left haven’t stopped blaming Fox News since Sherrod lost her job at lightning speed for her own comments that were in context (even though Fox News didn’t report on the Sherrod story until after she lost her job).

How do we go from “an apology” to shutting down free speech? It’s easy for the fascist left. (more…)

NEW YORK (AP) – A conservative blog posts 2 minutes, 38 seconds of video clips of a black federal agriculture official saying she didn’t do everything she could to help a white farmer. The blogger labels it racism. Calls grow for the Obama administration to remove her. No one at the Agriculture Department or the White House checks further. The official is forced to resign.

Monday ends, but not the story.

A complete, 43-minute version of the video surfaces the next day, Tuesday, and casts a much different light on Shirley Sherrod’s comments: They were part of an NAACP speech about how she overcame her racial prejudice to help the farmer, not about prejudice that stopped her from helping him.

Now, the administration is criticized for wronging her by rushing to judgment.

By Wednesday afternoon, Sherrod is sitting at a studio in CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, watching on live television as White House press secretary Robert Gibbs apologizes to her.

She accepts and says: “Being afraid of the machine that the right has put out there—that’s what’s driving this.” (more…)

A good faith search of the Media Matters for America website found that the term ”heavily edited” was used no less than 4 times in this article and 5 more times [captured in screen caps below the fold] to describe a video or videos that are not edited in any way whatsoever.

Both videos clearly represent full unedited excerpts of Sharon Sherrod’s speech before the NAACP.

To refer to full excerpts as “heavily edited” or even “edited” is misleading and not true.

We respectfully request that Media Matters For America correct the record.

(more…)

As the mainstream media trips over itself to analyze and re-analyze the Shirley Sherrod controversy, Andrew Breitbart is under fire for ostensibly unethical behavior. Andrew is more than capable of defending himself, but I wanted to offer a few quick thoughts on this imbroglio:

(1) This President often decries the 24-hour, hyper-reactionary media cycle, yet his administration responded with warp-speed to toss Sherrod overboard. Can it now safely be asserted that the Obama administration “acted stupidly”?

(2) The administration’s thoughtless abandonment of Sherrod indicates a hair-trigger climate of paranoia about all issues racial within the West Wing. It seems J. Christian Adams’ whistle-blowing has taken its toll, and Team Obama is nervous about the degree of scrutiny its racially-tinged political machinations have received. On the heels of the New Black Panther kerfuffle, another major race flap just wouldn’t do–thus, a low-level African American female was deemed expendable, and was unceremoniously dumped. The White House now claims they didn’t press for Sherrod’s dismissal, yet is apologizing to her. Hmm.

(3) MSM critics are pouncing on Breitbart & Co. for “smearing” Sherrod by exploiting out-of-context remarks. As others have noted, many of these same critics were remarkably mute as the ACORN videos were revealed, yet eagerly jumped into the fray to prematurely crucify James O’Keefe when he was arrested in Louisiana. These duplicitous observers were also conspicuously subdued as Andrew Breitbart beat back the “N-word” accusations invented by the Congressional Black Caucus. The story selection speaks for itself. (more…)

Wow. What an amazing transformation America saw across the mainstream media spectrum yesterday. Suddenly their collective righteous indignation-gene kicked in over false charges of racism. The real question is, how long will this last?  I’m guessing right up until it’s yet another critic of the Obama administration who’s once again falsely accused of racism.

At Big Government, Andrew Breitbart posts a story with accompanying video to make his case that a crowd at the NAACP — who had no idea they we’re listening to a story of reconciliation – quite obviously enjoyed Shirley Sherrod’s tale of a white farmer getting screwed because he was white. And in their first written statement, the NAACP agreed with Breitbart:

The reaction from many in the audience is disturbing. We will be looking into the behavior of NAACP representatives at this local event and take any appropriate action.

That statement came directly from NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous, who then went on to condemn Ms. Sherrod as “shameful” before reviewing the whole video of her speech, which, incidentally, has always been in the NAACP’s possession. (more…)

Yesterday Andrew Breitbart appeared on Hannity and CNN’s John King USA to discuss NAACP racism and the firing of Shirley Sherrod:

***

Breitbart’s argument is simple and straightforward: Regardless of what else is in Sherrod’s speech, the first video released on BigGovernment.com features Sherrod telling a tale of racism that is received by the NAACP audience with laughter and cheers. They weren’t cheering redemption; they were cheering discrimination. Upon hearing the cheers, Sherrod fails to offer any immediate clarification and even smiles right along with them.

Breitbart’s main objective by releasing the video was to call out the NAACP, an organization who has recently gone to great lengths to condemn the Tea Party’s alleged racism, for sanctioning racism in it’s own organization. Sherrod immediately became the scapegoat for the embarrassed NAACP and USDA, but she was never the target, the NAACP itself was, and the delight the audience took in the racist part of Sherrod’s speech leaves them exposed. (more…)

My name is Hippocritico and I’m here to help my friends in the mainstream media protect their journalistic legacies by making sure they don’t come off as brazen, biased, hypocrites by covering a particular story that hurts one political party and not covering a similar story that hurts another.

Back in 2009, our friends at the Associated Press assigned no less than 11 reporters to fact check former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s autobiography “Going Rogue.”

Eleven!

Even though they got most of it wrong, you still have to admire the AP’s diligence and determination to hold a public figure accountable. (more…)

The mainstream media isn’t biased. The mainstream media isn’t out of touch. The mainstream media isn’t living in some Manhattan/cocktail party bubble.

The mainstream media is corrupt.

Corrupt to its very core. Willingly, happily, consciously and giddily corrupt. From the day these left-wing propagandists exit whatever J-school taught them how to think, they are on a mission to support, defend, and uphold the Left. And as we’re seeing today, the whole sorry, wicked lot of them have just jumped in bed with the White House and the NAACP to get their lying, left-wing freak on.

Let’s use a little Matrix bullet-time to slow things down and watch how and why this NAACP condemnation of the Tea Party came about at this particular time:

1. After winning a case against The New Black Panther Party for the most obvious display of voter intimidation this side of Bull Connor, Obama’s Justice Department under Eric Holder inexplicably drops the charges against them.

2. A government whistleblower, J. Christian Adams, testifies there is ongoing discrimination at the DOJ — that they are refusing to take seriously any case where the defendants are black and the plaintiffs white.

3. This potentially explosive story begins to bubble in the alternative media.

4. The mainstream media wilfully ignores the story but pressure from the alternative media is starting to make this more and more difficult by the hour. (more…)