The Los Angeles Times reports:
Bill O'Reilly apologizes to Shirley Sherrod for 'not doing my homework'
July 21, 2010 | 6:46 pm
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly offered a rare mea culpa Wednesday, apologizing for airing a controversial tape of a speech given by a black U.S. Dept. of Agriculture official that was edited to make it appear she was racist.
The Times continues:
Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign Monday after conservative activist Andrew Breitbart posted a video clip of Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP dinner on his website BigGovernment.com in which she appeared to say that she had once discriminated against a white farmer. The edited clip did not include the portion of the speech in which Sherrod said the episode had taught her the importance of overcoming personal prejudices.
The video sparked a conflagration in the blogosphere and cable news that at first outraced the facts. O’Reilly was the first on cable to air the video, calling for Sherrod’s resignation Monday night. (By the time his taped show aired, she in fact had already resigned, a fact Fox News noted on the screen.)
On Wednesday, he said he should have gotten the full story first. "I owe Ms. Sherrod an apology for not doing my homework, for not putting her remarks into the proper context," he said on "The O'Reilly Factor," adding that his own words had been taken out of context by critics in the past. "I well understand the need for honest reporting."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/...
Bill O'Reilly did the right and honorable thing. He was punked like many of us, he admitted it and apologized to the aggrieved party.
I am hoping that this event is a watershed moment. I hope that this is the event that makes Andrew Breitbart professionally radioactive and that future Breitbart wannabes take heed that eventually your allies will have to distance themselves from you, when you make them look bad in your attempt to win one for your side.
So far, the head of the NAACP has apologized. USDA chief Tom Vilsack has apologized. Robert Gibbs has apologized on behalf of the White House. Keith Olbermann has apologized on behalf of MSNBC. And as Chris Matthews bravely predicted, FOX's Bill O'Reilly has apologized.
It is now time for Andrew Breitbart to do the right thing and apologize for his character smears against Shirley Sherrod, his race-baiting and his debasement of political dialogue in this country.
I don't hold out a lot of hope that he will quickly do the right thing, since somebody had the bright idea of having Anne Coulter go on Wednesday's episode of "Hannity" to claim that Breitbart is the true victim in all of this:
The whole key to this story is that Andrew Breitbart was set-up. He was sent a tape that, as we now know, was massively out of context. It did look like this woman was saying something racist. When she first said it was taken out of context ... we've heard that before from politicians telling racist jokes. This is the first time in world history it was literally taken out of context.
It was a lovely speech. Of course the White House reacted that way -- of course you reacted the way you did. Anyone would have. I think Breitbart ought to reveal his source, because he was set-up. This was a fraud. The person who sent the edited tape has to know what the full speech said, and whomever sent only that segment to Andrew Breitbart is the one who should apologize to Shirley Sherrod...
http://www.politicsdaily.com/...
Just. Stop. Now.
Instead, just say, "I got this story very wrong and I owe Shirley Sherrod, a profound apology for the damage I caused. I deeply regret putting her and her family in danger as a result of my incendiary commentary and a video that I failed to vet. I truly, deeply and unequivocally apologize."
Rinse and repeat similar apologies for the NAACP leadership, the NAACP members attending Sherrod's speech, the USDA, the White House, the media you peddled this to and the death-threat making sociopaths you incited with your video.
Conservatives like Jonah Goldberg of "National Review Online" are also calling for Breitbart to apologize:
I think she's owed apologies from pretty much everyone, including my good friend Andrew Breitbart.
I generally think Andrew is on the side of the angels and a great champion of the cause. He says he received the video in its edited form and I believe him.
But the relevant question is, Would he have done the same thing over again if he had seen the full video from the outset?
I'd like to think he wouldn't have. Because to knowingly turn this woman into a racist in order to fight fire with fire with the NAACP is unacceptable. When it seemed that Sherrod was a racist who abused her power, exposing her and the NAACP's hypocrisy was perfectly fair game. But now that we have the benefit of knowing the facts, the equation is completely different.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/...