July 21, 2010

News Cycle..

(No, this is not it.)

While I do not hang on every perturbation of a story as it wends its way -- from conception to demise -- through the news cycle, I am particularly taken by the story of the USDA political appointee, Shirley Sherrod. It seems that Ms Sherrod has gone from vile racist, to purveyor of a message to a nodding, tittering, agreeing NAACP audience, to post-racial saint and latest victim of a bumbling, gang-that-could-not-shoot-straight Obama regime.

It is absolutely humorous how this story has shape-shifted and been contorted to suit the needs of the conservative, non-racist Tea-party message. When we started out, Ms Sherrod's speech was an example of venomous hate-speech about how she jilted some red-neck cracker farmer in Georgia, did not give him all that he was asking to save his farm from the evil clutches of bank foreclosure -- presumably at the hands of Snidely Whiplash -- and had turned him over to a lawyer who was "one of his own kind". Then in a further transmogrification of the story, the NAACP audience, nodding and chortling at this "get whitey" tale of revenge, was now rendered as the perpetrator of evil Racism.

But what is absolutely delicious is that Ms Sherrod was apparently sacked and is now being considered for reinstatement to her position by virtue of a series of peristaltic convulsions of the White House and the UDSA:

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that he will reconsider the abrupt firing of Shirley Sherrod, a Georgia-based Agriculture Department official who was the victim of a media frenzy over comments that turned out to have been distorted by video editing.

"I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner,” Vilsack said in a statement e-mailed by USDA at 2:07 a.m.

A White House official said: "Not sure what the ultimate result will be, but it’s clear that with new information through the full speech, a longer look needed to be taken. The White House contacted the Department last night about the case and agreed, based on new evidence, that it should be reviewed.”

And even more delightful is that the left and their propaganda organs are in full fight-or-flight mode on this one. I ventured briefly over to Rachel Madcow's show on MSDNC last night and saw that they had lined up an interview with the Georgia farmer who supposedly suffered at the hands of Sherrod. He was effusing how Ms Sherrod treated him fairly and how they were the best of friends nowadays, Rachel nodding sympathetically in the adjacent split screen.

It was too comedic for words.

Please do not misconstrue. I am perfectly happy with whatever mantle is laid upon Ms Sherrod -- evil racist or helpless victim -- and I could care less how or why the left reacts to this story. The lesson here is one that seemingly has heretofore been lost on the GOP, the right-wing purveyors of these tidbits, and the stodgy OTF (Other Than Fox) right-wing media. It is the lesson of Driving The Narrative.

Without over-elaborating, it seems that the White House got caught with their willies in the wind and got jerked around like a rag doll in a pit bull's jaws. I mean, when the story broke, they sent word down to Vilsack to can her ass and, when it turned out that she may have been a post-racial saint, they started to recant. Plain and simple, this is what the GOP and those GOP members of congress couldn't seem to get right. They used to get man-handled by the Democrats and the left all the time. From this point on, this is what they/we will have to do with the left and their knee-pad clad MSM handmaidens: seize the story and run with it, making the Dems respond, bluster, scramble, and otherwise dance to our tune.

Hey, just because Alinsky wrote the book for the left doesn't mean we can't appropriate some of the tactics.

..besides, using a word like transmogrification in a post? How cool is that?

-30-

4 comments:

  1. I know what the news is! Nana nana na na!

    -LTB

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  2. Now, now..hold your tongue or your Single Malt Scotch guru-ship status will be revoked.

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  3. Oreilly stirring up trouble again with comments from the rest of her speech...let's see if the story turns again....

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  4. Dear WMUR,

    The guy's a bookie; he goes with the flow and only dives in if the water is warm enough. My ongoing rant about O'Reilly, Noonan, Will, and all of the others who could have smothered Obama's presidential aspirations in the crib when they had the chance BY MERELY TELLING THE TRUTH instead of engaging in a fit of the vapors over his pant creases is that they should be shunned until the end of time and sentenced to a homeless perpetuity of living over a steam grate in front of the Sam Rayburn building bumming small change off of tourists and slugging Sneaky Pete from a paper-bag covered pint.

    The terminally self-referential BO'REilly did have to gag up an apology (saw it on Morning Joe this AM) and *still* looked smug doing it.

    Nossir! I want no part of that clod.

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