A low point for all sides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you followed the Shirley Sherrod fiasco? \u00a0Conservative news aggregator Andrew Briethbart posted a video of this African-American Department of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/07\/a-low-point-for-all-sides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A low point for all sides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you followed the Shirley Sherrod fiasco? \u00a0Conservative news aggregator Andrew Briethbart posted a video of this African-American Department of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/07\/a-low-point-for-all-sides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-23T10:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/07\/a-low-point-for-all-sides\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/07\/a-low-point-for-all-sides\/\",\"name\":\"A low point for all sides\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-23T10:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-23T10:00:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Have you followed the Shirley Sherrod fiasco? \u00a0Conservative news aggregator Andrew Briethbart posted a video of this African-American Department of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/07\/a-low-point-for-all-sides\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/07\/a-low-point-for-all-sides\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/07\/a-low-point-for-all-sides\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A low point for all sides\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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But then it turns out that Breitbart had posted only the first part of a confession-and-redemption testimony. \u00a0The tape of the speech went on to record Sherrod saying how she \u00a0then recognized her prejudice, realized that \u201cthere is no difference between us,\u201d and helped the man save his family farm. \u00a0(Even though at the time, 24 years ago, she was working not for the government but for an agency focused solely on helping black farmers. \u00a0That means her labors on behalf of the white farmer went beyond her job description, something that also was not made clear on the Breitbart clip.)<\/p>\n

\nNow the Secretary of Agriculture and the President are apologizing for firing her and offering her another job, which so far she is declining. \u00a0Even the conservative pundits who attacked her \u201cracism\u201d are taking it back.\n

But just look how low we have sunk in our public discourse and political tag-team wrestling matches. \u00a0Yes, we conservatives are guilty. \u00a0And look at how low our executive leadership has sunk, firing a person upon impulse without even waiting to get the whole story. And then trying to take it back. \u00a0What incompetence. \u00a0What contemptible tactics. \u00a0Can we have an upturn after this?<\/p>\n

There is no need for conservatives to play these sorts of games, given the abundance of actual issues. \u00a0And surely liberals can summon up enough leadership to refrain from panicking and turning on each other and to hold the government together for just a little while longer.<\/p>\n

See\u00a0Obama expresses \u2018regret\u2019 to fired USDA official Shirley Sherrod<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"