Just ignore them

The (Toledo) Blade: When will the Obama White House stop taking the character-assassinating ilk of the right-wing blogosphere seriously?

Shirley Sherrod, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s director of rural development in Georgia, resigned under pressure from the Obama administration after a video in which she allegedly implicated herself in anti-white bias surfaced. The clip of Ms. Sherrod giving a speech before the NAACP in March was posted online by conservative activist Andrew Breitbart and edited in a way to suggest that the African-American employee had bragged of not using the full power of her office to help white farmers in need.

Prior to the Agriculture Department’s call for Ms. Sherrod’s firing, there was no fact-finding by the White House, only a fear of being perceived as condoning anti-white bias by a black person.

Good character

CNN contacted the white farmer who had been mentioned by Ms. Sherrod. The farmer testified to her good character and how she had helped his family keep its farm.

The Web site that released the edited video is responsible for triggering the media firestorm. But the guiltiest party is an administration so insecure that it would throw a good employee to the wolves.