Timeline of Breitbart's Sherrod smear

July 22, 2010 7:38 am ET — 54 Comments

Media Matters has documented a timeline of Andrew Breitbart's smear of Shirley Sherrod, from Breitbart's initial posting of his deceptively edited clip of Sherrod -- which was amplified by Fox News and other right-wing media -- through the release of the full video of Sherrod's comments, which made clear the context of her remarks.

Monday

11:18 a.m.*: Breitbart posts Sherrod video, calls her "racist," claims "Context is everything." Breitbart posted the heavily edited video of Sherrod and falsely suggested that Sherrod discriminated against a white farmer in her capacity as the Agriculture Department's Georgia Director of Rural Development:

We are in possession of a video from in which Shirley Sherrod, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, speaks at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Georgia. In her meandering speech to what appears to be an all-black audience, this federally appointed executive bureaucrat lays out in stark detail, that her federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions.
In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn't do everything she can for him, because he is white. 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.
Sherrod's racist tale is received by the NAACP audience with nodding approval and murmurs of recognition and agreement. Hardly the behavior of the group now holding itself up as the supreme judge of another groups' racial tolerance.

Fox News amplifies Breitbart's deceptively edited video. On July 19, FoxNews.com reported: "Days after the NAACP clashed with Tea Party members over allegations of racism, a video has surfaced showing an Agriculture Department official regaling an NAACP audience with a story about how she withheld help to a white farmer facing bankruptcy." The FoxNews.com article further reported that "[t]he video clip was first posted by BigGovernment.com" and that "FoxNews.com is seeking a response from both the NAACP and the USDA." The article is no longer available on FoxNews.com but was republished on another website:

12:13 p.m.: Hoft runs with Breitbart video. In a Gateway Pundit post titled, "More Racism at NAACP: Radical Obama Official Admits That She Openly Discriminates Against Whites," Jim Hoft posted Breitbart's video clip and wrote: "The former civil rights group known as the NAACP does not just invite anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan and radical America-hating Marxist Jeremiah Wright to speak at their events ...They also invite government officials who hate whitey, too." Hoft further wrote that "Sherrod admits in a speech at the NAACP that she discriminated against farmers because they were white."
12:55 p.m.: HotAir's Morrissey: "Breitbart hits NAACP with promised video of racism." HotAir's Ed Morrissey wrote in a post titled, "Breitbart hits NAACP with promised video of racism," that the video "show[s] USDA official Shirley Sherrod explain to an appreciative NAACP audience in July 2009 how she deliberately withheld information from a white farmer in Georgia trying to save his land and his business." Morrissey later noted: "Actually, if Sherrod had a different ending for this story, it could have been a good tale of redemption. She almost grasps this by initially noting that poverty is the real issue, which should be the moral of the anecdote. Instead of having acted on this realization -- and perhaps mindful of the audience -- Sherrod then backtracks and says that it's really an issue of race after all."
1:40 p.m. (approximately): Fox Nation accuses Sherrod of "discrimination caught on tape" before she resigned. Fox Nation linked to Breitbart's Big Government piece and posted the deceptively cropped clips of Sherrod's speech at the NAACP in a post titled, "Caught on Tape: Obama Official Discriminates Against White Farmer":

The first reader to comment on the post is from July 19 at 1:41 p.m.:

After news broke that Sherrod resigned, the post's headline was changed to read "Obama Official Resigns After Discrimination Caught on Tape":

1:49 p.m.: Ace of Spades picks up Sherrod story, calls it an example of "your government, working for you." In an Ace of Spades post, blogger "Ace" posted Breitbart's video and wrote that "[f]aced with a white farmer whose farm was in Chapter 12," Sherrod "decided she wouldn't do 'the full force' of what she could do to help him, because she was concerned about black folks losing their farms."
3:31 p.m.: Elizabeth Scalia of the blog The Anchoress raises questions about the editing of Breitbart's video. In her post, Scalia wrote, "I am uncomfortable with this 'get' by Breitbart." Scalia further questioned Breitbart's selectively edited video of Sherrod's comments (emphasis in the original):

Nevertheless I am uncomfortable with this "get" by Breitbart.
[...]
But the video ends so abruptly!
Sherrod, who is not an impressive public speaker, says she did not do all she could for the "poor white farmer" who she perceived to be somehow both asking for her help and simultaneously "trying to show me he was superior to me; I knew what he was doing ..." She admits that she did just "enough" for the farmer so as to cover her own sense of accountability and then: "I took him to a white lawyer ... I figured if I took him to one of them, then his own kind would take care of him."
Yes, there is a bit of paranoid projection, there, and some shocking language -- language that has been rightly rejected by society -- that seems to play well to the audience. But then Sherrod apparently has a revelation. She begins to understand that "it's about poor versus those who have, and not so much about white -- it is about white and black -- but you know it opened my eyes, because I took him to one of his own."
Yes? AND?
[...]
Doesn't it seem like, after all of that sort of winking, "you and I know how they really are" racist crap wherein Sherrod -- intentionally or not -- indicts her own narrow focus, she was heading to a more edifying message? What did it open her eyes about? Was she about to say "I took him to one of his own, but it shouldn't have mattered about that; my job was to serve all the farmers who needed help."
Was she about to say, "I learned about myself and about how far we still have to go?"
Was she about to say "it's not poor vs those who have, because we are not at war, we are just in the same human reality that ever was?"
Was she about to say, "poor is poor, hungry is hungry and the past is the past when a family can't eat?"
I want to know. Because it seemed like Sherrod was heading somewhere with that story, and the edit does not let us get there. I want the rest of the story before I start passing judgment on it.
[...]
I want to see the rest of the tape. I cannot believe Sherrod ended on "I took him to one of his own." Either she said something much worse after that (which we would have seen) or she said something much better.
If it was something "better" then we should have seen that, too.

4:01 p.m. Ace of Spades reports that CBS' NYC affiliate picked up Sherrod story, declares, "Breitbart gets results." "Ace" wrote that a "CBS Affiliate Picks Up Breitbart's Vid of Sherrod's Racist Attitude" and that "Breitbart gets results."
4:28 p.m. (approximately): Sherrod story hits Drudge. The Drudge Report linked to CBS' New York City affiliate's story on Sherrod with the headline, SHOCK: Video Suggests Racism At NAACP Event." From the Drudge Report:

4:50 p.m.: Breitbart tweets to Media Matters: "Tomorrow's gonna be a long day." In a Twitter post to Media Matters for America, Breitbart wrote: "Get some rest. Tomorrow's gonna be long day & first of many in a row."

7:51 p.m.*: Big Government links to a FoxNews.com article reporting that Sherrod had resigned and USDA repudiated her remarks. Big Government stated: "This morning, we broke video of a USDA official, Shirley Sherrod, recounting for attendees at an NAACP awards dinner how she withheld help from a white farmer seeking the agency's help in saving his farm. Fox News is reporting that Ms. Sherrod has resigned." The FoxNews.com article reported that "[t]he Agriculture Department announced Monday, shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video, that Sherrod had resigned."
8:21 p.m.: Allahpundit questions the video's editing, but says he will "assume Breitbart's edit is fair to the spirit of her remarks." In a HotAir post, blogger Allahpundit echoed Scalia's concerns about the video's editing of Sherrod's statement, despite his "assum[ption]" that "Breitbart's edit is fair to the spirit of her remarks":

Here's Ed's post on the vid in case you missed it this morning. It's a great write-up, but The Anchoress adds an important wrinkle: Doesn't it sound like Sherrod was building to a "but" before the clip cut out?

8:50 p.m.: O'Reilly airs Breitbart's Sherrod video. On his Fox News program, Bill O'Reilly stated that "Sherrod was caught on tape saying something very disturbing. Seems a white farmer in Georgia had requested government assistance from Ms. Sherrod." After airing Breitbart's video, O'Reilly stated: "That is simply unacceptable. And Ms. Sherrod must resign immediately." (accessed via Nexis)
9:04 p.m.: "Fox News Alert": Hannity reports that Sherrod has resigned and discusses the incident with Gingrich. On his Fox News program, Sean Hannity reported that Sherrod "resigned just a short time ago after she was caught on tape appearing to tell an audience that she had used her position to racially discriminate against white farmers." Hannity then aired Breitbart's "shocking video." In a later segment, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich stated: "Secretary Vilsack did exactly the right thing. I mean I often disagree with this administration. But firing her after that kind of viciously racist attitude was exactly the right thing to do." Hannity later stated: "My only thing is they weren't the ones that caught it. It was on Breitbart.com and it happened some time ago. So it's interesting that it took the new media to expose this." (accessed via Nexis)
9:10 p.m.: NAACP's Jealous tweets that "NAACP is appalled" by Sherrod's comments. In a Twitter post that has since been deleted, NAACP president Ben Jealous wrote: "Racism is about abuse of power. Sherrod had it at USDA. She abused a white farmer because of his race. NAACP is appalled. Go to naacp.org." The NAACP's initial statement regarding Sherrod's comments has been removed from its website, but as Talking Points Memo reported, Jealous said in the statement: "Racism is about the abuse of power. Sherrod had it in her position at USDA. According to her remarks, she mistreated a white farmer in need of assistance because of his race. We are appalled by her actions, just as we are with abuses of power against farmers of color and female farmers."

9:33 p.m.: On CNN, Tea Party organizer Loesch references Sherrod story. During a segment on CNN's Larry King Live about racism in the tea party, Dana Loesch, a conservative radio host and an organizer with the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, mentioned "Shirley Sherrod speaking at an NCAAP banquet, going off about a member of the government, by the way, state director of the USDA of rural development for Georgia -- saying that she actually was basing whether or not she was going to help somebody on the color of their skin." 

9:44 p.m.: Hannity's Great American Panel discusses Sherrod video. During the "Great American Panel" segment of Fox News' Hannity, Republican strategist Kate Obenshain stated, "It's just a shame that it takes an expose, it takes Breitbart having to put it on his website, for her resignation to be forced." The Wall Street Journal's John Fund stated: "Obviously no one complained at the Georgia NAACP. No one complained. It would have passed unless they had this video which came out now." Hannity further stated that Sherrod's comments were "racist." (accessed via Nexis)
9:49 p.m.: Doug Powers: "USDA Official Resigns After 'White Farmer' Video." In a post on Michelle Malkin's website, Doug Powers wrote, "We interrupt this 'Tea Partiers are so incredibly racially biased' broadcast for the following update" and linked to FoxNews.com's article on Sherrod's resignation. Powers further linked to Breitbart's video, writing, "The video posted at BigGovernment that started it all is here if you haven't seen/heard it yet."
10:20 p.m.: Perino discusses Sherrod on Fox's On the Record. On Fox News' On the Record, guest host Dana Perino reported on Sherrod's resignation and aire Breitbart's video. Perino stated that "the video adds fuel to a growing controversy after the NAACP approved a resolution condemning the tea party movement for not denouncing racist members." (accessed via Nexis)
10:39 p.m.: On CNN, Johns reports on Sherrod's resignation. In the network's first report on the matter, Joe Johns said that Sherrod "has resigned after a YouTube video surfaced showing her describing to an NAACP audience how she withheld help to a white farmer," then aired a portion of her comments from the Breitbart clip.

Tuesday

12:03 a.m.: Sweetness & Light picks up the Sherrod story. The conservative blog Sweetness & Light picked up the Sherrod story in a post titled, "USDA Official Out Over Racist Comments." The post also linked to Breitbart's video.
1:12 a.m.: NewsBusters criticizes broadcast networks for ignoring "racist comments" at NAACP meeting. NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard wrote that "the three broadcast evening news programs completely ignored the story," which he said started "[a]t 8:18 AM Monday" when Big Government first posted the Sherrod video.
4:09 a.m.*: Big Government republishes NAACP statement denouncing Sherrod. A Big Government post republished a statement by the NAACP's Jealous in which Jealous said, "We concur with US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack in accepting the resignation of Shirley Sherrod for her remarks at a local NAACP Freedom Fund banquet." Jealous further stated that "[w]e are appalled by [Sherrod's] actions."
6:08 a.m. Sherrod story hits Fox & Friends: "Exhibit A" in "what racism looks like." On Fox News' Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy said Sherrod had been caught "making a speech to the NAACP that sure sounded racist." Co-host Alisyn Camerota then accused Sherrod of "touting this in this anecdote as though this is, you know, a feather in her cap, somehow, for her to be congratulated." Then Camerota and Doocy agreed that the comments were "Exhibit A" as far as "what racism looks like." On-screen text during the segment read, "Racism caught on camera" and "USDA official admits racism on tape; Forced to resign after dicey video leaks."
6:43 a.m.: Morning Joe airs Sherrod clip. MSNBC's Morning Joe aired the edited Sherrod clip and reported that Vilsack accepted Sherrod's resignation. Co-host Joe Scarborough then said that "a narrative is going to emerge ... certainly on the right with this tape that's just come out -- and you'll be hearing this the next couple of days. I think its relevance relates back to the New Black Panthers tapes that have been out there."
6:53 a.m.: In CNN interview, Sherrod claims that she told the administration that her comments were taken out of context, but that they're afraid of "Fox and the Tea Party." In an interview on CNN's American Morning, Sherrod stated that the story she was recounting in the edited video clip took place in 1986 and that she was not working for the Department of Agriculture at the time. Co-host John Roberts later stated: "Miss Sherrod, let's make it clear though, that this happened 24 years ago. You eventually worked with this white farmer. You eventually became friends, you say, with the farmer and his wife." Sherrod replied, "Yes." Roberts then asked, "So, the question I have is, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture came to you and said you have to step down, why didn't you just say, wait a minute, you don't know the full story. Here's the full story, why should I step down?" Sherrod replied, "I did say that, but they, for some reason, the stuff that Fox and the Tea Party does is scaring the administration. I told them get the whole tape and look at the whole tape and look at how I tell people we have to get beyond race and start working together."
Sherrod to AJC: Encounter happened 24 years ago and was "completely misconstrued" by Breitbart because she was discussing "getting beyond the issue of race." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on July 20 morning that Sherrod said her comments were "misconstrued" and that the event she was discussing took place 24 years ago. In a phone interview with the Journal-Constitution, Sherrod said the video was "completely misconstrued" and "excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with him and his wife." From the AJC:

But in a phone interview from her home in Albany early Tuesday morning, Shirley Sherrod told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution that the video posted online Monday by biggovernment.com and reported on by FoxNews.com and the AJC completely misconstrued the message she was trying to convey.
[...]
But Tuesday morning, Sherrod said what online viewers weren't told in reports posted throughout the day Monday was that the tale she told at the banquet happened 24 years ago -- before she got the USDA job -- when she worked with the Georgia field office for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund.
[...]
Sherrod said the short video clip excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with him and his wife.
"And I went on to work with many more white farmers," she said. "The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it's about the people who have and the people who don't. When I speak to groups, I try to speak about getting beyond the issue of race."

8:05 a.m.: Ingraham: "Andrew Breitbart ... did a great piece on this whole thing." On Fox & Friends, Laura Ingraham praised Breitbart's video and his coverage of the story, stating "Andrew Breitbart, by the way, did a great piece on this whole thing. Fantastic." Ingraham went on to ask "where was the media on this" and claimed that it took "Breitbart to come forward with this story."
9:22 a.m.: Fox News reports on Sherrod's AJC comments. On America's Newsroom, after airing the edited video of Sherrod's comments, co-host Martha MacCallum stated: "Sherrod says that that story is about something that happened 24 years ago ... and that she uses the story when speaking to groups to point out how racism can and needs to be overcome." MacCallum then cited Sherrod's quote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution article. MacCallum's guest, Byron York of The Washington Examiner, said: "I think in fairness to her, we need to see the whole story. We need to see the whole tape, and how she delivered the story."
9:52 a.m.: Beck asks, "Have we transformed into 1956?" On his radio show, Glenn Beck discussed the Sherrod story and asked, "Excuse me, have we transformed into 1956, only the other way around?" Beck also aired Breitbart's edited Sherrod clip.
11:06 a.m.: On CNN Newsroom, Sherrod claims she was told to resign because she would "be on Glenn Beck tonight." In an interview on CNN Newsroom, Sherrod recounted that Cheryl Cook, the deputy undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture, asked her to resign. Sherrod said that Cook told her, "Well, Shirley, they want you to pull over to the side of the road and do it because you're going to be on Glenn Beck tonight."

SHERROD: Oh, I can tell you, that was Cheryl Cook, the deputy undersecretary. She called me and said -- because she called me, and I said, "Cheryl, I've got a three and a half hour ride to get into Athens." She called me a second time, "Where are you now?" I said, "I'm just going through Atlanta."
She called me again and I said, "I'm at least 45 minutes to an hour from Athens." She said, "Well, Shirley, they want you to pull over to the side of the road and do it because you're going to be on Glenn Beck tonight."
TONY HARRIS (host): Wow. So the administration pressured you out?
SHERROD: Yes.
HARRIS: How do you feel about that?
SHERROD: I don't feel good about it, because I know I didn't do anything wrong. And I know during my time at USDA, I gave it all I had.
I worked when I didn't feel like it. I pushed the staff to get out there in places they had not been into before.

11:20 a.m.: On CNN Newsroom, farmer's wife calls Sherrod a "friend" who "helped us save our farm." On CNN Newsroom, during his interview with Sherrod, host Tony Harris also interviewed Eloise Spooner -- the wife of the farmer who Sherrod helped -- who came to the defense of Sherrod, calling her a "friend" who "helped us save our farm." The Atlanta-Constitution Journal similarly reported that Spooner considered Sherrod a "friend for life" and said that Sherrod "worked tirelessly to help the Iron City couple hold onto their land as they faced bankruptcy back in 1986." From the Atlanta-Constitution Journal:

But Spooner, who considers Sherrod a "friend for life," said the federal official worked tirelessly to help the Iron City couple hold onto their land as they faced bankruptcy back in 1986.
"Her husband told her, 'You're spending more time with the Spooners than you are with me,' " Spooner told the AJC."She took probably two or three trips with us to Albany just to help us out."

12:05 p.m.: NewsBusters' Sheppard reports that Sherrod "blamed Fox News and the Tea Party" for her dismissal. Despite noting that Sherrod said on American Morning that Breitbart's edited video "didn't accurately depict what really happened," Noel Sheppard wrote in a NewsBusters post that Sherrod "was forced to resign Monday as a result of racist comments she made at an NAACP gathering in March has blamed Fox News and the Tea Party for her inability to convince her employers of her innocence."
12:10 p.m.: Limbaugh calls Breitbart's heavily edited video of Sherrod "great work." On his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called Breitbart's heavily edited video of Sherrod "great work," saying that it depicted Sherrod's "supposed racism." He later stated that "[t]he NAACP is as racist an organization as there has been and is in this country."
1:03 p.m.: Video producer confirmed that "the full speech is exactly as Sherrod described ... she goes on to explain learning the error of her initial impression." Talking Points Memo reported that "[t]he Douglas, Ga., company which filmed the banquet for the local NAACP has refused to release" the video until the national NAACP gives him "permission" to post it. However, Johnny Wilkerson, the owner of the video company, told TPM "that the full speech is exactly as Sherrod described, and that she goes on to explain learning the error of her initial impression and helping the farmer keep his farm."
1:36 p.m.: HotAir's Morrissey reports that edited video was "the entirety of the speech [Breitbart] had in his possession." Morrissey reported that Breitbart posted his heavily edited video without having seen the entirety of Sherrod's speech. Morrissey stated: "Sherrod and others can complain about Fox News and the editing of the tape, but two points should be remembered. First, Andrew Breitbart made it clear to me last night that this was the entirety of the speech he had in his possession. He also wants to find the whole speech and is trying to get it."
2:08 p.m.: TPM reports that NAACP is conducting an investigation into Sherrod's case, after initially condemning her remarks. Talking Points Memo reported that the NAACP, after initially condemning Sherrod's remarks, "is now saying it is conducting an investigation of her story and will issue a new statement."
2:15 p.m. (approximately): Erickson tweets that "it seems like the right just got the scalp of a penitent lady." In a Twitter post, RedState.com editor-in-chief Erick Erickson wrote: "I'm hoping there is more to the video of Shirley Sherrod, because otherwise it seems like the right just got the scalp of a penitent lady."
2:34 p.m.: After promoting her interview with Sherrod throughout the 1 p.m. hour, Kelly announces that Sherrod "changed her mind" about appearing on Fox. On America Live, host Megyn Kelly announced that her interview with Sherrod -- which Kelly had touted throughout the show -- was off. Kelly said that Sherrod had "changed her mind," even after Fox had "offered her a considerable amount of time" to "clear the air" and "tell her story."
3:01 p.m.: Brent Bozell slams media for not covering Sherrod's "racist remarks." Despite CNN's interviews with Sherrod and Eloise Spooner, Media Research Council president Brent Bozell said in a statement posted on NewsBusters that "[t]he liberal media are deliberately spiking the shocking video that reveals an NAACP banquet speaker admitting her racist views and actions. We've waited a full 24 hours to see if any coverage of this exposé would surface. So far, nothing but crickets."
3:58 p.m.: Breitbart confirms in a TPMMuckracker interview that he never had the full video of Sherrod's remarks. In an interview with Talking Points Memo, Breitbart confirmed that he never had the full video of Sherrod's remarks. From Talking Points Memo:

The crux of the Shirley Sherrod controversy is what she said outside of the two-minute video clip posted by Big Government -- whether she was, as she claims, telling a story about how she overcame racial prejudice while helping poor farmers in Georgia, or whether the clip is a good encapsulation of her views. So we asked Andrew Breitbart, the founder of Big Government, why he hasn't posted the full video.
"I don't have it," Breitbart told TPMmuckraker in an interview. Breitbart said his source sent him just the edited clips at first, but is in the process of sending the full video.

4 p.m. (approximately): Jake Tapper tweets: "WH says it was 100% Secy Vilsack's call" to ask for Sherrod's resignation. In a Twitter post, ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper wrote: "WH says it was 100% Secy Vilsack's call" to ask for Sherrod's resignation.
4 p.m.: Rick Sanchez devotes an entire hour of his show to the accusations against Sherrod.  On CNN's Rick's List, host Rick Sanchez devoted an entire hour to Sherrod, and noted that his show did not run the story when it broke because he did not have "complete perspective for the sake of context":

SANCHEZ: We, by the way, chose not to do the story yesterday, even though we had the story, reason being we thought it was important to try and contact her first, double-down on sources, and try and get a complete perspective for the sake of context.

4:01 p.m.: Hoft continues to assert Sherrod is "racist." In a Gateway Pundit post titled, "Vilsack Stands Behind His Decision to Fire Racist NAACP Speaker Shirley Sherrod," Hoft linked to Sherrod's CNN interview and wrote: "Today, Sherrod told reporters that 'she' was the real victim ... Not the white farmer she neglected to assist." He continued, "Sherrod claims she was harassed by the Obama Administration and forced to resign." Hoft further wrote: "Vilsack stood by his decision to fire Shirley Sherrod for her racists comments caught on tape."
4:03 p.m.*: Big Government highlights Sherrod's statement that Obama admin "made [her] quit because [she] was going to be on Glenn Beck." In a Big Government post, Jeff Dunetz wrote that "Sherrod was forced to resign almost immediately after the video was posted. Incredibly, it seems however that her firing was less about what she said in the speech, and more about the story being broadcast on Fox News."
4:25 p.m.: "White farmer" Spooner appears on Rick's List, says of those smearing Sherrod as racist: They "don't know what they're talking about." On CNN's Rick's List, Roger and Eloise Spooner -- the "white farmer" and his wife whom Sherrod was discussing in the video -- defended Sherrod, saying that those who were smearing her as racist "don't know what they're talking about," and that Sherrod did "her level best" to help them save their farm, which she was ultimately successful in helping them do.
5 p.m.: Beck devotes first 20 minutes of show to Sherrod story. On his Fox News program, Beck aired a clip of Sherrod's CNN interview and asked if this "was a political assassination from the White House or from the NAACP." Beck then said: "Context matters, but we don't have the full video. Andrew Breitbart is trying to get the full video."
5:13 p.m. (approximately): Fox Nation reposts Big Government's Sherrod article about WH pressure to resign.  In a post titled, "Sherrod: White House Made Me Quit 'Because I Was Going to Be on Glenn Beck," Fox Nation linked to Big Government's post of the same title. The link has since been updated and redirects to a different Fox Nation post titled "USDA Reconsidering Sherrod's Ouster Over Racial Comments." The first comments on this post are time-stamped 5:13 p.m., suggesting that Fox Nation originally posted the link to Big Government around that same time:

5:29 p.m.: Brazile: I "listen[ed] to the entire tape," Sherrod was "taken out of context." On CNN's Situation Room, Donna Brazile said, "I listened to the tape. I took time-out today to listen to the entire tape, unedited, in context. And I can tell you that her statement was taken out of context." She explained that Sherrod "went on to say that her life was about -- not about black and the white but the haves and the havenots" and that "when you listen to her speech and listen to the Spooners, she went out of her way to help this man save his farm just like she helped many black farmer save their land as well."
6:10 p.m.: NAACP releases statement on its investigation into Sherrod case, claims it was "snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart." The NAACP released a statement on its investigation into the Sherrod case and concluded that it was "snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart":

With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias.

6:41 p.m.: Bret Baier falsely claims, "Fox News didn't even do the story" on Sherrod.  On Fox News' Special Report, host Bret Baier absurdly claimed that Fox News "didn't even do" the Sherrod story.
7:01 p.m.: America's Nightly Scoreboard: "The triumph of Andrew Breitbart over the establishment." On Fox Business' America's Nightly Scoreboard, host David Asman began the show declaring the "triumph of Andrew Breitbart over the establishment." The on-screen text repeated this claim. Asman also referred to Breitbart as "our friend Andrew Breitbart" and stated that the video "shows how inept government bureaucrats can be."
7:15 p.m.: Breitbart refuses to accept Sherrod's "word that the farmer's wife is the farmer's wife." On CNN's John King USA, Breitbart said to host John King: "If the other video is so important to you in order to push this story, why aren't you doing your reporting?" Breitbart then said: "You're going off of [Sherrod's] word that the farmer's wife is the farmer's wife. What type of extra reporting have you done on this?"
7:45 p.m. (approximately): NAACP releases full video of Sherrod's remarks. The NAACP released the full video of Sherrod's remarks at the NAACP banquet, noting that Breitbart's deceptively edited video "didn't tell the full story" and was "selectively edited to cast her in a negative light."

— F.J., B.C.O., C.S., & E.S.S.