# Who looks worse? Breitbart or Obama WH? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448 "2010-07-21T11:20:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/161 "2010-07-22T16:45:20Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > Did I do that? If so I’ll accept the criticism. A bit, yes. I’d like to make sure nobody goes over the line here. > [@klsdad](#): > > Did the lady admit to discriminating against the white farmer way back when? She did help him, but she didn’t (at first) do everything she could. It wasn’t just because he was white, actually. She was conflicted about helping a white farmer but she also felt he was trying to show he was better than she was. > [@](#): > > Did the audience think it was funny? No. > [@](#): > > Did Breitbart actually “edit” anything other than to include certain statments and not include all of them? He used a short excerpt of a long speech and presented the story completely out of context. She was telling a story about seeing what this farmer dealt with in the mid-'80s made her realize poverty is a bigger issue than race; the video made it sound like she was admitting to discriminating against white people in her current job. Nobody knows if Breitbart edited the video himself. He says he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/162 "2010-07-22T16:51:21Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Anderson Cooper really [took Breitbart to task](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqOR8WyCT40) for his weaseling complete with clips and refutation. It wasn’t in person- Breitbart wasn’t there- but he was serious enough about the bitchslap it he wore a tee-shirt. To his credit. So did [Shep Smith](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/21/shepard-smith-unloads-on_n_655013.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/163 "2010-07-22T17:06:13Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > [False light - Wikipedia](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/False_light) > > This might cover what Brietbart did. I’m not sure. True information, in a false light. Bricker? I think that’s closer. From the Wiki page you linked: > [@](#): > > In another case, an entertainer who performed at an amusement park with a swimming pig brought defamation and false light claims based on the publication of her photo in Chic magazine. The photo was a true representation of the woman and her pig, so it could not give rise to a defamation claim. But her false light claim succeeded because the essence of the piece, which made the entertainer’s act seem sexual and deviant, was held to be false. That seems to describe what happened here. The video, as presented, was true, but the edits gave the piece a false essence. However: > [@](#): > > In the 1967 case Time, Inc. v. Hill,[4] the Supreme Court of the United States invalidated a false light privacy judgment for the Hill family in the absence of proof of actual malice. Justice William Brennan, speaking for a five-member majority of the Court, wrote that a showing of innocent or negligent false reportage is insufficient to collect damages for a false light claim. Justice John Marshall Harlan II, writing in dissent, opined that the actual malice standard, as set forth by the Court three years earlier in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, was too stringent for false light privacy cases. So it seems that even for false light claims as against public figures, the stringent “actual malice” standard survives. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/164 "2010-07-22T17:33:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > **Bricker** , I don’t think the court said at all what you are saying they did. For some reason I posted the wrong quote after this. But for the record, the “Failure to investigate does not in itself establish bad faith” comment is from the _St. Amant v. Thompson_ case, not _New York Times v. Sullivan_. The rest of that part of the post does come from the Sullivan case. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/165 "2010-07-22T17:47:17Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > Let’s also note the more significant problem of the disgusting folks who fan the fires of racism by distorting the truth. Did you just play the race card with **Magiver**? You liberals are always doing that. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/166 "2010-07-22T19:07:18Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > Did you just play the race card with **Magiver**? You liberals are always doing that. I’m afraid I don’t get it ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/167 "2010-07-22T19:10:37Z")
It doesn’t help that all the media including the so called liberal media are speaking of the WHO being duped and overreacting and discussing how competent they are to lead if they were this reactionary. It seems to be the reaction of one official who probably did not consult the WH before reacting. Why is Obama getting blamed almost as if he personally decided to let her go? Isn’t that also a misrepresentation of the facts? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/168 "2010-07-22T19:57:06Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > It seems to be the reaction of one official who probably did not consult the WH before reacting. Why is Obama getting blamed almost as if he personally decided to let her go? Isn’t that also a misrepresentation of the facts? Because elections are coming up soon, and Democrats in general (and Obama in specific) must be blamed. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/169 "2010-07-22T20:05:11Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > the fact remains that the WH & the NAACP & in the ACORN matter, the Democratic Congress all look like easily-played chumps if they start whining “We were manipulated by bad naughty Right-wingers!” They ARE easily-played chumps who are manipulated by naughty right-wingers. Old news, unfortunately. > [@](#): > > Bill Clinton would have drank all their milkshakes, banged their wives, & made them like it. In which alternate reality? Obama’s doing a better job of standing up to the right than Clinton did. Unfortunately, that’s not saying much. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/170 "2010-07-22T20:09:40Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I believe she was referring to her attitude at the time, not now. In the very same speech, she says this: > > “_Working with him made me see that it’s really about those who have versus those who haven’t. They could be black, they could be white, they could be Hispanic. And it made me realize then that I needed to help poor people - those who don’t have access the way others have._” That may indeed be the case but it deserves internal review. Addressing the original op question, Brietbart looks bad for not researching the video and the WH now looks foolish for jumping the gun. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/171 "2010-07-22T20:17:29Z")
The video clearly shows how she came to toss off her bias and realized that her job was to fight for all people getting creamed by banks, regardless of color. It was about her growth, not her bigotry. All it required was listening to the whole tape, which I am sure Brietbart did. He edited it to sucker people into believing it was something else. Who looks bad? Brietbart ,followed by Magiver. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/172 "2010-07-22T20:18:58Z")
**Cosmosdan** , check your PM. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/173 "2010-07-22T20:25:38Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Because elections are coming up soon, and Democrats in general (and Obama in specific) must be blamed. That doesn’t explain the more liberal commentators doing it. Even if they didn’t try to cover for him they could be accurate and help him out. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/174 "2010-07-22T20:31:05Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The video clearly shows how she came to toss off her bias and realized that her job was to fight for all people getting creamed by banks, regardless of color. It was about her growth, not her bigotry. All it required was listening to the whole tape, which I am sure Brietbart did. He edited it to sucker people into believing it was something else. > Who looks bad? Brietbart ,followed by Magiver. I made a clear point regarding her choice of words. You are free to discuss the point without being a jerk about it. I wasn’t the person who fired her. I never promoted the idea of firing her. I didn’t support the video in any way. I think she needs counseling and a review of her past dealings with the public. You’ll note that she was not offered her old job back. Did you ever ask yourself why? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/175 "2010-07-22T20:34:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > That may indeed be the case but it deserves internal review. > > Addressing the original op question, Brietbart looks bad for not researching the video and the WH now looks foolish for jumping the gun. “Internal review”? By whom? Shirley it cannot continue to escape your notice that she was not working for the Federal Gov when the incident in question occured. You do know that, right? Are you demanding that the non-profit she worked for review everything she put a hand to from twenty odd years ago? To what end, may one ask? The WH looks foolish? Have you any reliable testimony or evidence that shows that the WH was involved in this decision in any way before the fact of her dismissal? You are ok on the Breitbart thing, though. Clearly, he did not give due diligence in this matter, and his sterling reputation for integrity is besmirched. (The previous sentence is sarcasm. If your detector does not register at least 700 millihicks, recalibration is recommended. If you believe that Mr Breitbart actually has any integrity, however, the excercise would be pointless.) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/176 "2010-07-22T20:40:36Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “Internal review”? By whom? Shirley it cannot continue to escape your notice that she was not working for the Federal Gov when the incident in question occured. You do know that, right? Are you demanding that the non-profit she worked for review everything she put a hand to from twenty odd years ago? To what end, may one ask? She is working for the government NOW and if there is any question as to racial bias then it needs review. > [@elucidator](#): > > The WH looks foolish? Have you any reliable testimony or evidence that shows that the WH was involved in this decision in any way before the fact of her dismissal? > > You are ok on the Breitbart thing, though. Clearly, he did not give due diligence in this matter, and his sterling reputation for integrity is besmirched. > (The previous sentence is sarcasm. If your detector does not register at least 700 millihicks, recalibration is recommended. If you believe that Mr Breitbart actually has any integrity, however, the excercise would be pointless.) No I’m not OK with Breithbart, the truncated video tells a different story. The way she relates the story is questionable. According to her the word came down from the WH and the White House apologized for it. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/177 "2010-07-22T20:42:02Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I made a clear point regarding her choice of words. You are free to discuss the point without being a jerk about it. I wasn’t the person who fired her. I never promoted the idea of firing her. I didn’t support the video in any way. > > I think she needs counseling and a review of her past dealings with the public. You’ll note that she was not offered her old job back. Did you ever ask yourself why? She’s being offered a different job. [President Obama Speaks Via Phone With Shirley Sherrod - ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-speaks-phone-shirley-sherrod/story?id=11225472&page=1) > [@ABCnews](#): > > On Thursday morning Agriculture Department officials e-mailed Sherrod a specific job offer and today Obama told her he hoped she would take it. I am assuming one that comes with a higher pay grade. I think the Administration is worried about appearing to have reacted too precipitously, and may be worried about a wrongful termination lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/178 "2010-07-22T20:44:35Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > … Brietbart looks bad for not researching the video … Not researching the video? You seem to subscribe to the Limbaugh-floated, “bitch set me up” school of thought. Brietbart knew exactly what he was doing … “outing a racist at an NAACP meeting.” And he’s got you, hook, line and sinker judging by this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/179 "2010-07-22T20:46:40Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > She is working for the government NOW and if there is any question as to racial bias then it needs review. Ok, well since there is no question of racial bias in anything she has done then I guess we are in agreement, there is no need to review. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448/180 "2010-07-22T21:00:54Z")
The captions that precede the video are, to put it mildly, misleading. Were the captions a part of the video that unfortunately trusting Mr. Breitbart received, and so innocently passed along? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-looks-worse-breitbart-or-obama-wh/547448.md?page=10)