Open Letter to Cowardly Tom Vilsack
Dear Secretary Vilsack:
It has come to my attention that you recently forced Shirley Sherrod, a USDA appointee, to resign over what appear to unfounded allegations of racism by noted conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart. Unfortunately, by taking the word of this well-known con artist at face value, you have fired an innocent person. you need to reinstate her.
As the following link demonstrates, Breitbart’s video was selectively edited to make Sherrod appear to be admitting to racism.
Unfortunately for Mr. Breitbart (as well as for you), this has been exposed as a fraud. In fact, the family Sherrod helped called into CNN today to explain that “Sherrod was helpful to her family and that the couple never felt she was being racist while trying to assist them in avoiding foreclosure. ” The family added, “”She treated us really good and got us all we could,” and they do not believe you have treated Ms. Sherrod fairly. (source)
Mr. Vilsack, I would like to know if it is USDA policy to take allegations like those made by Mr. Breitbart at face value, without doing further research. Breitbart, as you should know, was also closely linked to the fraudulent ACORN video, which led Congress to unfairly defund the organization, which was later cleared of any and all wrongdoing. Breitbart was also linked to recent efforts to tap Senator Mary Landrieu’s phone, a crime which one of his accomplices pled guilty to.
As you should know by now, the partisans on the Republican party have been engaged in smear campaigns against Democrats for decades: examples include the Whitewater non-scandal; the Jeremiah Wright non-scandal; the Barack Obama is a secret muslim/socialist/nazi/Kenyan/Martian non-scandal; and so on.
The fact that you believed the allegations made by Breitbart and fired a loyal employee speak very badly to your character and leadership. Do you think that appeasing these lunatics will cause them to leave you alone? Rest assured, they will be back for more. Meanwhile, you have hung an innocent elderly woman out to dry based on the fever dreams of a man who has demonstrated time and time again that he’s a fraud, proving that you’re something of a coward who won’t stand up for his employees.
You should be ASHAMED of yourself.
Sincerely,
Brendan Skwire
