USDA will reconsider firing : Should it be Vilsack who resigns?
If you ask me it’s Vilsack who probably should resign. It’s easy to see the reason — even if there is a crowd of right wing demagogues out there trying to storm the castle with imaginary pitchforks and torches the most you should move to appease them is a suspension. That shows the body politic that you are taking the accusation seriously, and that you will investigate fully while not becoming an irretrievable march down a wrong path. It also demonstrates that as head of an important agency that you are not hostage to the spin of the 24 hour news cycle.
I think apologies are due Shirley, browbeating and bile pouring are due in Bratbart’s direction, and resignation is due from Vilsack. He’s clearly demonstrated that he’s too attuned to 24 hr news cycle to do a really good job, and in my books he needs replacement because the USDA is too damned important to our future to put a political weathervane at the top.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that he will reconsider the abrupt firing of Shirley Sherrod, a Georgia-based Agriculture Department official who was the victim of a media frenzy over comments that turned out to have been distorted by video editing.
“I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner,” Vilsack said in a statement e-mailed by USDA at 2:07 a.m.