She’s brushing herself off, surveying the damage, looking over at the folks who slimed her and the folks who tossed her and somehow the dividing line between the two has blurred.  It’s been reported that Ms. Sherrod is a tad wary about leaping back into the den after being so roughly tumbled and all I can say is: can you blame her?

In a day and age when minutia is reported, communication is split-second, and the art and craft of media subterfuge is not only well-documented but relentless, one has to wonder how the NAACP and the USDA could have flown so quickly off the handle as to sacrifice one of their own in the name of political correctness.  We’ve got “birthers” who wouldn’t believe Obama was a citizen if he passed a “you’re an American” DNA test (would that one existed!), Tea Partiers who have the man lynched on rally posters, and bloggers who sound suspiciously like KKK terrorists, but dignified men who run the NAACP and USDA still wasted no time screaming “racist” and firing a woman of substance before even vetting the inciting material.

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous says he was “snookered” by Fox News and Tea Party activist Andrew Breitbart.  Really?  Mr. Jealous, when did you start making critical public relations decisions based on the perspective of a clearly biased TV network and the media manipulation of a hard-core partisan?  At what point in your vaunted career did you not learn to judge wisely, take the time to get all the information and not believe everything you read or hear?

And Mr. Vilsack, when did you start taking marching orders about the viability of your staff from bloggers with agendas and pundits who make no secret of their persuasion? Where is the integrity and honor in firing a respected colleague without thoroughly investigating the purported blunder?  That you’ve now “reconsidered” your hasty decision long after Ms. Sherrod pleaded with you to get all the information – which you didn’t – is grudgingly admirable but perhaps too little too late.

And now we’ve even got Ann Coulter claiming Tea Party perpetrator Andrew Breibart was himself “set up.”

Poor, bamboozled fellows, all of them.  So I have to ask:  what are you guys, 12?!

Why are grown men of either political party allowing all this hapless snookery to ensue when it’s so bloody easy these days to research anything, read anything, find anything; watch anything (like maybe a full video tape)? Maybe they could find a teenager to show them how to do all that.

Have they never learned the folly of too quickly responding to a half-read email, buying into a truncated “good” review of a bad movie (ellipses are our friend), or slamming the phone down on a confounding phrase before the clarifying addendum is uttered?  This is Human Relations 101, stuff our mothers and teachers and best friends taught us, and if it hadn’t meant the embarrassment and manhandling of a respected, intelligent and clearly insightful woman, it would be downright laughable. Come on, guys; WATCH THE WHOLE MOVIE BEFORE YOU START SCREAMING RACIST.

When I read the entirety of the text of Ms. Sherrod’s speech given many years ago in Georgia, the speech Mr. Breitbart printed out of context for the sole purpose of mislabeling her as a racist, I was moved by the openness she showed in illustrating her own evolution as a woman of color in a position of power.  Her willingness to expose her re-education and learned empathy for people she had previously misunderstood was commendable and the kind of thoughtful integrity we’d like to engender in our children.  It’s also the kind of candor that in today’s vicious, sucker-punching political climate leaves one vulnerable for slaughter.  Ms. Sherrod paid a steep price for speaking so authentically at an earlier time in her career when knives weren’t so quickly and foolishly drawn.  Who knew the farming business could be so cutthroat?

I don’t know that the USDA deserves to have Ms. Sherrod back.  They displayed zero loyalty or respect for her time and tenure under their roof.  But if she returns, I hope they will do all they can to assure her that they have learned a lesson; that everyone working under their purview will be given the respect of “innocent until proven guilty.” I’m delighted that Mr. Vilsack offered both an apology and a promotion; I understand Mr. Jealous followed suit on the apology.  Mr. Breitbart, you might consider writing an apology blog. Maybe even “out” the perpetrator of your stated snookering…frankly, I’d like to know who that was. Might be wise before the suit gets filed.

And next time, let’s everyone take a deep breath, get out the vetting teams, consider the source, and do just a little bit of due diligence before we throw our best and brightest under the bus.