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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R), former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, and Reverend Jesse Jackson joined "Fox News Sunday" to discuss the fallout over the forced resignation of Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod.
On Monday Sherrod was forced to quit her job at the Department of Agriculture because the Obama administration had mistakenly thought that she had made racist comments during a March 27 speech in Douglas, Georgia. An edited portion of the speech was posted on the internet, which took Ms. Sherrod's comments out of context.
The debate over the firing was put to Mr. Gingrich, who commented on the matter on Monday night before Ms. Sherrod's full comments were known. He defended himself by saying, "I was operating in the context of the secretary of agriculture having summarily fired her, and therefore there was no reason to disbelieve the clip."
Howard Dean, the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, weighed in on the media's coverage of the story, particularly Fox News. "I think Fox News did something that was absolutely racist."
However, "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace was quick to correct Dean and pointed out that Sherrod's name had never even been mentioned on Fox News Channel until after she was fired.
Dean then broadened his argument by addressing the current state of race in America. The former Vermont Governor said, "There's been this ongoing theme about black racism in America... But I think continuing to cater to this theme of minority racism and stressing comments like this, some of which are taken out of context, does not help the country knit itself together."
On how the White House handled the Sherrod case, Gingrich said that this was just, "one more example of the Obama administration's continuing incompetence."
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