I found an oasis of conscience in the desert of hypocrisy recently as I viewed the YouTube videos of the news coverage of the Shirley Sherrod fiasco. Of particular interest was the handling of the now infamous video purportedly offering proof that the Obama administration was full of racists.

It was clear that this assumption fit the narrative that Fox news was determined to deliver. “Why are we not surprised”, intones one talking head. “It’s a perfect example of these liberals that hide themselves in the bowels of government agencies at the people’s expense” adds another, etc. etc. ad nauseum.

The moment was perfect, like a gift from above, and the right wing was determined to cash in. After all, how often do you find a video of a government service employee openly bragging about withholding full service from a desperate white farmer?

It was perfect. Too perfect, almost as if someone had so isolated the statements from context that the obvious could not possibly have been reality. As if someone had gone to great lengths to find just the sampling of video to fit the predetermined narrative. As if, God forbid, someone was deliberately forcing their meaning into someone else’s words, with no sense of conscience whatsoever.

So I looked for the Fox News coverage the day after the NAACP had reversed its position and located the entire presentation for public access. “How could they (NAACP, USDA, the White House) have done such a thing?” Suddenly, as if the talking news heads had experienced a religious conversion, they were concerned about this, the latest victim of the left wing.

Oh there were some holdouts. “The fact still remains that she said these words”, pontificated certain panel participants. As if the mere uttering of certain words is reason for condemnation, regardless of context, meaning, or motivation.

But in the midst of all this hypocrisy, I found my oasis. It seems that one of the Fox News anchors refused to touch this story. Fox News host Shepard Smith explained Wednesday that his show had decided to not show the video.

“We on Studio B did not run the video and did not reference the story in any way for many reasons,” Smith said. “Among them: We didn’t know who shot it, we didn’t know when it was shot, we didn’t know the context of the statement, and because the history of the videos on the site where it was posted. In short, we did not and do not trust the source.”

Amazing. The allure of the quick headline, the cheap advantage, the oh-so-convenient pretext for the day’s political talking points – none of these were sufficient. There were the small matters of ethics and integrity. And this led to good journalistic instinct.

Such integrity is worthy of commendation, and a credit to any political orientation, right, left, or centrist. But the loudest voices, the one’s who never stop their constant harangue and negative energy, are incapable of appreciating such a demonstration of professionalism.

Enter Rush Limbeau, the following day on his radio broadcast.

“Even Fox caved on this. Even poor old Shep Smith went down there and said that everybody’s wrong on this, that Breitbart is wrong and so forth,” Limbaugh said during his show.
“There are only a handful of us that have the guts to put this story straight,” he said. “If we don’t hammer back, nobody will. We got a bunch of cowards in the conservative media inside the Beltway which will not deal with this honestly.”

Guts. Indeed. Maybe that’s why it is so “gut-wrenching” every time Rush opens his mouth?