When will the Obama White House stop taking the character-assassinating ilk of the right-wing blogosphere seriously?

Shirley Sherrod, the Department of Agriculture's director of rural development in Georgia, resigned Monday under pressure from the Obama administration after a video in which she allegedly implicated herself in anti-white bias surfaced. The clip of Ms. Sherrod giving a speech before the NAACP in March was posted by conservative activist Andrew Breitbart and edited in a way to suggest that the African-American employee had bragged of not using the full power of her office to help white farmers in need.

Fox News talk host Bill O'Reilly played the clip Monday night and called for her resignation, although by the time his taped show aired Ms. Sherrod had already quit. By now, mainstream news outlets were picking up the story, which had been bolstered by the frenzy of right-wing online media. It all created an echo chamber that terrified the White House. The NAACP also hastily denounced Ms. Sherrod.

Prior to the Agriculture Department's call for Ms. Sherrod's firing, there was no fact-finding done by the White House, only a fear of being perceived as condoning anti-white bias by a black person.

Some news agencies resisted the ugly hype and sought out Ms. Sherrod. CNN, for one, reviewed a longer version of her speech for context. As it turns out, she had told a 24-year-old story of overcoming her initial bias to help a white family keep its farm. Her speech was about her journey to a fuller understanding of racial reconciliation and class solidarity -- just the opposite of the narrative on Fox.

CNN contacted the white farmer who had been mentioned by Ms. Sherrod. The farmer testified to her good character and how she had helped his family keep its farm. Confronted with the facts, the NAACP apologized for being "snookered" and Mr. O'Reilly was contrite as well "for not doing my homework ... and for not putting her remarks into proper context." At this point, calls went out for Ms. Sherrod to be reinstated and the story shifted to the White House's rush to judgment.

On Wednesday, the White House admitted it had acted without the facts and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack contacted his former employee to offer her a new position. She is considering it. On Thursday President Barack Obama called her to apologize.

The website that released the edited video is responsible for triggering the media firestorm. But the guiltiest party is an administration so insecure that it would throw a good employee to the wolves. This shameful capitulation to right-wing media must end before more reputations and careers are destroyed.

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