USDA Firing: What the White House Knew

An Associated Press report reveals that White House officials knew in advance that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had decided to fire Shirley Sherrod from her Agriculture Department post after an edited video of her remarks at an NAACP banquet was posted online.

Indeed, some White House officials could see what was pretty clear from the beginning: that even the edited version of Sherrod's remarks made it apparent she actually was trying to deliver the message that she had learned the lesson that taking a race-based approach to her job was wrong.

"White House staff expressed concerns early on that Sherrod's remarks about race in an edited video clip may have been taken out of context," the AP reports.