Grab and Keel

After the announcement of Andrew Breitbart’s death, I did wonder about this and Politico has the scoop:

[Shirley Sherrod’s suit against Andrew Breitbart likely to continue

By JOSH GERSTEIN | 3/1/12 4:38 PM EST
A defamation lawsuit a former Agriculture Department employee filed against conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart is likely to continue despite Breitbart’s unexpected death on Wednesday night at age 43 …..

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/03/shirley-sherrods-suit- against-andrew-breitbart-likely-116078.html ]

Please go to their full article and read it. If all the kinks are worked out it seems likely that Breitbart’s estate and at least one co-worker will be subject to the continued court proceedings.

If you’re trying to remember who Shirley Sherrod is, I have attached a pdf of an older blog post from JohnSmart, now at:
http://johnwsmart.wordpress.com/

I liked John’s post, first because he laid out the timeline of events nicely, and because I thought he well represented the traps, pitfalls and honesty in opinion writing.

Can the the tenants of this lawsuit apply elsewhere? You lawyers out there will know, but it seems to me that one person who defames another and gets paid or promised 400 million dollars to do it ought to have made vulnerable the whole business system that allowed this defamation.

Even if he gets fired.

Even if he dies.

What are 15 million listeners supposed to think, when year after year Limbaugh and Company get away with this garbage and no one brings them to justice?

And, what about Danica?