[UPDATE: The previous link was incorrect; now fixed. My apologies. – ML]

(Via AoSHQ) Every time I think that the Shirley Sherrod story cannot make the administration look more foolish, new details come out [link fixed – ML].

…three Democratic sources said deputy chief of staff Jim Messina singled out the White House’s initial response to the incident for praise in the regular 8:30 a.m. staff meeting Tuesday morning.

[snip]

One source, who is unhappy with the administration’s handling of the incident, paraphrased Messina’s remarks: “We could have waited all day — we could have had a media circus — but we took decisive action, and it’s a good example of how to respond in this atmosphere.”

No, in fact, it was not a good example*.  It’s hard to see how it could be a worse one.  The Right is hardly abashed that Ms. Sherrod ended up being maligned by the Obama administration and defended by Glenn Beck; the Left is infuriated** that their precious man-god stomped all over their favorite narrative before it could even get started; and the Middle is mostly going to take away from all of this the sight of the White House apologizing to a black woman for passing instant judgment on her based on the color of her skin, rather than the content of her character.

And, oh yes: there’s a media circus, too.

Moe Lane

*For what it’s worth, the other two sources of Politico’s are pushing back on the first source’s narrative.

**They’re even more infuriated that some of their favorite devil-figures showed more discernment than said man-god, which was both a: funny and b: not very difficult to accomplish.  Contra that link above, the President is not actually very good at deflecting criticism, mostly because up until now he’s never particularly needed to…

Crossposted to Moe Lane.