Official: No White House pressure on Sherrod  —  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this afternoon took responsibility for firing an official, Shirley Sherrod, whose appearance on video recalling her behavior toward a white farmer drew charges of racism, and whose immediate firing drew suggestions …

Our Summer Race War Heats Up  —  Hoo boy.  Conservatives apparently aren't going to back down from ever more overt appeals to racial resentment this summer.  BigGovernment.com “broke” a story yesterday about a speech given a few months ago by Shirley Sherrod, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, at an NAACP Freedom Fund dinner.

The White House's Weak Back Hand  —  Update below:  —  Weak Back Hand  —  by digby  —  When our new overlord Andrew Breitbart says jump, the White House says, “how high?”  Kevin Drum: … Naturally, the administration panicked like a bunch of frightened little children:

Ex-Ag Official Says White House Forced Her Out Without Hearing ‘Truth’ About Video  —  Shown here is USDA Georgia official Shirley Sherrod.  (YouTube)  —  The Department of Agriculture official who resigned Monday over a YouTube clip said the White House forced her out of her job without bothering to hear her side of the story.

Resigned USDA official says racial story misconstrued  —  The USDA's rural development director for Georgia says she was forced out of her federally appointed job after a “snippet” of a speech she gave in March appeared to show her admission to only half-heartedly aiding a struggling white farmer because of his race.

Breitbart's Skilled Editing  —  The quotes that former USDA worker Shirley Sherrod gave on the edited tapes disseminated by Andrew Breitbart are indeed indefensible, but is it not fair to provide some kind of context?  To wit: … And: … This reminds me of the Octavia Nasr case.

Not Looking Good For Breitbart  —  The 82-year-old wife of the white Georgia farmer who was supposedly discriminated against some quarter century ago by the black USDA official forced to resign this week — if the video released by Andrew Breitbart's Big Government and re-run by Fox is to be believed …

One thing about the NAACP video of Shirley Sherrod  —  ...that nobody is mentioning.  —  Look at the crowd reaction when she says this.  Is there shock?  Is there disgust?  Is there anger?  Nope, they are with her all the way.  —  That says more about the NAACP than anything Sherrod did.

Lindsey Graham's vote on Elena Kagan ensures primary challenge  —  South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R) announcement that he will vote in favor of Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court is likely to further incite conservatives already unhappy with him and, according to close observers …

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan approved by Senate Judiciary Committee in 13-6 vote  —  Kagan wins approval in a nearly party-line vote, with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joining the majority Democrats.  She is expected to gain full Senate confirmation in August.