RENWL

Shirley Sherrod is quickly turning into the hero of the day after the lousy way she was treated by the White House and her boss Tom Vilsack.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack said Wednesday he has apologized to ousted employee Shirley Sherrod and offered her a unique new position at the agency.

Sherrod, in an interview with The Associated Press, this morning said she was considering it. Listen to her in this most recent interview on CBS News:

“They did make an offer,” she said in a telephone interview. “I just told him I need to think about it.”

Vilsack told reporters that Sherrod accepted his apology. He said, “She was extraordinarily gracious.”

Because of all the publicity surrounding what happened…how would I be treated once I’m back there? I just don’t know,” Sherrod said this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I would have to be reassured on that.”

Sherrod said yesterday that the USDA, at the behest of the White House, pressed her to resign without listening to her side of the story or taking the time to review the remarks she gave to the NAACP. Before Vilsack said this morning he would reconsider his decision, he said he was holding his ground. The White House said it played no part in Vilsack’s decision but that it stood by it.

“For them all day yesterday to say they were standing by their decision and now at this late hour to be saying they’re now willing to look at the facts, it’s hard to take at this point,” Sherrod said this morning on NBC’s “Today Show.

The White House, Dept. of Agriculture and the NAACP all ought to be ashamed of themselves for leaving this sista high and dry at the start of all this.