The Shirley Sherroding of Robert Bentley

Here we go again.

You know the drill.

Take a snippet of someones remarks out of context and spin them like top so people will focus on who said instead of what was said.

Poor Governor Dr. Bentley is the latest victim of the Shirley Sherrod treatment. I will admit to jumping on the bandwagon before I went inside David White's story. The Shirley Sherroding starts with his lead (emphasis mine);

APGov.-elect Robert Bentley
MONTGOMERY -- Gov.-elect Robert Bentley in a speech at a Baptist church this afternoon said he plans to be the governor of all Alabamians and be color-blind, but he also said people who aren't ''saved" Christians aren't his brothers and sisters.

For those who don't know the lead, or the first paragraph of a news article is supposed to contain just the FACTS, also known as the 5 W's, who, what, where, where, and why. This is called context and allows readers to form opinions based on facts and not the writers opinion(s).

As an African American democrat I choose to focus on these words from Governor Bentley (emphasis mine);

Bentley told a big crowd at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where the late civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once was pastor, that he believed it was important for Alabamians ''that we love and care for each other."

''I was elected as a Republican candidate. But once I became governor ... I became the governor of all the people. I intend to live up to that. I am color blind," Bentley said in a short speech given about an hour after he took the oath of office as governor.

The fact he attended an event at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church says a lot to me about his character. As a Christian I can appreciate these words from the governor(emphasis mine).

"There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit," Bentley said. ''But if you have been adopted in God's family like I have, and like you have if you're a Christian and if you're saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister."

Here is where the Shirley Sherroding begins (emphasis mine);

Bentley added, ''Now I will have to say that, if we don't have the same daddy, we're not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother."

Is Bentley saying he doesn't want to be the governor of non Christians? No, he's saying I want to be your brother. In the spirit of brotherly love he is reaching out to all the citizens of Alabama. Did Bentley get carried away by emotion? Yes. But he was in a historic Baptist church full of God fearing people. Did he mean any harm? No. Was he trying to bring us together? Yes.

Asked later if he meant to be insulting to people of other faiths, Bentley replied, ''We're not trying to insult anybody."

Bentley's communications director, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, when asked about Bentley's comments said, ''He is the governor of all the people, Christians, non-Christians alike."

Bentley in his speech also told the crowd, which was celebrating King's birthday, that, ''I think that Dr. Martin Luther King was one of the greatest men that has ever lived."

''I appreciate what he has done for not only the African-American community but for the white community, because he helped everything to change, even though he had to give his life for it," Bentley said.

Bentley then said he would work to help Alabamians whether they live in Wilcox County, where many poor blacks live, or Mountain Brook, where many upper-income whites live.

''You know, (for) a lot of people, it's hard to trust a Republican governor," Bentley said. ''Let me tell you. I want to tell you today that I promise you that I'm going to do everything I can for everybody in this state."

I have it on good authority Governor Bentley is really a good guy, just a member of the wrong party. I choose to focus on everything he said and not a snippet of what he said. I'm not going to call him Governor Hunt or Judge Roy Moore. Yet. I'm going to give him a chance to practice what he preaches and be the Governor of ALL of us, regardless of race, religion,gender, address or party.

Well, there's a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America. And that makes this election extremely important." ~Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders