I had to wonder while watching the live press conference of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s apology for firing an employee over apparently unfounded accusations of racism – how many of those mainstream media journalists had ever been inside the USDA? Were they just bored because the oil stopped gushing in the Gulf and Lindsay Lohan is in jail? I really would never have thought this could be such a HUGE story.

Vilsack offered the most contrite, nearly pathetic, apology that I have ever seen from a public official for firing Georgia USDA official Shirley Sherrod. It was actually refreshing to hear someone in such a high position be so totally and profoundly apologetic for his actions. He took full responsibility and did not put blame on anyone else – not the White House, not the media, not the “tea party blogger” who first put the video out there accusing Sherrod of black against white racism. Good for him.

Vilsack repeatedly said he “deeply regretted” his hasty decision to ask for Sherrod’s resignation. “As a result, a good woman has gone through a very difficult period and I’m going to have to live with that for a long, long time,” he said. “This is a good woman and she’s been put through hell. I could have and should have done a better job.”

I recorded some of the Q&A from the presser which you can listen to here: Vilsack Apology

In a nutshell, the story started unfolding on Monday when Andrew Breitbart of the website Big Government circulated a video clip from a speech that Sherrod made at an NAACP event in March where she talked about wanting to discriminate against a white farmer in danger of losing his farm. As a result of the video, she was condemned by the NAACP and curtly dismissed by Secretary Vilsack on Tuesday. By Tuesday evening, it became apparent that the video was only part of her speech, during which she revealed that this situation changed her attitude towards racism. This morning, all hell broke loose, with blame being tossed all over the place.

Fact is, this is an equal opportunity blame game with plenty to go around. Shep Smith of FOX News ripped most of them in a very genuine soliloquy following Robert Gibbs’ press conference about the mess. He blamed his own network, the White House and the NAACP for failing to fully investigate the video and its source before acting on it. Watch it here.

As Vilsack noted, “This is a teachable moment for me and for all of us. We need to think before we act. I did not think before I acted.” True indeed.