The day after the Shirley Sherrod story broke 45 days ago, Andrew Breitbart was on every cable news network (and many other outlets) talking about the edited out-of-context video and subsequent overreaction from the government. But since that day, Breitbart, a media presence on the rise, has been absent from cable news. Did the Sherrod story damage his personal brand?

video Rachel Maddow returned from last week's secret trip to Baghdad and jumped right into the Lower Manhattan mosque controversy. Maddow's explanation for the recent furor over the building is this: It's merely "this month's new 'scare white people' story." Says Maddow: "What's worth noting about all of these different 'scare white people' stories is that they're not really actual news stories...No non-Fox News, non-conservative media outlet ever starts these things."

video Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Dept. official who was ousted after Andrew Breitbart posted an incomplete video clip of her speech to the NAACP, has declined Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's offer of a new position at the department. It was Vilsack who demanded Sherrod's resignation, and stuck by his decision even after he knew her side of the story, actions that apparently played a part in Sherrod's decision not to return to his employ.

Last week, I posted a response to Andrew Breitbart's claim that he had proven, with the help of the New York Times, that nothing "racially charged" happened on March 20, 2010, when several black members of Congress claimed that they heard racial epithets directed at them by a crowd of protesters. He challenged the MSM to "air the exculpatory evidence" that he had posted, which I did. Since then, some of the writers from Breitbart’s "Big" sites have responded to my response, and in doing so, have walked back on Breitbart’s original claim. They have demanded corrections to my piece. I am always happy to correct the record where necessary.

Yesterday, the NAACP released a biting statement, excoriating a prominent member of the right wing for a deeply offensive act. Later in the evening, Dr. Laura Schlessinger announced that she wouldn't seek to have the contract for her radio show renewed at the end of the year. But the NAACP's statement wasn't about Dr. Laura - it was from Shirley Sherrod.

Has Andrew Breitbart achieved immortality? Probably not (is it even possible to achieve immortality in this day and age?). But he has apparently reached a level of infamy worthy of its own verb: "Breitbarting."

video Conservative media figure Andrew Breitbart has seized upon a New York Times story correction as proof that, when Civil Rights hero John Lewis (D-Ga), and others, say that a crowd of protesters hurled the "n-word" at them as they walked to the Capitol to vote on health care reform, they are "lying." Breitbart also submits video evidence as proof that nothing "racially charged" occurred on March 20, 2010. I took a closer look at the NYT correction, and Breitbart's video, and I can demonstrate that Breitbart's claims are completely false.

audio Let's end the week with some Shirley Sherrod-ing - editing a clip to make it sound like a person is saying something that is actually the complete opposite of what they're saying. In this case, the offender is Media Matters, which tries to prove that Glenn Beck's radio co-hosts were saying Keith Olbermann was responsible for the deadly Manchester workplace shooting. Update: MMFA updates their post.

Remember when I said Media Matters' case against Major Garrett's front row bid was thin compared to their usual work? This is what I was talking about. The liberal media watchdog launched a hilariously thorough barrage of research at Dr. Kevin Pezzi, who says he was sought out by Big Government founder Andrew Breitbart to write about Shirley Sherrod. The attack seems to have worked, as Pezzi's BigGov work has been scrubbed from the site, with only the google cache to remember him by.

video Some anchors take a day or two to apologize for a mistake. For technology-savvy Greta Van Susteren, it took about 40 minutes to take to her blog and apologize profusely for a five-second mistake (that she technically wasn't involved in). What happened? Video of Shirley Sherrod aired when it was supposed to be Rep. Maxine Waters.

video In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper last week, ousted USDA official Shirley Sherrod accused Andrew Breitbart of racism and supporting a return to slavery. On Thursday night, Cooper apologized to his audience for not questioning that claim and letting her "get away with saying things which cannot be supported by facts."

Deep in the heart of the Shirley Sherrod scandal, the RNC made the eyecatching announcement last week that it would host a fundraiser in Beverly Hills headlined by Andrew Breitbart and Chairman Michael Steele. Today, donors received a letter announcing that the event, sceduled for August 12-14, would be rescheduled for September.

Could our two-week-long national nightmare be nearing an end? In an interview with Newsweek today, Andrew Breitbart spoke to the magazine about the Shirley Sherrod speech scandal and expressed regret, acknowledged that it has "been difficult for me as well," and claimed he would "be more than happy to meet with [Sherrod] in private" to settle the matter.

video Earlier today NBC News White House correspondent Chuck Todd filed a rather unremarkable report about the Obama administration's eagerness to put the Shirley Sherrod story behind them. What was rather remarkable was Todd's reference to Andrew Breitbart as a "conservative propagandist," which is interesting in that it not only marginalizes the Internet provocateur, but this sort of label might very well diminish his influence moving forward.

video Today on MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews tried to debate Salon's Joan Walsh and former Gov. Howard Dean that Andrew Breitbart's version of the controversial Shirley Sherrod speech was completely unedited. Considering there were about 35 minutes missing from that tape, this was wrong for obvious reasons. But if you caught the 7PM rerun, you wouldn't have seen that, because Hardball retaped the segment, this time with Matthews admitting the Breitbart version was incomplete.

video President Obama made his much-anticipated appearance on The View today. Actually, I'm not really sure how anticipated it was, per se -- my Twitter feed was pretty dead through the hour. But it was definitely discussed! People were worried that an appearance on The View was beneath President Obama. Turns out it may have been one of the better hours he has spent.

Cable news' most important story last week will continue - Shirley Sherrod says she "will sue" Andrew Breitbart, the conservative site owner who first published her out-of-context video clip, according to the AP.

video The most important story on cable news last week has continued into this week - Fox News was back talking about the Shirley Sherrod saga on TV and online. Bret Baier responded with video evidence to Howard Dean's latest charges, while FNC admitted there had been an online "breakdown" in the publication of a story about Sherrod before it was announced she resigned.

video Former Governor Howard Dean drew a characteristic rebuke from Fox News' Michael Clemente when he accused the network of "absolutely racist" coverage of the Shirley Sherrod story. Clemente called Dean a "failed candidate" who "blame(s) Fox for almost anything." Speaking to Dylan Ratigan fill-in and Young Turks host Cenk Uygur, Dean stood by his comments, and dismissed Clemente's criticism, while Cenk noted the long roster of "failed candidates" who populate Fox's air. (h/t Aaron Wysocki)

There's no doubt that last week's Shirley Sherrod controversy began as a new media story - started by Andrew Breitbart on BigGovernment.com. But there is also no doubt which type of media drove it into the ground - cable news.