{"id":592,"date":"2004-02-06T15:06:43","date_gmt":"2004-02-06T23:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2004\/02\/06\/al-sharpton-paid-for-operative-of-the-republicans\/"},"modified":"2004-02-06T15:06:43","modified_gmt":"2004-02-06T23:06:43","slug":"al-sharpton-paid-for-operative-of-the-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=592","title":{"rendered":"Al Sharpton: paid-for operative of the Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both The Black Commentor<\/i> <\/a>and The Village Voice <\/i><\/a>are slamming Al Sharpton this week, apparently with good reason. They argue, persuasively, that Sharpton has allowed himself to become a puppet of Republican operative Roger Stone. (Stone is best-known for organizing the conservative mobs that stopped vote-counting in Florida in 2000.)<\/p>\n

From the Black Commentator <\/i>article:<\/p>\n

The growing storm over his covert alliance with rightwing Republicans probably came too late to have any measurable impact on Tuesday\u2019s elections, but the revelations are a deathblow to his actual goal: to become the recognized leader of African Americans. Although the story has been framed in terms of treachery to the Democratic Party, or as evidence of Sharpton\u2019s visceral disdain for white \u201cliberals,\u201d the tale will resonate somewhat differently among African Americans. Sharpton comes across as a hapless stooge of the worst elements of the GOP.<\/p>\n

Roger Stone, a millionaire political consultant who began his career as a 19-year-old Watergate dirty trickster, virtually took over the Sharpton campaign in the last quarter of 2003, according to reports in the New York Times (January 25), Salon.com (\u201dA GOP Trickster Rents Sharpton<\/a>,\u201d February 3) and New York\u2019s Village Voice (\u201cSleeping with the GOP<\/a>,\u201d February 3). Stone and Sharpton were introduced two years ago by Donald Trump, the celebrity millionaire, said the Times. Stone brought in Charles Halloran to replace Sharpton campaign manager Frank Watkins, a longtime advisor to the Jesse Jacksons, Junior and Senior, who resigned in late September. (In the Village Voice article, Sharpton says Watkins was fired.) Halloran previously managed the New York gubernatorial campaign of far-right billionaire Tom Golisano, on the Independence Party line. He also managed a mostly white, conservative party\u2019s attempt to unseat the first Black-led government of Bermuda.<\/p>\n

Stone provides \u201cideas and direction, while Mr. Halloran\u2026does the front-line work,\u201d said the Times. \u201cIn the attacks on Dr. Dean, Mr. Stone helped set the tone and direction while Mr. Halloran did the research. Mr. Halloran came up with Dr. Dean’s hiring record as governor, for example, aides to Mr. Sharpton said.\u201d […]<\/p>\n

Stone has \u201cloaned\u201d Sharpton at least $270,000, and the candidate has made frequent use of Stone\u2019s credit card, according to the Voice story. NAN funds have been hopelessly commingled with campaign monies \u2013 a potential legal disaster.<\/p>\n

The relationship boggles the mind. Roger Stone is the Hard Right storm trooper whose goons bum-rushed the Miami-Dade elections offices in 2000, shutting down the recount and setting the stage for George Bush\u2019s \u201cselection.\u201d <\/p><\/div>\n

The Black Commentator agues that Sharpton’s run, on balance, may still be a good thing; Sharpton has harmed himself as a public figure, but his presence in the debates has also forced the leading (and, needless to say, white) candidates to improve their positions:<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Al\u201d was truly large on the stage, a daunting deterrent to the intrusion of the usual coded racial rhetoric into the Democratic debates or on the stump: Don\u2019t even think about it, said Al, without having to move his lips. Sharpton gave voice \u2013 at times, brilliantly \u2013 to the core progressive principles of the Black political consensus, causing big-footed white men to step lightly and in the right general direction.<\/p>\n

Sharpton\u2019s candidacy has had a magical effect on the racial chemistry of the Democratic dialogue, in starkest contrast to the White Citizens Council-type language of the GOP. He caused the white candidates to repeatedly demonstrate, through their words and campaign schedules, that they valued Black voters.<\/p><\/div>\n

I also like the BC’s conclusion:<\/p>\n

We must ask why Al Sharpton emerged as a contender for national Black leadership via the presidential primaries. The answer is simple, and should be deeply troubling: He was the only one to step forward. Such was also the case in the decades of Sharpton\u2019s rise to prominence in New York. When police brutalized African Americans, Al Sharpton was there. When demonstrations needed to be mounted, Sharpton was on point. When Black anger rose, Sharpton rose to the occasion \u2013 year, after year, after year.<\/p>\n

Whites of all political persuasions denounced Sharpton as an opportunist and publicity seeker \u2013 as if they were telling Black folks something we didn\u2019t know. But we desperately needed publicity, and an opportunity to be heard. Rev. Al seized the spotlight and shook things up, which was a lot better than nothing.<\/p>\n

Somebody Black had to do it.<\/p><\/div>\n

As us bloggers are wont to say, read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I find this… disappointing. I’ve generally supported Kucinich in the democratic primary, but I’ve admired Sharpton’s performance in the debates and his articulation of progressive positions. Sharpton has some disturbing episodes in his past, but I thought he had earned a second chance – a chance to show he had changed and emerge as a serious progressive voice.<\/p>\n

Little chance of that now..<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both The Black Commentor and The Village Voice are slamming Al Sharpton this week, apparently with good reason. They argue, persuasively, that Sharpton has allowed himself to become a puppet of Republican operative Roger Stone. (Stone is best-known for organizing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-site-and-admin-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}