Al Sharpton Is A Shakedown Artist With Bad Hair

God forbid you're some type of celebrity and you make a comment offensive to a particular liberal constituency.  At that point, it's simply a matter of two things:

1. What liberal constituency did you offend?
2. What's going on in the news cycle that might deflect attention away from you?
   

If you're REALLY unlucky, you've offended the black community in a dead news cycle.  Kelly Tilghman must be REALLY unlucky.  An on-air Schleprock if you will.  Prior to being bandied about in the press for three weeks, it appeared the story had run its course.  But then some of us heard a noise in the distance.

Was it a bird?  Huh-Uh. 

Could it be a plane?  Nope. 

What was it? 

It was a big, self-serving, fat ass waddling down the street with a blow horn and pompadour.  That's right, Reverend Al Sharpton was coming to stir the pot of racial insensitivity.

I came across Al on TV one morning all up-in-arms and beside himself about the lynching comment Tilghman had made on the Golf Channel.  He was appalled!  He was aghast!  He was winded after :30 seconds.

Al was demanding action and he wasn't going to be satisfied until he got it.  He wanted her employer to fire, not suspend her.  He was going to march on the Golf Channel until she was gone!!!  He was going to make her pay!!!!

And then... He was gone...

It seemed the Clinton campaign had gotten itself in hot water for some perceived racial slights directed at the campaign of Barrack Obama.  Al apparently decided there was more exposure and financial upside in hassling the Clinton's than in tweaking Tilghman.  After all, in the end this was about one thing - lining Al's pocket.  The Clinton issue provided a far bigger fish bowl and greater opportunity to do what he did best in the public eye - complain, bitch and moan.

Let's face it, the business of race is big business.  Sharpton has made millions off the backs of corporations and individuals alike who supposedly insulted the black community.  Bad race relations equals good business for big Al.  Good relations and he becomes the encyclopedia salesman - obsolete.

But isn't that the point?  Shouldn't that be the goal of any civil rights leader?  The day when their role becomes archaic, unnecessary, when they can disappear from the the public eye after a job well done.  Of course it should, but Sharpton?  The only way he's going to disappear is if he pops.

After 20 plus years in the public eye, what are we to make of him?  At his core, he is shakedown artist.  His craft honed over decades, looking for or concocting racial slights and then making a spectacle of himself to garner attention of the incident (see hairdo).  Unfortunately, his friends in the press are seemingly all too eager to share his version of events and ask questions only after the initial coverage as been filed.  At that point, the dye is cast and the names of those involved are often tarnished beyond repair.

In the end, how do you judge who is worse.  Al Sharpton and his modus operandi or the mainstream press who actually give this tedious blow-hard public credibility by covering his every sham. 

The verdicts in... THE BOTH SUCK

Comments

[Mark]

Too bad you and I don't live in the same America. It's good for you that you've never experienced the racism a non-white male in America experiences.

"Christian" televangelists have made much more and have been worse for America than Al Sharpton could ever be. There is nothing Christian about a megachurch. These so-called Christians are subverting the teachings of the man they claim is their savior. True money changers in the house of the Lord.

[DK]

I agree on the Al Sharpton front. I liken him to these ambulance-chasing attorneys who are mainly concerned with lining their pockets and promoting themselves, not with helping those they claim to represent.