Sharpton's Cynical Campaign Choice

[burythehatchet]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=625&e=1&u=/vv/20040212/lo_vv/50930">village voice article

I believe there are many here who have felt a resonance with Al Sharpton's message during this campaign. The article talks about Sharpton's involvment with a right wing sleaze bag. If this is accurately reported, I would feel extremey disappointed in him.

Anyone have any inside scoop on this?

[silverlib]

1. I couldn't get the link to work (eom)

[burythehatchet]

3. Sorry...here it is again

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=625&e=1&u=/vv/20040212/lo_vv/50930

[Laughing Mirror]

2. Amy Goodman had the author of the piece on

when his first Sharpton piece came out on February 4,
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/04/1656216

I don't know if she's had a chance to do a follow-up yet.

[GabysPoppy]

4. Here is Wayne Barrett's original article

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0406/barrett.php


Wayne has an excellant pulse on the politics of NYC

[question everything]

5. Sharpton's ties to GOP strategists - Lusane's progressive.org

Call it a political wardrobe malfunction. A number of recent reports in The Village Voice and elsewhere have pulled the breastplate off the Al Sharpton campaign and exposed a not-so-pretty picture underneath.

(snip)

Turns out that well-seasoned Republican consultant Roger Stone is providing the Sharpton campaign with critical strategic advice, financial resources and fellow travelers as campaign workers, according to the Voice report and other stories on Slate.com and in The New York Times.

(snip)

Stone's exact role in the campaign is deliberately murky but it is clear that he has shaped the political tone and tenor of it. By his and Sharpton's account, Stone brought in campaign manager Charles Halloran, an operative who has worked for Democrats but has become close to Stone in the last few years. Just before taking over the Sharpton shop, Halloran led an unsuccessful fight by the conservative (and white) United Bermuda Party to restore whites to power on the island.

While denying some of the details in these reports, Sharpton is unapologetic. He not only acknowledges the involvement of these Republicans at all levels of his campaign, but also brazenly defends his right to have them involved.

(snip)

Sharpton seems to have little interest in what is most needed in U.S. politics: building a mass progressive movement that will pull policy out of the clutches of the extreme right and can bring pressure on the administration and Congress – whether Republican or Democratic. Jackson made a feint in that direction with the National Rainbow Coalition that at one point did involve tens of thousands of activists across the country.

(snip)

Lusane is an assistant professor in the School of International Service at American University in Washington. This article was written for the Progressive Media Project (www.progressive.org).


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/fri/opinion/news_mz1e20lusane.html

[bobbieinok]

6. #1 cause of anger: 'aide' ran the 'Miami riot' in FL2000

FL 2000 disenfranchised black voters disproportionately.

By accepting this guy's help,

...Sharpton BETRAYED black voters

...and loses any and all credibility as any sort of 'spokesperson' for the Black community.