This may all sound strange from someone who calls himself a liberal, but I have to say it; I had a feeling Al Sharpton was going to worm his way back into the spotlight somehow (and he keeps such good company also, as you can see).
As incendiary and ultimately annoying a figure as he is, I didn’t really take issue with him over the Imus/Rutgers women’s basketball team brouhaha last year because I thought he was fundamentally on the right side of the issue (primarily because Imus was a repeat offender who made his name doing that sort of thing).
But today, we find out that Kelly Tilghman, an analyst for The Golf Channel, made a remark about lynching concerning Tiger Woods, but quickly realized what she’d done and apologized (and Woods, who has been nothing but gracious in incidents like this as far as I’ve ever read, accepted her apology).
And that should be the end of it.
But of course, with Al Sharpton lurking out there, you know it isn’t.
Sharpton says it is the word -- not the person or their history -- that matters. In a Wednesday interview, he compared Tilghman's statement to calling for a woman to be raped or for a Jewish-American to be sent to a gas chamber.Wow, easy to throw around unsubstantiated charges knowing you may not get called on it, isn't it, Al?
"Lynching is not murder in general. It is not assault in general. It is a specific racial term that this woman should be held accountable for," the reverend said. "What she said is racist. Whether she's a racist -- whether she runs around at night making racist statements -- is immaterial."
Sharpton said he wants Tilghman fired, period. And if the Golf Channel doesn't comply, the network can expect to see Sharpton and his National Action Network supporters picketing its Orlando, Florida, headquarters.Fine. Go protest over this, then. If you do, I’m going to ridicule you from my admittedly tiny perch here in the lefty “blogosphere” (still can’t get comfortable with that word, actually). And if it turns out that I’m in ideological unity for a change with the freepers and their online brethren whom I usually loathe and despise, then so be it.
Of course, you can protest anyone and anything with impunity, Al, because you’re perfect (by the way, have you heard from Tawana Brawley lately?).
The one aspect of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary that I have to admit I’ve enjoyed is your absence from the stage! If there was one thing that continually disgusted me in past elections, it was the fact that none of the candidates would call you out for being a buffoon and an expert at self-promotion because they needed the black vote to win the election.
However, with Barack Obama running, you automatically lost any faux legitimacy you may have ever had in the eyes of some men and women of color (though I would have loved to actually see you on stage with Obama so he could have oratorically taken you apart).
To change the subject slightly, I have to admit that the timing of this latest Sharpton mess is particularly bad for your humble narrator, since it comes on the heels of New Jersey’s recent apology for slavery, hence my admitted crankiness here.
And what exactly is it that that’s supposed to accomplish, other than “grease the skids” for someone in New Jersey government to mention the “R” word (“reparations,” that is)? If someone does that, I hope they get hooted down as quickly as Reverend Al should be.
You want to talk apologies? Fine. I’m waiting for the City of Philadelphia to apologize for the Nativist Riots of 1844, since I’m an Irish-Catholic descendant who grew up in “The City of Brotherly Love.”
But just to let you know, Al, I don’t plan to protest over it outside of a government building or place of business. You see, I’ll be doing something else.
I’ll be working.
For my employer.
Getting paid.
And not feeling sorry for myself.
Why don’t you try it sometime?
Update: I think this is utter crap.
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