The Messenger (Al Sharpton Rolling Stone Mag Interview...Need I Say More?? Alert)

Rolling Stone ^ | November 5, 2003 | Will Dana

[buzzyboop]

Al Sharpton, once labeled a racial polarizer, has recast himself as the soul of the Democratic Party. One rainy fall day, Sharpton paid a visit to Rolling Stone's offices to explain to us why he's running for president and how he fears the Democrats are about to blow it again. A decade ago, Sharpton was one of the most hated men in New York, accused by his critics of stoking racial fury and inciting near-riots. But since then, he has mellowed considerably, trading his track-suit-and-big-medallion look for tailored suits and flashy cuff links.

In mainstreaming his appeal, Sharpton is reaching out across racial lines --speaking not just to the angry black nation but to the larger pool of anger that he says is gathering in the traditional left-behind base of the Democratic Party: dispossessed union workers, minorities, homosexuals -- pretty much anyone who never received the invitation to join the party George W. Bush has been throwing for the nation's millionaires. "This race," Sharpton says, "is a lot more than another presidential election. Everything that we have fought for, in terms of civil liberties -- all of that is at stake if Bush is re-elected."

In person, Sharpton is a charismatic, galvanic presence. He was nearly forty minutes late for lunch. But he has a true star's ability to turn impatience into anticipation. From the moment he showed up, he was the exact same Sharpton you see on television: funny, quick, unapologetic, as much a showman as a politician. The comments here are drawn from our lunch with the reverend combined with an on-the-record interview in his campaign office a week earlier.

[squidly]

pretty much anyone who never received the invitation to join the party George W. Bush has been throwing for the nation's millionaires

LOL, you can't help but get a kick out of it when Rolling Stone tries to make a foray into journalism.

[weegee]

Good catch.

I see that legislation regarding MLK day started in 1983 and the first national observance of the holiday occured on January 20, 1986.

[AmericanVictory]

What this country really needs is a fraud, b***sh*****-in-chief; that would really solve problems.

[Revenge of Sith]

The Martin Luther King holiday was observed in 27 states and Washington DC even before the law was passed in 1983. I suspect that Sharpton got the year wrong since Reagan would've only been president for a couple of days if the meeting took place in 1981.