Posted on 02/15/2004 10:48:07 AM PST by Eurotwit
Black leaders in the US and leading Democrats are outraged at revelations that a candidate in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Al Sharpton, 49, is being subsidised by a right-wing Republican campaign consultant notorious for "dirty tricks".
The Reverend Sharpton, a New York preacher and rabble-rouser who has no church or stipend of his own, has been living in a $6000-a-month ($A7700) apartment on Madison Avenue in Manhattan and running up bills as high as $7000 for stays of a few days each in hotels while on the road.
His organisation, the Harlem-based National Action Network, has received at least $250,000 in loans.
The money and the services of a new campaign manager, have been provided by Roger Stone, a businessman and Republican political consultant from Miami.
The disclosure is drawing an angry reaction. "It turns out that the left-wing preacher is being subsidised by the sleaziest right-wing consultant," said Jack Newfield, a black New York columnist. "It's a Marx Brothers parody of the Hitler-Stalin pact."
The conflict comes as John Kerry continues his march to the Democratic nomination and escalates his fight with President George Bush.
While Democrat rivals are struggling to scrounge enough money and support to keep the race alive beyond the Tuesday primary in Wisconsin, Senator Kerry won the Nevada and District of Columbia caucuses on Saturday.
He then ripped into the Bush Administration for practising "attack politics", as he continued to shift from primary politics towards a general election showdown.
"Given the record of this Administration and their stunning lack of vision, the Republican attack machine may well have no choice but to resort to smear and to fear," Senator Kerry said in Milwaukee.
Mr Sharpton has responded to his critics by claiming they are racists - a defence he has used repeatedly since 1987, when he first became notorious for backing a black teenager who falsely accused white policemen of rape and abduction.
But he has acknowledged that his organisation received the money from Mr Stone.
Mr Sharpton has floundered in the campaign, winning only 10 per cent of the vote even in the South Carolina primary, where almost one in three voters was black.
He has continued to mount attacks on other Democratic candidates and has refused to pull out of the race.
Mr Stone made headlines during the hotly disputed 2000 presidential election when he led the mob that stormed and briefly shut down a Florida ballot recount before the Supreme Court ruled in favour of President Bush.
He cut his political teeth by infiltrating the 1972 Democratic campaign of George McGovern, who lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon.
In 1988, he helped devise a notorious Republican advertisement that baited Democratic challenger Michael Dukakis for granting parole to black rapist and murderer Willie Horton - killing his campaign and securing George Bush snr's election.
Mr Stone is reported to have said he "would have some fun with Sharpton's campaign", that he and the preacher shared "a mutual obsession - we both hate the Democratic Party".
With Senator Kerry notching easy wins in Nevada and the District of Columbia, rivals Howard Dean and John Edwards focused on stopping him in Wisconsin.
The two wins give Senator Kerry victories in 14 of the first 16 contests in the race to find a Democratic challenger to Mr Bush.
The Wisconsin primary could be the last chance for his rivals to halt his momentum before a March 2 round of 10 contests clinches the nomination.
Those clowns who shared the stage with the buffoon are low class bums also.
For Democrats to appear opposite Sharpton, a habitual con man, race-baiter and fomenter of riots, signals how devoid of self respect Democrats have become!!
If my memory serves me correctly, it was Gore's campaign that originated the "Willie Horton" ads during the Rat primary. Can anyone provide a citation to confirm my recollection?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.