Sharpton not the dullest tool in the shed (STRANGE TITLE)

Now I see why people are whispering sweet nothings to former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, encouraging her to run for president of the United States.

The Pentecostal minister from New York City, who wants to pick up where Jesse Jackson left off as a presidential candidate 11 years ago, made quite a splash Sunday morning at St. Sabina's Catholic Church with a sermon that mixed messages of Bush-bashing with personal responsibility for African Americans.

Judging by how the Rev. Michael Pfleger's following ate it up, the surprising combination is going to cause a lot of problems for other Democratic candidates on the way to their 2004 convention in Boston.

Before watching him perform Sunday, I had underestimated Sharpton, pegging him as a New York celebrity who would find it difficult to take his act on the road and overcome nearly two decades as the butt of jokes on late-night television for his racial opportunism.

Afterward, it seemed clear that, despite his baggage, Sharpton has the potential to be hugely popular with black voters all across the country, possibly enough to win a southern primary or two in a crowded field. And, believe it or not, he might even attract a small following among white voters looking for somebody to "tell it like it is."

Apparently others had started to figure out the same thing and became the source of some of the encouragement for Moseley-Braun's sudden interest in the presidency. It's the old divide-and-conquer strategy that is well-known in Chicago ward politics. If the first black woman in the U.S. Senate can dilute some of Sharpton's support, he becomes a non-factor.

But if Moseley-Braun is going to enter the fray with Sharpton, she'd better bring her "A'' game if she doesn't want to look like a fool.

Some of you will think I'm putting a lot of emphasis on one speech, especially since political campaigns are more than speaking contests.

That's true, but I think what I'm reacting to is Sharpton's ability to connect with his audience and pick themes that resonate. Every group that hears him speak will be impressed, even if they don't agree with him. I expect blacks will agree with him.

On top of that, the guy has spent his whole career finding ways to get on television. He'll have the best sound bites at the candidate debates, and maybe most important, because he doesn't really have a chance of winning, he's going to be able to say a lot of the things that the other Democratic candidates should say but won't dare. The media will like that.

"Why are we going where we're trying to find the weapons, and we're not going where we already know there are weapons?'' Sharpton swipes at the Bush administration's differing approaches to the crises in Iraq and North Korea.

Noting that Bush made no mention of Osama bin Laden in his State of the Union address, Sharpton said, "Explain to us how the CIA can't find one man hiding in a cave in Afghanistan who comes out every three weeks with a new video."

There is more than a little demagoguery in such statements, but it's the kind of thing you hear on the street, and Sharpton, at essence, is a street fighter. He has the instincts Jackson used to have before influences such as beer distributorships and a son in Congress became part of his calculations.

For those who stopped paying attention to him long ago, Sharpton's jumpsuits, medallions and pompadour are gone, replaced with three-piece suits, a handkerchief poofed up just so in his breast pocket and slicked-back hair. He's still a bit of a peacock. Some people will react negatively to that.

What they may like is Sharpton's emphasis on black Americans reaching the next level of success and achievement by returning to the core principles and methods of self-reliance and spirituality that helped them overcome slavery and segregation.

"Even if you're not responsible for being down, you're responsible for getting up," said Sharpton.

It's a conservative message that some may not expect from Sharpton, 48, who has been a polarizing figure in New York since the 1987 Tawana Brawley rape case. He's run for office in New York and lost three times, twice for the U.S. Senate and once for mayor.

"Negroes just done lost their memories," he said, referring to a lack of progress in black society since the 1960s and accusing many blacks of being "just too lazy and ungrateful" to use the rights for which others died.

"We've allowed this Hollywood culture to tell our children that blackness is acting like a hood, acting like a thug," said Sharpton.

But I walked into the church totally predisposed to dislike the guy and left thinking he has a real chance of succeeding Jackson as a national leader. People in New York will think I've been suckered, but that's what I'd think if they voted for Moseley-Braun.

... made quite a splash Sunday morning at St. Sabina's Catholic Church.....

Another example of the hideous double standard by my church's "leadership." When some pro-abortion democrat like Sharpton (did he not recently address the NARAL infanticide fest just a few weeks ago, pledging his eternal fealty to the culture of death?) wants to take the pulpit at a catholic church (the memory of the deplorable Hillary Clinton making a purely political speech during the NY senate campaign in a Rochester diocese church is still fresh) to spew a noxious mix of race huckterism and class warfare, the door to the nave is wide open. No concern for the Church's 501(c)(3) qualification or the preservation of federal funding for its hospitals and charities is exhibited by the hierarchy at moments like these.

It is easy to imagine the Wrong Reverend Pfleger clapping and swaying as the let-no-unwanted-baby-go-to-term politician spins his rhymes and rhetoric. Yet our priests haven't the guts to call pro-abort catholic politicians like Kennedy, Dodd, Kerry and Davis to task for their very public sin from the very same pulpits during Sunday Mass (with the courageous exception of the Bishop of Sacramento) for fear of being accused of mixing church and state.

Woe to these pastors, like Pfleger, who lead their sheep astray. Fr. Pfleger, how do you sleep at night, having let this man, who claims that infanticide is a sacred human right, stand at the same alter as the living Body of Christ?

FYI: I found this lame statement on the Archdiocese of Chicago's website.

STATEMENT FROM THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CHICAGO
RE: Cardinal George's comment on Al Sharpton's appearance at St. Sabina Parish

Chicago (February 7, 2003)

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., learned from the news media that the Rev. Al Sharpton has been invited to speak at St. Sabina's on February 9 in the course of celebrating Black History Month. The Cardinal supports the celebration but does not approve of the invitation because of the Rev. Sharpton's present political candidacy and his pro-abortion stance.

Since the homily at Mass is a liturgical action, the homilist is to be a bishop, priest or deacon. This is the normal sacramental discipline of the Catholic Church. Archdiocesan policy also respects the civil internal revenue laws prohibiting direct political campaigning during a worship service.

The Cardinal believes, however, that making a case of this invitation at this time would be a futile gesture and a waste of effort.

SO ..... The Wrong Revered Pfeger publicly flaunts the will of the CARDINAL. Will any penalty be paid? Of course not, because the TWRP is beloved by the media and mouths all the PC Leftwing cant. If he were criticizing homosexuality, say, from the pulpit Sunday, he already would have been whisked away to Mundalein or points north for "re-education."

Some of Sharpton's "baggage":

"1995: When the United House of Prayer, a large black landlord in Harlem, raises the rent on Freddy's Fashion Mart, Freddy's white Jewish owner is forced to raise the rent on his subtenant, a black-owned music store. A landlord-tenant dispute ensues; Sharpton uses it to incite racial hatred. ''We will not stand by,'' he warns malignantly, ''and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business.'' Sharpton's National Action Network sets up picket lines; customers going into Freddy's are spat on and cursed. ''We're going to see that this cracker suffers,'' says Sharpton's colleague Morris Powell. On Dec. 8, one of the protesters bursts into Freddy's, shoots four employees point-blank, then sets the store on fire. Seven employees die in the inferno."
WWRL -- Sharpton rally --10/21/95

Morris Powell:

"October 17 of 1995 has been a year since we -- the vendors was removed from 125th Street. The 125th Street BID -- Business Improvement District received $220,000 after our removal. Since our removal, our association has suffered hardship of varied dimensions. Economical, social, mental, physical deprivation, and community and the race suffered at large from the loss that we could well [sic] afford. The 125th Street BID was one of many sell-out entities of the community of Harlem, including Community Board 10, political leadership with few exceptions, and special interest economic institutions working in the interest of people not of our community.

There is an officer that owns a store on 125th Street who is an officer of the 125th Street Business Improvement District. He has a big furniture department store that been in business in Harlem for years. He is the only European that has an officer position on the Business Improvement District. The concerned peoples of Harlem is asking -- the righteous concerned people of the community of Harlem is asking the community of Harlem to boycott this particular store known as Bargain World at 14 West 125th Street. Arthur Rosen is secretary of the Business Improvement District. They the ones that is responsible for driving black people out of business on 125th Street in black Harlem and this is how we going to get back. He could drive us out of business; we certainly can drive them out of business, and this is what we intend to do. We intend to drive 'em out of business. We got bring a victory home, and the next one -- the next victory that we are going to bring home, we are going to bring down Bargain World and we are going to drive them out of business. I think they've been in business for practically 50 years right there in Harlem. So they're a big fish. So we asking the community to boycott Bargain World at 14 West 125th Street.

The Buy Black Steering Committee of the 125th Street Vendors Association. We meets at 16 West 125th Street, the Buy Black Steering Committee of the National Action Network. And we are thinking in terms of organizing all the black businesses in the community of Harlem, so that we could come to their interests and look out for the interest of our peoples' business enterprises. This was one of the good things about the Million Man March -- is the economic possibilities that comes from there, specially the Buy Black campaign. The Buy Black campaign means be careful where you spend your money, try to spend your money with yourself, and to go in business so that you can have a business for black people to buy from. And that's the key to our survival. Without that we can't make it. And that's the key to want us receiving respect. The white man do not like Asians, he do not like the Jews, and the rest, but he respect them because of their economic power. And we get disrespect because our lack of it."

Norman "Granddad" Reide:

"Thank you Reverend C. Vernon Mason. Good morning my strong African brothers and sisters and strong you are, you made a believer out of white folks. October 16th. More than a million black men, fortified by strong African sisters, converged on the city of Washington, D.C. Yes, you did make a believer out of white folks. My brothers and sisters, you know, I am a little tired of hearing the Jewish people accusing Minister Louis Farrakhan, Reverend Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Gary Byrd of WLIB and Reverend Del Shields of being anti-Semitic. I am a little tired of that. You know, the Jewish people don't have a monopoly on speaking the truth. We speak the truth, too. We speak the truth, and I'm saying you must never allow anybody, be he Jewish, Irish, Italian, Greek, etc., inhibited you from speaking the truth about them. And I serving notice today on a Jewish community, that if you don't stop accusing Reverend Al Sharpton, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, Gary Byrd, Reverend Del Shields and Donna Wilson of being anti-Semitic, we will marshal six million black men and women and boycott every Jewish owned business throughout the United States. There are 91 Waldbaum stores. We will boycott them. There are 618 nationwide ... Toys 'R stores. We will boycott them. There are 145 New York City Key Food Shopping markets. We will boycott them. We will boycott Macy's. There are 50 Sam Goody record stores. We will boycott them. There are 59 Duane Reade Drug Stores in the city of New York . We will boycott them. There are 50 Wiz record stores in the city of New York. We will boycott them. We will boycott Sears and Roebuck Rent-a-Car. We will boycott Avis Rent-a-Car. There scores of Gap stores throughout the United States. We will boycott them. We will boycott Herman's Sporting Goods stores, Modell's Sporting Goods stores, Tallheimer's in Chicago, Illinois, and I do my research. Richfield in Richmond, Virginia, and I do my homework. We will boycott them. And we are saying today stop accusing Minister Louis Farrakhan, Reverend Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Gary Byrd, Donna Wilson and Reverend Shields of being anti-Semitic. We are not your enemy. Are you our enemy? The Skinheads are your enemies. The neo-Nazis are your enemy.

I am saying to the Jewish community and specifically to Abraham Foxman, that you come out and utter a word, accusatory remark against Reverend Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Donna Wilson, Reverend Shields, or Gary Byrd, we will boycott you and nobody loves money any more than the Jewish people. Thank you.

Complete Transcripts of the Folllowing Broadcasts

Radio Station WWRL - Sharpton Rally - 8/19/95

Radio Station WWRL - Sharpton Rally - 9/9/95

Radio Station WWRL - Sharpton Rally - 9/16/95

Radio Station WLIB - 9/25/95

Radio Station WWRL - Sharpton Rally - 9/23/95

Radio Station WWRL - Sharpton Rally - 10/21/95

Radio Station WWRL - Sharpton Rally - 10/28/95

http://www.jewishpost.com/jewishpost/sharp06.html

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