On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline,” network host Al Sharpton argued Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) had to drop out of the 2020 presidential campaign in part because of racism and sexism.
Sharpton said, “First of all, I think that she ran a great race. I think that she is a great candidate.”
He continued, “But she is dealing with an environment where you have for the first time, that you have these kind of rules that are different.”
Host Nicolle Wallace asked, “What rules?”
Sharpton said, “Certain amount of money, certain amount of polling to be in the debates. And when you have a Tom Steyer who is fine, raised great issues, but this woman is a U.S. senator, was attorney general of the state and was a district attorney. Steyer could come in and buy commercials and up his polling. And I think that the real problem the Democrats are going to have is the next debate, you have no black on that stage. The Democratic Party cannot have a stage where black voters do not see themselves reflected.”
He continued, “Where they don’t see themselves reflected and expect that we’ll come out and vote in big numbers. You must have had black turnout, but we don’t turn up in the debate? There is something that is wrong with that, and some of us are not going yo be quiet about it.”
Wallace asked if Sharpton believed Harris was treated “badly by the press?”
Sharpton said, “I think she was definitely treated badly by the press. I’ve never seen a candidate taken apart the way she was in the last several days. Yes, there are organizational problems. Yes, there were financial problems. You have people on that debate stage with no organization at all, and the press is not writing about it.”
He continued, “I think again a lot of assessment has to be made how the media dealt with it, we have to look at the rules. ”
He added, “What are you going to say to black voters when they look at that stage, and nobody like them is there? The Democratic Party will have to look at that and deal with that because that is a problem.”
Wallace asked, “I worked for Sarah Palin. I carefully watched and covered the campaign of Hillary Clinton. I do think that women are still held to different standards as candidates. They have to have a well-run campaign, never mind that Donald Trump didn’t have a campaign. He literally flew around with Hope ironing his pants. They have to be perfect on the stump, which I never saw her stumble. Joe Biden is beloved, and he is never perfect on the stump. I think there is a gender piece here that we still suck at talking about.”
Sharpton said, “You’re right.”
He added, “Women are held to a different standard, and black women especially are held to a different standard.”
Wallace said, “And black women though, by the way, voted for Trump in the lowest numbers. So they can say that they told us so.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN