While appearing on Ed Schultz’s MSNBC show November 17, 2010, Al Sharpton joined Schultz in criticizing Rush Limbaugh for “race-[baiting]” and using “federally-regulated airwaves to malign people.” Sharpton was bothered by the fact that Limbaugh dared talked about the racism inherent in the Democrat Party, particularly the racism white Democrats like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) and former Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md) displayed in pushing a black Democrat, Jim Clyburn (D-Sc), to the back of the bus” in order to preserve their own prominence.
It seems that when the Democrats restructured their positions in the House after losing control of it on November 2nd, they made sure that the top two positions went to white people (Pelosi and Hoyer) even though Clyburn, who happens to be black, already held the position Hoyer wanted. Because Limbaugh dared point this hypocrisy out, Sharpton pounced and equated Limbaugh’s monologue on Clyburn with “race-[baiting.”
Two things need to be pointed out here. First, Limbaugh has the Democrat Party (and particularly Pelosi and Hoyer) dead to rights, and that’s why men like Sharpton are using accusations of racism to silence him. But no matter what Sharpton says, Pelosi and Hoyer did move Clyburn to the back of the bus in order to guarantee that they, two white folks, would hold the key positions on the Democrat side of the House.
The second thing that needs to be pointed out is that Sharpton is a first class hypocrite who has used race to enrich himself and control others from day one. Moreover, he has stood shoulder to shoulder with devout racists in the past, unmoved by their racism because he needed them for political gain. (In other words, they did him a favor and broadened his appeal among minorities, by giving him a photo-op.)
For example, in 1993 Sharpton stood by the Nation of Islam’s Louise Farrakhan at the Jacob Javits Convention Center and HYPERLINK “http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=22166″said of their friendship: “We will stand together. Not in some private midnight meeting . . . but in the daylight . . . . Don’t ask who don’t like it; we love it! Don’t ask who’s mad, we’re glad!”
Strangely, I’ve yet to hear to Sharpton criticize Farrakhan for describing Caucasians as “white devils,” and for “referring to Judaism as a ‘gutter religion’ of ‘blood suckers’ praying in ‘synagogues of Satan.'”
The bottom line is this: Limbaugh saw what Pelosi and Hoyer were doing and called them on it. Sharpton either got his little feelings hurt by Limbaugh’s insightfulness or he saw an opportunity to get a some face time by criticizing Limbaugh (or both) and so he appeared on Schultz’s show. Either way, Limbaugh has done nothing more than speak the truth on this particular issue, while Sharpton has done nothing but sit in his glass house and throw stones.
Through it all, Sharpton has expressed no concern over the fact that a black Congressman, Clyburn, was moved “to the back of the bus” by two white Democrats.