shutupalsharpton

[ceebeegee]

God, Al Sharpton is such an asshole. At the Democratic debate last night he tore into Howard Dean for not appointing a black or Latino to his Cabinet during his tenure as governor. Um, Al? Have you done any research into this at all? Do you know anything about Vermont? It's lily-white. Like 98% white. Are you honestly suggesting he should've gone way out of his way to appoint a minority member just to make you happy? What, should he have bussed one in? He appointed a representative cabinet.

Comments

[minstrel70.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember "appointing a Cabinet that looks like America" being someone's campaign slogan in 1992, and Rev. Al not having a problem with that, so he shouldn't have a problem with Dean appointing a Cabinet that looks like Vermont. Oh wait -- I forgot, we have to tally up minority representation everywhere, even where there are practically none.

My home state of Minnesota looks a lot like Vermont. Funny how no one ever questioned Hubert Humphry's appointments when he was the VP nominee many moons ago.

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

Well, for one thing that was in '68--there weren't too many minority cabinet appointees then. And wasn't he the presidential nominee?

It's just silly to take that one factor--the amount of melanin--in something as complex as the composition of a state cabinet, and use that as the decisive factor on whether or not it's "good." Sharpton didn't say "well, it looks like your Cabinet didn't do such a good job in this area"--he offered no context, no other basis for criticism other than lack of minority representation. That's ridiculous. Vermont is not only a lily-white state, it's tiny, a very low population. Like any state it has special needs it wants to address--off the top of my head, I know Vermont is very concerned with preserving its non-commercial way of life (billboards aren't allowed), including its dairy and maple syrup farms. Perhaps understanding those issues outweighs the bean-counting of minority representation. Oh wait--that would mean Sharpton couldn't make it all. About. Race (and by extension, him). Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, ya blowhard.

Howard Kurtz in today's Washington Post chat said states will sometimes "import talent," as it were. ARRGH! Not. Getting. The. Point.

[minstrel70.livejournal.com]

Why yes, of course I'm an idiot. HHH was VP under Johnson, so my point would apply in 1964, but in 1968 he was, in fact, the nominee for President. I should know this, because he was a former governor of Minnesota. Oops.

I'm in total agreement with your points. It's uncanny how often that happens, considering you don't consider yourself "conservative." :)

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

I'm NOT! Am not. I'm a proud, card-carrying, pro-choice feminist liberal! I AM!! (whohappenstosupportthedeathpenalty)

But Sharpton makes everyone look conservative. He's such a flaming piece of shit, people run in droves for the other side of the artificially polarized argument.

[minstrel70.livejournal.com]

Liberal and conservative are merely labels. I'd wager we agree at least 75% of the time.

Feminism, incidentally, is not incompatible with conservatism / Republicanism. Likewise, there are pro-choice people who vote Republican.

I'll win you over to the Dark Side yet! :P

[mysticblaze.livejournal.com]

Obviously Al doesn't get around much, does he? If he did, he would know that there are many areas in Upstate New York where you would be hard pressed to find any persons of color. However, he seems to stick around NYC, and of course he is going to find a great deal of diversity that is an anomaly, not the norm.

If anything, Al is an attention whore. He will be there to advocate for the downtrodden minorities so long as the downtrodden minorities are in the news; the moment they are no longer in the news, he moves on to the next event and televised conference.

He has the Eva Peron syndrome (the "look at me in my diamonds and fur coats coming to give handouts to the poor and needy"). Any time he appears on television, I have to turn the channel before I become ill.

[wonderpanther.livejournal.com]

When I lived upstate, it seemed that Al never made the news. Once, on a trip to see a Broadway show, the streets were closed and people were crowded for his arrival. I could not get over his popularity. He is definitely a Metro Area Superstar. Upstate, he is just not worth notice.