ON his debut day as a presidential candidate, Al Sharpton upstaged most other Democratic wannabes at the first 2004 cattle show and showed why he gives big-time agita to a lot of Dem strategists.
| Setting fire to his office was pretty spectacular, I've got to admit... |
His rivals embraced the driving force behind the Tawana Brawley hoax as an equal aspirant to the Oval Office and even competed to curry favor with him. Both former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts claimed Sharpton had offered them the vice presidency.
| He sweetened the deal by throwing in first-class reservations on the Lusitania... |
In fact, most other Democratic candidates seemed a bit cowed while Sharpton and Dean - the two Democrats who are farthest to the left and the most passionate speakers - got the loudest cheers from activists at Tuesday's dinner for the pro-choice lobbying group NARAL. "If Sharpton does well, it's going to be hard to deny him a place at the podium at the Democratic convention - in prime time," frets a party strategist already worrying about how heartland America will react.
| If I was a Dummycrat, I'd be so-o-o-o embarrassed! |
Sharpton, after all, was found guilty of defaming a white prosecutor with false charges that the prosecutor raped Brawley. It took Sharpton three years to pay the $65,000 fine plus interest. And on Tuesday he defiantly insisted Brawley was no hoax, saying: "I believe we were right."
| "I mean, look around you! You can't step out of your door in Noo Yawk state without tripping over insidious white district attorneys running off with black children for nefarious purposes..." |
One Democratic strategist says: "We pray for Carol Moseley-Braun" - the former Illinois senator who's the only black woman elected to the U.S. Senate. The hope is she'll join the race and draw some support away from Sharpton.
| Ohfewgawdsake! Have you ever noticed they're never photographed together? There's a reason for that... |
Even detractors concede that with Al Gore out, none of Sharpton's rivals has proven appeal to blacks. That could help him in the South Carolina primary, slated as the third 2004 test after Iowa and New Hampshire. Its Democratic primary vote could be 50 percent black.
On the other hand, Reverend Al repels whites. The only ones who can stand him are Dummycrat pols and manufacturers of mayonnaise hair dressing... |
Sharpton sparks worries among Jews at a time when Dems already fear they'll lose their traditional support from Jewish voters because of President Bush's strong support for Israel.
| The fact that he's a caricature of a cheap pol has nothing to do with it, of course... |
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