Patterico's Pontifications

5/22/2011

60 Minutes Forgets 10 Years Of Rev. Al Sharpton

Filed under: General — Stranahan @ 10:24 pm



[Guest post by Lee Stranahan]

60 Minutes ran a piece on Al Sharpton last night, apparently trying to help him rehabilitate his reputation since President Obama is making Sharpton a point person on immigration reform.

Here’s a fascinating interview about Al Sharpton and the 60 Minutes interview from the very left Democracy Now!

You can read the transcript here. What I want to highlight here is how CBS creates a dishonest narrative about Rev. Sharpton by omitting his recent history – history that is well documented.

CBS does this with a very obvious form of misdirection, telling the views over and over again throughout the piece that Sharpton is a changed man who controversy is 15,20 or 30 years ago.

Here’s how they start the segment.

Say "Al Sharpton" and most people probably think loud mouth activist and provocateur. That certainly was his image in the 1980s and 90s.

Well, the Reverend Al has gone through something of a metamorphosis: today he’s down right tame. So much so, that he has made his way into the establishment.

Which may say something about the establishment – but I digress.

It’s been quite a trajectory: from street-protest agitator, to candidate for president in 2004, to now a trusted White House adviser who has become the president’s go-to black leader campaigning around the country for President Obama and his agenda.

Today, Sharpton looks and sounds like a totally different person.

But 20 years ago in New York, Sharpton, hot-headed in his jogging suits and larger than life in every way, was spreading hate and dividing the city. "No justice, no peace!" he shouted at one protest.

So, so far the story makes the point – over and over – that Sharpton’s provocateur days of ‘spreading hate and dividing the city’ were back in the 1980s and 90s. That was ’20 years ago’.  Bam! Bam! Has CBS smacked you on the head enough?

Apparently not. 60 Minutes reinforces this idea that Sharpton’s controversy is 20 years behind him at several other points…

"I think that America and Al Sharpton has transformed. I think it’s a different country and I think that therefore I’ve become a different person in that context," Sharpton told correspondent Lesley Stahl.

And

Sharpton says 15, 20 years ago he would’ve been looking for a fight with a guy like Gingrich. In those days, he was brawling all over the place, even on television.

And

He made his mark as a civil rights leader in New York in the 1980s by leading angry marches. They led to change, but one nearly caused a race riot.

And…

He told us that he used to think about getting in the newspapers. Now older, more comfortable with himself, he’s thinking about history.

Observe how biased journalism works. CBS makes the point over and over and over about Sharpton’s controversial “past.” Not once do they bring up any of the protests from the last ten years.

I’m not a real Sharpton watcher but it didn’t take any effort at all to find the following examples of Sharpton’s recent past. The following clips are from Sharpton’s entry on Wikipedia.

  • Vieques

    In 2001, Sharpton was jailed for 90 days on trespassing charges while protesting against U.S. military target practice exercises in Puerto Rico near a United States Navy bombing site.[56]Sharpton, held in a Puerto Rican lockup for two days and then imprisoned at Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn on May 25, 2001,

  • Sean Bell Protests

    On May 7, 2008, Sharpton led a series of protests in New York City. Hundreds took to the streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn as part of the citywide "slowdown" effort led by Sharpton and his National Action Network. The crowd made its way to the streets stopping the flow of traffic in many vital areas of the city. This led to police action, and the arrest of over 200 people, including Sharpton himself. Sharpton was arrested without incident at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge.

  • Dunbar Village

    On March 11, 2007, Sharpton held a press conference to highlight what he said was unequal treatment of four suspected rapists in a high-profile crime in the Dunbar Village Housing Projects in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspects, who were young black men, were arrested for allegedly raping and beating a black Haitian woman at gunpoint. The crime also involved forcing the woman to perform oral sex on her 12-year-old son.

And that Wikipedia Article doesn’t mention Sharpton’s role in the 2007 / 2008 Jena 6 case.

60 Minutes did a devastating piece on Lance Armstrong last night, too –  a detailed piece of journalism that will probably prove to be the end of Armstrong’s career.

To follow that up with such a clear piece of slanted journalism on Al Sharpton, friend of the Obama administration is telling.

PS — I’d never heard of Dunbar Village before but the details of the case are so offensive that Al Sharpton and the NAACP defending the rapists is really beyond the pale.

Here’s Feminist Cara Kulwicki writing about it…and I suggest you read the link and wonder why 60 Minutes didn’t bring this up.

Do you remember the Dunbar Village rape case? I’m not sure how you could forget; this is the case where a woman was gang raped by 10 men in her own home for over three hours, forced to have sex with her own 12-year-old son and survived an attempt to light both of them on fire. In an update that is a couple of weeks old but I’m just hearing from now via Document the Silence,Al Sharpton and the NAACP are taking to the streets to defend the four arrested rapists. This is despite conclusive DNA evidence and apparent photographic evidence that the rapists took on their cell phones during the attack.

– Lee Stranahan

38 Responses to “60 Minutes Forgets 10 Years Of Rev. Al Sharpton”

  1. Al is racist for not defending the haitian woman and her son.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  2. Let me guess, they didn’t mention Freddy’s Fashion Mart?

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  3. Not important enough I assume.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  4. To say that Al Sharpton is a piece of s*** would be an insult to pieces of s*** everywhere. The man is a race-baiting hater of the first order. He regularly appears on the Ed Schultz show appealing to the FCC to ban Rush Limbaugh. Without a race card to play, the man is NOTHING. Over the years he has not changed one bit. He can’t. He’s a one-trick pony whose one trick — playing “the card” — is pathetic and helps no one.

    Icy Texan (0e63a0)

  5. ___________________________________________

    And that Wikipedia Article doesn’t mention Sharpton’s role in the 2007 / 2008 Jena 6 case.

    But if you look up the definition of “a tiger doesn’t change its spots,” you’ll see a picture of Sharpton. The guy is innately a big-mouth leftist.

    The notion of his becoming a changed person might deserve a bit of benefit of the doubt if his ultra-liberal behavior and thinking were exclusive to his teenage and college years (and, btw, he was born in 1954). Or — and this is really stretching things — perhaps not much past his 30th or even 40th birthday. But when a person like him is still clinging to leftist sentiment and cant well after his youth, something is intrinsically defective there.

    In a similar vein, Obama — well after his years when youthful naivete and foolishness might be understood — sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for 20 years listening to extremist, inflammatory rhetoric. He not only deemed it as non-controversial (per his own description), he even embraced the instigator of that rhetoric.

    Sharpton and Obama managing the controversy of immigration, illegal or otherwise? Is that a bad joke or what? Does it pretty much guarantee that this country’s future is headed down the proverbial crapper?

    Mark (3e3a7c)

  6. Let’s promote hate for a black guy because he is close to Obama.

    Vin (8b3a2d)

  7. Lee, what about his guilty until proven innocent tirades in the Duke Lacross player’s case? He is a purely despicable beast and should be dealt with fairly in the courts. That would mean a few dozen years in prison by now.

    {^_^}

    JD (bcdcf2)

  8. Let’s promote hate for a black guy because he is close to Obama.

    Comment by Vin — 5/23/2011 @ 12:31 am


    “Let’s”? Who is the “us” in “Let’s”?

    As if the likes of you don’t promote hate for black guys who aren’t, such as Allen West, Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele, or — heading up the charts with a bullet — Herman Cain.

    Let me interject at this point that I am a black man.

    L.N. Smithee (693eac)

  9. P.S., Vin: If you knew your history (or cared about doing anything but dropping false allegations of racism in a right-leaning forum like a turd at a pool party), you would know that Paul Shanklin’s “Barack The Magic Negro” song played on Rush Limbaugh’s show was inspired by Sharpton’s and Jesse Jackson’s ambivalence toward Obama, whose widespread acceptance among leftists and the media were nowhere to be found when they ran for President.

    There were bountiful reasons to object to Sharpton’s act long before any of us had even heard of Barack Obama, who was a nobody to everybody east of Chicago before 2004. His proximity to Obama nowadays has nothing to do with an accurate recounting of his career of divisiveness and participation in stoking out-and-out hatred of whites and Jews.

    Nice try.

    L.N. Smithee (693eac)

  10. Vin is yet another of those that has been banned under oodles of names.

    Why do you people only attack blacks?

    JD (d48c3b)

  11. Lee does seem to have a real hard on for black men.

    [This comes under the category of “comments by banned posters that I will publish to remind everyone that it’s a good thing they were banned.” Now back to moderation with you! — P]

    Big Median (066d74)

  12. Jena 6 anyone?

    Hawkins (1fc204)

  13. I must have read something wrong. Did this really say that Sharpton is leading the efforts on immigration reform? Really? If there was ever any doubt that RACISM is their only argument, that should now be laid to rest.

    JD (d48c3b)

  14. The media is simply doing its job: that is to provide aid and comfort to D’s and their allies in the church, government and academia, etc., no matter how despicable or reprehensible their prior acts were. (And conversely to trounce R’s but that is the subject for another day). Do you honestly think given the Liberal group think (Journolist anyone?) that pervades MSM outlets such as CBS and ABC (remember how they have provided several infomercials to BO and his health plan?) that anyone such as an editor or on air personality would go against the grain and actually do an honest job of reporting on Sharpton? They wouldn’t last a week.

    Also this report has the feel of a set piece in the MSM’s campaign to help re-elect BO–portray one of BO’s key adviser’s as a “changed man” so that he is not so scary and gosh isn’t he just like you and me and by proxy isn’t BO just like you and me? It is all BS but this type of report is what we are going to get in the run up to 2012.

    BT (74cbec)

  15. Al Sharpton has a history of race baiting, religious bigotry, slander, extortion, and tax evasion. He’s personally responsible for generating more racial hatred over the last 30 years than the KKK. If he wasn’t an MSM approved and unofficially sanctioned member of our protected and coddled over-class of race hustlers he’d be behind bars where he belongs.

    ropelight (5b57b9)

  16. ropelight,

    What on earth have the nations unfortunate prison inmates done that you would wish Al Shapton on them?

    C. S. P. Schofield (8b1968)

  17. The media forgets-

    Sharpton under oath in the Pagones/Tawana Brawley hoax slander suit (that he lost) has claimed he did not own the suit he wore,nor the bed he slept in, nor the house said bed was located, nor the car he got there in. Every time there is any IRS or NY state tax audit,his National Action Network has a mysterious fire.He was forced to return fedral matching funds for his sham presidential campaign when it came to light that the funds were used so he and his girlfriend could have Arizona spa vacation. Try any of this yourself, and you’ll soon find yourself in a federal “spa” for some time.Sharpton is also well-known in NYC for not paying his bills and is a lawsuit magnet.

    Also, Sharpton, after being caught on tape discussing a drug deal with a made mobster, was for years a paid FBI informant. He was wearing a cowboy hat and an outfit more useful to Gene Autry than a street reverend in Brooklyn. Not sure how he squares that with his “stop snitching” street cred. His FBI file must be quite a read.

    Recall Freddie’s Fashion Mart on 125th Street. Sharpton riled up a crowd against “white interlopers” running a store in a mostly black neighborhood. One nut ball was so incited he burned down the building, killing several people.

    And as to immigration reform, more low-skilled immigrants means that the lower steps of the wage ladder get knocked out. That hurts blacks, who already have higher unemployment rates that the population as a whole.

    One of the best things that could happen to the GOP; Obama keeps this charlatan front and center through 2012.

    Bugg (ea1809)

  18. Oh, come on Mr. Stranahan.

    I watch Law and Order, so I know that black men rarely, if ever, commit rape. Usually they are being framed to cover up a rape by the Klan or David Duke and friends.

    Ripped from the headlines.

    BTW making Sharpton go to guy on immigration ‘reform’* is brilliant, as rank and file blacks like mass immigration even less then middle and working class white folks. For good reason, their neighborhoods are being transformed, their local political power being whittled away, and their wages/jobs being crushed, even faster by mass immigratino than those things are happening to working class whites.

    *(its not reform, it changes nothing about our insane policy or allowing one million plus immigrants in at times of near ten percent unemployment, or selection of immigrants based on family connections — otherwise known as nepotims, but I digress).

    stari_momak (d5f987)

  19. Tawana Brawley.

    End scene. (or should have been, if liberals cared about integrity).

    a.nonny.mous (6fa885)

  20. The Stormfront perspective heard from, thanks to stari_momak.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  21. I base that on a history of Stormfronty comments here by this individual.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  22. Obama pandering to Sharpton given how he ignored him in 2008 must mean he is worried about getting out the black vote in 2012 in spite of his popularity ratings.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  23. Not sure why anyone continues to watch 60 minutes or any of the other “news ” programs such as NBC Dateline. Lie to me once – shame on you – lie to me twice shame on me. (or something like that)

    Date line – Chevy Pick up side mounted gas tanks shown catching on fire from side collisions – yet also shown to have fire ignited prior to actual collision. Dan Rather/Mapes forged documents.

    Now we have Al Sharpton, a repetant choir angel – what planet has 60minutes been on the last ten years.
    How many other fabricated stories can they come up with?

    Joe (5646aa)

  24. People still watch 60 Minutes?

    Frodo (53b00e)

  25. If Obama is reelected, look for Sharpton to become ambassador to Haiti, Somalia, or possibly even Ireland. After all, that’s where Obama’s “people” are from.

    I haven’t watched “60 Minutes” since Clinton was in office. It took me awhile to realize it was being told from their point of view.

    PatAZ (96c670)

  26. Who is Al Sharpton?

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  27. If you really want to feel your blood boil, go to the New York Times website and do a search of the name “Stephen Pagones” for the entire history of the paper. Read the account of Sharpton and his fellow “advisors” to the Brawley family’s brazenly false allegations against Pagones, the person who revealed the conspiracy against Pagones and other falsely accused law enforcement officials, the against-the-wind defamation lawsuit and the courtroom tirades of now-disgraced attorneys C. Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox, and the fact that the only money that Sharpton ever paid Pagones after winning the suit after a YEAR in court was $15,000 he was able to garnish — the remainder was paid by rich black businessmen, including media mogul Percy Sutton and O.J. Simpson/Michael Jackson attorney Johnnie Cochran. Do all of that research, and then tell me such a man has any business being within sniffing distance of the Oval Office.

    Re the Stahl story: Nice to see that everybody who works at The Daily Beast isn’t in need of a brain transplant.

    L.N. Smithee (5a50cc)

  28. Damn, Big Median is a real piece of trash!

    Al Sharpton being black only matters to Sharpton and those who want us to think about something other than his character.

    His behavior has harmed a lot of people quite badly, and Al did that for personal benefit. He’s a monstrous guy. If someone defends him assuming racist on the part of his critics, that’s just pathetic, and this defender loses 100% of their credibility.

    Dustin (c16eca)

  29. The left have a problem with raising property taxes?

    I’am not fooled by the anti-chris christie ads.

    Back on topic Al Sharpton should be tarred and feathered.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  30. Let me guess, they didn’t mention Freddy’s Fashion Mart?

    Okay, Let me start off by saying for the record, that Sharpton has behaved like an grade A, number one, A=Hole in almost all of his actions over the last 20 years. He was – and is – a race hustling buffoon. That being said possibly the only thing in his life he isn’t guilty of is the Freddy’s Fashion Mart tragedy. What took place there were the actions of a madman. And no one can be responsible for what goes on inside a madman’s mind.

    Okay, so much for my defense of probably the only thing Sharpton has been accused of, that he isn’t guilty of. Now, I think I’ll go take a shower.

    Mike Giles (a0a8cc)

  31. Nice try but he inflamed the tension with his anti-jew bigotry.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  32. stari moron, big median and Vin … what a trifecta of offensively stupid trolls.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  33. I grumble some when I see news shows, but I don’t usually go into Full Rant mode. After the first few minutes of the the Sharpton whitewash (heh), I couldn’t help it… is there any c**k from the Democrat party that Ms Stahl won’t s**k?

    …sorry about that…

    If “they” can rehabilitate Sharpton’s rep, wait until you see what they’ll try with The One.

    jdm (2dcb0b)

  34. But if you look up the definition of “a tiger doesn’t change its spots,” you’ll see a picture of Sharpton.

    1. Leopard. Tigers haven’t got spots. 2. What’s the second half of that quote?

    Milhouse (9ef3cc)

  35. When I say that I wouldn’t piss on Al Sharpton if he were on fire, I am not engaging in hyperbole. I’m deadly serious. I’d piss on Jesse Jackson if he were on fire. I’d piss on Barack Obama if he were on fire. If Bill Ayers were on fire I’d probably walk past and pretend I hadn’t noticed, and maybe feel a bit bad about it later. But if Sharpton were on fire I’d shout “karma’s a bitch, ain’t she?”.

    Milhouse (9ef3cc)

  36. stari_momak’s #18 is EXTREMELY ironic, coming as it does on the heels of his taking offense at my suggestion that he harbors KKK sympathies.

    Icy Texan (b7f42a)

  37. In other news, Vin and Big Median are still big piles of s***

    Icy Texan (b7f42a)

  38. And the Twana Brawley hoax.

    Federale (325bd5)


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