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The strange rise of a hatemonger - the growing power of Al Sharpton in NewYork City politics
National Review, March 20, 2000 by Jay Nordlinger
And yet, much of the world is disposed to cut Sharpton miles of slack. With his charm and wit, he is seductive to many, even melting. Every reporter has a personal archive of hilarious and endearing morsels from The Rev's lips. What can they matter, though, in the face of the tremendous harm he has done? Last year, after another American delegation to Havana, Rep.
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Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, said, "For the life of me, I just don't know how Castro can seem cute after forty years of torturing people." Sharpton, to be sure, is not Castro; but he has a lot to answer for. Eric Fettmann, an editorial writer and columnist for the New York Post, finds Sharpton anything but cute. He is a kind of one-man truth-and-memory squad against Sharpton. The Rev's greatest hoax, he argues, is not Tawana Brawley, but the New Sharpton. The Rev has, in fact, sued the Post, for damaging his reputation and inhibiting his fund-raising. The paper-delighted not least by the prospect of a legal proceeding that would open Sharpton's (dubious) books-editorialized, "Bring It On, Rev. Al."A tragic aspect of Sharpton is that, given his talents, he could be a force for good. When the verdict in last month's Amadou Diallo trial came down, going against Sharpton and his protesters, he said, "Let not one brick be thrown." This was probably the most statesmanlike utterance of his career. But if Sharpton has shed Saul for Paul, he has provided scant evidence of it. Seldom does he resist the demagogic, the hatemongering, temptation. He is, for the most part, proudly unrepentant. And, oh, how he hates any cold-eyed look at his life and times. "They always try to scandalize you," he has complained (echoing an old spiritual). But "they," sadly, do not try to scandalize him enough. Perhaps even worse, they do nothing to scandalize those top Democrats who have bent to Sharpton's feet, raising him higher than ever.
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