Al Sharpton

As NewsBusters’s own Brent Baker pointed out, Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News Wednesday night called Mitt Romney’s pledge to reduce unemployment to 6 percent "unrealistic."  But apparently Brian didn't get the MSNBC spin memo, as three of his colleagues agreed that 6% unemployment is actually inevitable, and scolded Romney for making such a wimpy prediction.  

During his 6:00 show PoliticsNation on Wednesday May 23, Al Sharpton said that, “according to the Congressional Budget Office, we’re on our way to a 6.3% unemployment economy anyway whether Romney gets us there or not.”  [Video embedded below page break;  MP3 audio here.] 

Why not just call Romney a racist and be done with it? In the most tortured twist of logic this blogger has seen so far during this campaign, Al Sharpton somehow managed to equate Mitt Romney's refusal to roll over and accept Barack Obama's attacks on Bain Capital with, yes, birtherism.

I know what you're thinking: what the . . . heck?  Don't ask me to explain how or why Sharpton came to his nonsensical suggestion.  Just sit back and watch the Reverend Al at work.  It was too much even for liberal Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank.  View the video after the jump.

More is the pity that he actually believes it.

Reputed man of the cloth and race-baiter nonpareil Al Sharpton has shown once again how he's the least credible person in media, claiming that a voter registration drive he'll oversee will be "non-partisan." (audio clip after page break)

As much as Obama supporters like the Rev. Al Sharpton take exception to the haters who use the president's full name -- "Barack Hussein Obama," most recently disdained in the Ricketts super PAC memo revealed by the New York Times -- what about liberals who make fun of the name "Willard Mitt Romney"?

No one is fonder of that playground ridicule that Rev. Sharpton, who loves referring to Romney as "Willard" on his MSNBC talk show "Politics Nation." In fact, an MRC analysis of the last 25 Sharpton shows -- from April 16 through May 18 -- found Sharpton tossed the name "Willard" 194 times, or almost eight times a show. Friday's program contained 16 "Willards."

Via the Radio Equalizer blog: On his radio show Tuesday, MSNBC personality Rev. Al Sharpton mocked black ministers who have decided not to vote for Obama because he's ready to legalize gay marriage in a second term. Ever the Obama loyalist, Sharpton found it more objectionable that black ministers prayed for Bill Clinton after his adultery (and perjury) were exposed -- slobbering and rolling around on the floor, he said of them -- than they would not vote for Obama.

Sharpton can't see that someone might find a greater moral problem in installing "marriage equality" across America than in a president's semi-private sexual incontinence, which is not a legislative issue. Apparently, Sharpton can only see that it's his job to pressure black ministers to toe the line, no matter how far it strays from Christianity (audio below):

On his "PoliticsNation" show last night, the Rev. Al Sharpton was indignant -- then again, when is he not? -- that Mitt Romney did not immediately reject a statement by a woman at a rally in Ohio that President Obama should be "tried for treason."

Romney answered the woman's question about restoring balance between the three branches of government but ignored her remark about Obama as treasonous. Approached by a reporter after the rally and asked if he agreed with the woman, Romney said "I obviously don't agree he should be tried." (video and audio clips after page break)

Al Sharpton benefits more than most radio hosts by having listeners call his show. It lets Sharpton come across as sane by comparison.

The other day, for example, Sharpton wasted little time dismissing the latest bizarre conspiracy theory making the rounds (audio clip after page break) --

In a much-ballyhooed exchange with GOP consultant Alex Castellanos on "Meet the Press," Rachel Maddow parroted the liberal trope that women receive 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in America.

Castellanos added sorely needed nuance to the conversation, as liberals are so fond of doing, pointing out that men work longer hours and in higher paying jobs and women want more flexibility in the workplace, thus skewing the overall numbers. (video after page break)

Geraldo Rivera on Friday accused MSNBC anchors of not caring at all about the evidence concerning the shooting of Trayvon Martin and instead "cheerleading for the conviction of George Zimmerman."

Appearing on Fox New's The O'Reilly Factor, Rivera specifically pointed his finger at Martin Bashir, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Al Sharpton, and Ed Schultz (video follows with transcript and commentary:

In the wake of the Peacock network's truly irresponsible coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting, media analyst Bernie Goldberg on Monday called for NBC to cut its relationship with MSNBC.

"NBC News is making a big mistake by keeping this relationship going," Goldberg told Fox News's Bill O'Reilly. "It is doing nothing for their credibility" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary, relevant section at 1:45):

In the wake of the press's nonstop hyperventilating regarding the Trayvon Martin issue, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly appropriately asked Friday, "Is the media now inciting racial violence?"

In his opening Talking Points Memo, O'Reilly also pointed a finger at Al Sharpton and Roland Martin saying, "MSNBC and CNN to some extent have a vested interest in seeing Zimmerman punished because they've already found him guilty on the air" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Reacting angrily to selective editing by NBC that suggested racial animus by George Zimmerman, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell complained to Fox News's Sean Hannity last night that NBC News was engaged in an "all-out falsehood." The story in question was a March 27 Ron Allen report on NBC's 'Today' in which 911 audio was edited to make it sound like George Zimmerman said "he looks black" immediately after saying "this guy looks like he's up to no good."

In the actual 911 audio, Zimmerman only described Martin's race after the dispatcher asked, "And this guy: is he white, black, or Hispanic?" "To edit that out is so distorting," Hannity complained. "Sean, it's not distorting, it's advancing a falsehood, it's worse," Bozell corrected the Fox News anchor. [see video below page break]

After years of denying he was trying to pursue a hard-left audience, MSNBC president Phil Griffin is now shamelessly trying to justify his actions in continuing to employ infamous race-baiter and tax cheat Al Sharpton, host of the cable network's Politics Daily program. The latest controversy for Sharpton involves his dual involvement in covering the case of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin on television while at the same time, away from the anchor desk, acting as a belligerent advocate of arresting Martin's killer, George Zimmerman.

Sharpton's conflict of interest, which he barely bothers to disclose to viewers, doesn't bother Griffin; he proudly told AP television reporter David Bauder that he "didn't hire Al to become a neutered kind of news presenter."

CNN's Howard Kurtz was astonished that MSNBC has allowed Al Sharpton to be both an activist and a news anchor in covering the Trayvon Martin shooting. Near the beginning of his 11 a.m. Sunday show Reliable Sources, Kurtz maintained that Sharpton should have had to choose between activism and journalism in that case.

Kurtz asked "how on earth can Al Sharpton go there, and be an activist and stand with the parents and he asked people to contribute money and he went to the Justice Department with the parents of Trayvon Martin....And then he does his show and then he speaks at the rally again?" [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Editor's Note: What follows is a letter sent by Mr. Bozell to Comcast Chairman Brian L. Roberts earlier today.

Dear Mr. Roberts,

By now, you are well aware of the Media Research Center’s (MRC) concerns with MSNBC.  Last week, I wrote letters to both you and Mr. Griffin asking for Ed Schultz’s termination because of highly controversial and deplorable comments he routinely makes about women and conservatives. Yesterday, I posted an open letter to Mr. Griffin about equally controversial and appalling comments made by Al Sharpton; comments that are blatantly racist and xenophobic, and which in one instance led to the death of an innocent bystander.

Because of these well documented instances of unacceptable comments made by both Sharpton and Schultz, I have called for their termination.  I have also called for Mr. Griffin to resign as president of MSNBC.  In my March 15 letter I called on you to clean house at MSNBC.

Editor's Note: What follows is a letter that NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell sent to MSNBC President Phil Griffin early today.

Dear Mr. Griffin,

Last week, in my open letter to you I called for Ed Schultz’s termination.  I also called for you to resign as President of MSNBC because you hired Ed Schultz.  Today, I have yet another reason you should step down - one which some might argue is even more compelling than Schultz. His name is Al Sharpton.

Happen to notice if a state senator named Obama was there too ...?

Freshly-minted MSNBC weekend host and purported Tulane academic Melissa Harris-Perry revealed on Al Sharpton's radio show Tuesday that she was in the audience at Trinity United Church of Christ for Rev. Jeremiah Wright's incendiary sermon on the Sunday after the 9/11 attacks. (audio clip after page break)

On Tuesday's The Ed Show on MSNBC, when host Ed Schultz opined that it would be "the strangest thing" if poor voters in Mississippi were to vote for the wealthiest candidate - Mitt Romney - MSNBC's Al Sharpton asserted that such voters would have to be motivated by "hate and bias" to make such a choice which he suggested "defies all reason." Sharpton:

Did MSNBC ever vet Al Sharpton? Seriously. Much of the talk about HBO's Game Change docu-drama is focusing on the vetting of Sarah Palin or lack thereof by the McCain campaign. Is there any minimum standard of knowledge required to have one's own show on the Lean Forward network?

Take Sharpton's mind-boggling misstatement on Morning Joe today.  The Reverend Al asserted that in Alabama, "it's against the law to organize unions."  Did any of the MJ crew, including Joe Scarborough, Gene Robinson and Steve Rattner, call Al out on his misrepresentation?  Of course not.  View the video after the jump.

Joining a daylong drumbeat of hourly segments to hype colleague Al Sharpton's latest project, MSNBC's Martin Bashir pushed on viewers of his 3 p.m. program today that Republicans are trying to suppress if not downright disenfranchise minority voters across the nation.

Bashir opened up the Sharpton "interview" by rhetorically asking if “there is a deliberate attempt at voter suppression being undertaken by the right today?”  To no surprise, Sharpton knocked the softball over the far-left field fence. Sharpton claimed that with less than one percent of prosecutions on voter fraud in the last decade, "one has to conclude it's a deliberate attempt to try and suppress our votes in particularly minority communities that are disproportionately impacted, seniors and students."  [See video below.  MP3 audio here.]

On Saturday, NBC's Today actually had the nerve to give left-wing activist and MSNBC host Al Sharpton a platform to condemn Rush Limbaugh, with co-host Amy Robach wondering: "...is this something the Republican Party needs to deal with right now?"

Sharpton mounted his high horse as he proclaimed: "They're going to have to deal with it, one, because they have really made Rush Limbaugh such a great part of the conservative movement....you can't have him as a major spokesman in your movement and then he says something as offensive and misogynist as this and you act like he's just an entertainer." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

As Noel Sheppard noted, MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday hyperventilated about a joke made by a Rick Santorum donor, frothing that "big money" Foster Friess and his candidate must be from the "Cro-Magnon" era. The Hardball host was only one of several liberal MSNBC hosts to go after Mr. Friess.

On Politics Nation, Al Sharpton offered typical outrage: "Now, This is not just a backer. This is a big money backer....Can you imagine the arrogance of saying that?"  Ed Schultz ominously tagged him as Santorum's "money man" and then segued into a discussion of the "GOP war on women's health." Matthews incorrectly referred to the donor as "a major spokesman" for Santorum, and said of the former senator: "I mean, you're talking about a guy from the Cro-Magnon era, in terms of politics."[See video below. MP3 audio here.]

In the wake of the controversy surrounding the Obama administration's edict on contraceptives, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting some press member claiming Republican views on such matters are extreme.

Countering this nonsense Wednesday was MSNBC's Joe Scarborough who on the show bearing his name correctly stated, "America is much more conservative" when it comes to social issues than the media think (video follows with transcript and commentary):

UPDATE AT END OF POST: The Confederacy's Jefferson Davis railed against "the tyranny of the majority" wanting to end slavery.

Al Sharpton on Friday said something that every American on both sides of the aisle should totally fear.

"You cannot have rights voted on," the MSNBC anchor actually said on HBO's Real Time. "You have tyranny by the majority" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

With the number of numbskulls on the airwaves today, I'm not sure I'd called MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell the dumbest man on television.

But that's how real estate tycoon Donald Trump referred to the "Last Word" host on Twitter Thursday also calling him the "poor man's Ed Schultz...and Al Sharpton":

In other news, Al Sharpton rejected criticism that he makes his living as a race-baiting grievance-monger. Suffice it to say, uncomfortable truths do not sit well with this man.

Responding to Mitt Romney saying he's "not concerned about the very poor" because of the decades-old government safety net, Sharpton swung into action on his radio show with a claim that is delusional even by Sharpton's expansive standards (audio clip after page break) --