Stupid Remark, Stupid Reaction By Richard Cohen
Thursday, November 6, 2003; Page A33
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Sharpton is to the debates what the clown is to the rodeo. He is the genuine wit up there on the stage, and his gifts -- language and timing -- have landed him a spot as a guest host on "Saturday Night Live." It's hard to imagine Wes Clark in a similar role.
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For some people, the Confederate flag is a loathsome symbol. But we all know what Dean meant. And we know Dean is not a racist. Contrast what he said with what Ronald Reagan said and did in 1980, when he began his campaign with a homage to states' rights at the Neshoba County Fair -- in the very Mississippi county where in 1964 three civil rights workers were murdered.
Reagan took much grief for that -- and well he should have. It mattered greatly that he was the standard-bearer of a party that was following the "Southern strategy," a thinly disguised appeal to white bigotry.
Dean is in another category altogether, but you would not know it from the way he was treated by fellow Democratic presidential candidates Tuesday in Boston. Sharpton was the most indignant, demanding that Dean "apologize." This was an odd word for Sharpton to utter, because that's precisely what he refused to do after falsely accusing Steven Pagones in 1988 of raping the infamous Tawana Brawley. Had Dean been faster on his feet, he might have turned to Sharpton and said, "You first."
It's hard -- nay, impossible -- to meet Sharpton and not like him. He is personable and, in a way, scary smart. But he does not belong on the platform with the other candidates, because he is not trying to unseat George W. Bush as president but Jesse Jackson as the titular leader of black America. In fact, it was probably the recent endorsement of Dean by Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. that set Sharpton off. Sharpton accused Dean of promoting "an anti-black agenda," a far worse slur than anything Dean said about the Confederate flag.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6689-2003Nov5.htmldisclosure: I'm a Deaniac & am in agreement with the opinion expressed in this editorial.