I find Al Sharpton's attacks on Dean very sad

[dkf]

I have been personally moved by Gov. Dean's comments on race and his vision that black people, white people and brown people can work together to achieve common goals that will benefit all of us.

I feel that Al Sharpton's attacks are meant to create resentment between blacks and whites which would destroy this hope that together we can work to improve each others lives because we care for each other as human beings.

I don't understand why the people at DU would like to foster this resentment. What is the purpose?

Gov. Dean helped save the lives of poor black and Puerto Rican kids in the Bronx. He has treated their gun shot wounds and tended to underage pregnancies, their hurts and their ills.

How can you say that he has no understanding of minorities? All you need to understand is that we are all humans who feel pain when we are hurt. We all need the same things...a safe place to grow up in, parents who love us, a sense that if we work hard we can achieve anything and real opportunity to attain these goals.

Gov Dean doesn't talk a lot about himself so I think we have only a glimpse of the experiences he has been through which have made an impact on his life.

To judge him in the light that so many have been doing is an injustice.

[Printer70]

1. Sharpton is simply saying- don't take the black vote for granted

And let's admit it, we have. We haven't made progress on affirmative action, reparations, profiling, etc. We just expect them to turn out and they usually do. How much longer that will last is anyone's guess. The key is for our actions to match our words. I thought it was a good step for Dean to solicit Sharpton's advice after the debate.

[dkf]

15. Frankly, I don't think that is what Sharpton is saying to Dean.

That is what Sharpton has been saying to the party, not Dean.

Dean has said that African Americans are no longer willing to take a politicians word for anything, including Black politicians. Now they say "show me".

[Printer70]

31. Show me

is what Sharpton is saying to Dean. Dean has talked about racial relations but could have done more as governor. It's about words and actions. Dean had an uphill challenge given Vermont's demographics, but I think the point Sharpton is making that Democrats talk a lot about race and do less is relevant today.

[GephardtClark]

2. I think Dean talks the talk but has never walked the walk.

Which everyone now knows is his style.

Jesus, even Liebermen marched for civil rights. Where was Dean?

[Brian_Expat]

4. Dean wore a bulletproof vest for MY civil rights while Gep opposed them

Or don't those "count" in your book?

[GephardtClark]

6. So you're calling Gephardt a racist now?

And just when did Dean wear a bulletproof vest? Did you ever consider that Dean might be a delusional paranoiac?

[Brian_Expat]

8. Gephardt consistently voted against the civil rights of gay people

Dean campaigned for government equality in recognizing gay couples in Vermont and donned a bulletproof vest to do so after receiving death threats against his kids, wife and himself for supporting the bill.

But, as usual, some will try to argue that gay people and their civil rights struggle is of no consequence and will try to tear down those who stand against "the last acceptable prejudice."

[JohnKleeb]

26. Funny you say that about Gep

2001-2002 Based on the votes, and co-sponsorships the Human Rights Campaign considered to be the most important in 2001-2002, Representative Gephardt voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time..
http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=H2180103#Civil+Rights
He may not have signed a civil unions bill in to law but hten again he was never governor. However Dick Gephardt is no enemy of the gay community. I think Dean has done more for gays than Dick has, but what you say about Gephardt is false, he is no anti gay rights person. I personally think Gephardt handled the matter of his lesbian daughter with a lot of class unlike Dick Cheney, he embraces her and respects her. I agree Gephardt doesnt come near what Dean has done for gays, but he does support gay rights, just as Dean supports labor rights but Gephardt has done more for unions. I am not attacking you, I am just saying, that if you think Gephardt has been trying to deny gay people civil rights especially in recent years, youre wrong, anti gay people dont get 100's from the human rights campaign.

[DemBones DemBones]

36. But, John, what has Dean done for gays? He signed a bill.

MAYBE he campaigned for it, but MAYBE it's like others say: he just went around the state trying to save his own political butt because he signed an unpopular bill. He barely won re-election afterwards.

And if he believes in state's rights, maybe this should have been on the ballot, rather than a legislative-executive fiat? I think the courts are trying to rush gay marriage into law entirely too quickly and the blowback will be against gay people, not against the courts. Lots of people are willing to accept a lot of protections for gay people but same-sex marriage is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. Dean himself, despite being lionized by gays, has said he is uncomfortable about gay marriage and totally dodged Larry King's questions on it.

Kucinich is the one who's out there saying he'd take action on a federal level in support of gay marriage -- all the other candidates just talk about civil unions, unless someone's changed on this position and I just haven't heard it.
I think he'd get out there and convince a lot of people he was right about this, too, because he hasn't waffled about it.

[JohnKleeb]

42. I know Dean is quite uncomfortable with the idea of gay marriage

In fact I may have heard, he opposes even a federal civil unions bill. My point is that Dean has done much for gays but so has Gephardt, Gephardt isnt the dem party's leading spokesman on gay rights but he is on labor, but he is for gay rights.

[KaraokeKarlton]

108. How dare you?

Unless you were here in Vermont during that battle you have NO right to say such hateful things about my governor! He made his entire campaign about tolerance, dignity and equality. He was spit on, called disgusting names, threatened, his property was vandalized and so on. He stood firm, strong and spoke out strongly for homosexuals.

Shame on you.

[Rhiannon12866]

59. Considering that Gephardt's own daughter is gay

and that she has campaigned for her father, I just cannot understand how you can say this. Dean may have signed legislation. For Dick Gephardt, it is personal, as is universal health care.

[slinkerwink]

11. um, Dean got death threats when he was gov for signing the civil unions

bill, and that's why he had to wear a kevlar vest.

[GephardtClark]

21. You said civil rights

[slinkerwink]

27. gay rights *are* civil rights

get that?

[GephardtClark]

34. No I don't and I won't.

[cprise]

39. Uh-huh

What's next, the 'homosexuality is a choice' defense?

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slinkerwink]

52. are you likening homosexuality to bestiality?

gee............*puke*

[JVS]

60. That is uncalled for!

[slinkerwink]

50. one word: homophobia.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slinkerwink]

54. I'm queer and your statement is very offensive

[Name removed]

65. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slinkerwink]

68. I take offense to being called "sweetie"

and, gay rights are the rights what straight couples have---tax benefits, raising kids together, and having civil unions. That's what we don't have, and what we seek in gay rights. It enfranchises more than 50 million gays in this country.

[Name removed]

69. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slinkerwink]

72. one out of every nine americans are gay

and gay people prize monogamy as much as straight people. I plan to get married to the right woman someday, raise children with her, and grow old in an old house somewhere by the beach with her right beside me.

[Name removed]

73. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slinkerwink]

75. in vermont, and massachussetts, we do have the right to get

civil unions. I believe Vermont and Massachussetts are a part of the United States.

[Name removed]

76. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slinkerwink]

79. Yes, I will be married to a woman and raise children with her

because I have the right to a monogamous relationship. How is a homosexual monogamous relationship likened to heterosexual polygamy? I just don't get it.

[brainshrub]

102. Heck, marry 20 wives for all I care.

Your funeral.

[Indiana Democrat]

113. 17% of the population are Gay?

Well...Now I know how do take anything else you say...With a HUGE grain of anti-exaggeration salt.

[corporatewhore]

74. one word bigot

[Name removed]

77. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slinkerwink]

80. look how brave you are from behind your keyboard, attacking

gays and lesbians in a democratic forum. Sir, you are no democrat.

[JVS]

92. bye bye

[KaraokeKarlton]

109. That's a disgusting attitude to have

and it's NOT the attitude of any Democrat or Progressive minded person I know.

So you're saying homosexuals don't deserve equal rights and protections under the law? Is that what you're saying, because that's sure what it sounds like to me.

Sorry, but "civil" doesn't mean "racial"...civil rights are for everyone.

[wtmusic]

19. A delusional paranoiac?

Are you working for the Gephardt campaign in a mad panic to boost Gep's numbers in IA, or did you just show up tonight to grace us with unsupported ramblings? :eyes:

[KaraokeKarlton]

107. He wore one after signing Civil Unions

and he went through pure hell in order to give homosexuals equal rights. Apparently that doesn't count. Funny thing is, homosexuals are LESS equal than racial minorities because Vermont is the ONLY place that allows them partnership rights under the law.

[corporatewhore]

18. and gephardt stood up for my relatives in mexico whose lives are being

destroyed by NAFTA while dean praised it or dont they count..
It can go on and on

[dkf]

23. Coincidentally enough I saw this article up at Drudge.

I wouldn't have posted it, but since you mentioned the subject and talked about Lieberman marching for civil rights AND since you support Gephardt:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,108068,00.html

Gephardt Admits Mistake on Race Issues in '70s

Sunday, January 11, 2004
By Carl Cameron
Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dick Gephardt (search) told Fox News on Sunday that it was a mistake to have attended a picnic in 1980 sponsored by a white rights group with loose ties to the Ku Klux Klan (search) but that he did not know their true politics.

In 1971 when Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., was a conservative pro-life Democratic alderman from St. Louis he was a leader in the fight against busing to integrate St. Louis schools. Throughout the early '70s public records and published reports obtained by Fox News indicate that Gephardt also opposed a low-income minority housing development in downtown St. Louis and several other initiatives designed to advance minority issues.

In 1980 Gephardt attended a picnic of the "Metro-South Citizens Council" -- an organization that described its agenda at the time as "white rights."

The organization was initially called the "White Citizens Council" and was created in the 1960s throughout the South to oppose integration. They were known to be anti-black and anti-Semitic but non-violent. Democrats and Republicans alike have been vilified over the years for attending events by the Citizens Council -- which many say was formed by former members of the Ku Klux Klan.

[Name removed]

67. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lib 4 all]

101. is this true?

:wow:

[KaraokeKarlton]

106. He was tutoring poor black kids

while he was a student at Yale. Dean has always been a "doer" not simply someone who tells others to do something. Yeah, he could have protested or what not. But he's the type of person who would rather DO something to make a difference than just talk about it.

One of Dean's cabinet members was Asian. Rural Vermont just isn't all that attractive to blacks and hispanics. That's not Dean's fault. If there had of been a black or hispanic person he knew of that was qualified and interested in leaving their job for a 2 year cabinet position, I'm sure Dean would have hired them.

[Rowdyboy]

3. So Sharpton should shut up? Go sit on the back of the bus?

Dean's spent his working life in a "vanilla paradise" (thats how we in the south refer to all white neighborhoods). He really has no idea of what minorities deal with and his appointive record bears that out.

[Brian_Expat]

5. You can say exactly the same thing about Clark. n/t

[tameszu]

7. What are you talking about? Do you know the racial makeup of

the U.S. military? It has a far higher proportion of African Americans than the rest of the country.

[Brian_Expat]

10. Clark isn't the military, just a senior ranking person in the military

And rather few of those African Americans make it to Clark's level, certainly fewer than the proportions would represent.

But don't let me stop you from deifying him and villifying Dean (the only one of the two who fought a hard campaign against the right wing for the civil rights of others).

[incapsulated]

25. How the hell do you think he got there?

He worked his way up to that "senior rank" after an entire career in the military.

Not all of us are born to our position.

[Rowdyboy]

28. Bullshit

You obviously know very little about todays military. It is the one place where black men and women can advance according to their abilities with very little chance of white bigotry entering the picture.

And just when did Dean fight for civil rights? I must have missed that week.

[KaraokeKarlton]

110. Civil Unions

Dean has been a champion of gay rights. Or are you of the same mind of Mr. GephardtClark and think gays don't count and don't need civil rights?

[TeacherCreature]

115. bullshit yourself

The military is still a racist organization and a sexist one too. Yes I know they try harder than they used to because they have to. Democrats forced those laws into place.

[La_Serpiente]

89. What the #@!#

Clark filed an amicus brief in the Affirmative Action case last year in Lee vs. Bollinger supporting Affirmative Action. I would view him as a strong proponent of Affirmative Action.

[JVS]

22. I'd love to know the racial makeup of West Point back in Clark's day.

[incapsulated]

30. Right

And that would be Clark's fault, somehow. I'm sure a kid from a modest background in Arkansas never saw a black person in his life.

[JVS]

56. We were talking about the military as an institution with large minority..

presence.

Someone claimed that Clark's military experience put him in contact with minorities because there were many minorities in the military.
The thing is, The part of the military Clark came into wasn't the part with that presence.

Clark's Arkansas upbringing is not germane to the point being discussed.

[incapsulated]

63. "The part of the military Clark came into"

What part is that? Do you think he spent his career at West Point?

[JVS]

66. West point is a fast track to the best careers in the military.

Do you think that Clark started out as a private?

[incapsulated]

70. And?

He started out in Vietnam, and then went on to a 34 year career in the military. Unless you think that all blacks are privates, and you can somehow spend that much time in the service without working with and for people of color?

There is no doubt it get's whiter at the top, but, unless your an athlete or a rap star, that's pretty much the case in every profession, isn't it?

[QC]

78. Was he the Admissions Director?

[JVS]

82. No, but it doesn't fit in well with the claim that...

A military career has implies close work with minorities in a setting where the minorities are in an equal or superior position of power. Here look at these two links.

http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Clark
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Military_Academy

1962 Goes to West point
1966 Graduates first in his class from US Military Academy at West Point
1966-1968 Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics
1969-1970 Commander of a mechanized infantry company in combat in Vietnam wounded four times receiving Purple Heart and Silver Star
1971-1974 Instructor and Assistant Professor of Social Science at West Point.
1975-6 White House Fellow, Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
1994-6 Director of the Pentagon's Strategic Plans and Policy operation, responsible to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for world-wide politico-military affairs and U.S. military strategic planning. Led the military negotiations for the Bosnian Peace Accords at Dayton.
1996-7 Commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command, Panama, controlling all U.S. forces & most U.S. military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.
1997-2000 Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (SACEUR), and Commander-in-Chief for the United States European Command (CINCEUR).
June 2000 Retires from military service


If anything this is indicative that Clark's professional relations with minorities consisted mainly of issuing orders, not taking orders.

[incapsulated]

84. And I'm sure he did that with great relish...

Being the racist bastard he is!

"Even though he was the commanding general, you were never made to feel "less than," regardless of your rank, your gender or your race. General Clark was very supportive of women. He did not place barriers, which is different than most assignments. You get there, 'Oh my god, it's a woman, it's a minority.' General Clark was just the opposite. He got on the phone with Washington and said, "Why don't I have minority officers in my division? Why are they not being given the opportunity?"

[JVS]

87. Yes, go ahead. Invent an attack out of thin air and then be the winner

Do you even follow the discussion?

[incapsulated]

93. What, exactly IS the point of this "discussion"?

I would like to know?

Sharpton went at Dean on race in the debate, which naturally leads to... "discussing" whether Clark ordered black folks around in the military. Or if he even knew any.

C'mon.

[JVS]

94. This is a sub thread based from #7

Read and understand

[incapsulated]

85. And for the record

I never said, or even implied, that Dean was racist. I'm defending Clark against that smear.

[JVS]

88. I never said Clark was racist either. I was responding to a post that...

claimed military means diversity. That is not necessarily the case, especially when in the higher echelons of the military of the 1960's and 70's

[DemBones DemBones]

83. Snarf! Maybe he was the Social Director?

He's almost certainly worked with more blacks and Latinos than any other white candidate. And when you grow up in the South, even in Jim Crow days, you know blacks all your life, even if you don't sit in classes with them. Dean evidently didn't know any blacks so he asked Yale to give him black roommates. I find that very strange, as if he wanted to study them. I made some black friends in college, just like I made white friends in college, by getting to know people.

[QC]

91. I think he was in charge of planning the annual Ice Cream Social. n/t

[slinkerwink]

13. look, you know he does know what minorities deal with

and Dean worked on a farm in Florida with Cuban migrant workers, worked in the Emergency room in the Bronx which is chockfull of minorities there, and he had black roommates at Yale which opened his mind to the problems of race.

[Brian_Expat]

16. Dean worked with and helped heal diverse people. . .

. . . Clark, on the other hand, barked out orders to them.

[slinkerwink]

32. precisely.

[_Jumper_]

49. He also took orders from minorities

Racists usually crumble when they have to work under someone of another race.;)

[incapsulated]

40. Please continue..

To smear Clark as some sort of a racist to defend Dean, it makes you look more foolish each time.

[_Jumper_]

47. Response

If treating minorities meant you were better on racial issues then Bill Frist would be Martin Luther King.

[slinkerwink]

58. let's remember Bill Frist killed cats and Dean has a three-legged cat

that could've been put down for having cancer in its back rear leg, but Dean wanted to save the cat, and had the leg amputated instead.

[_Jumper_]

96. I'm not defending Dean

I just don't think a doctor treating people of a different "race" for large sums of money proves that they are not racist.

[Name removed]

71. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[retyred]

103. You know nothing of what Clark did as commander

Instead of throwing out absurd accusations it would do you a bit of good to educate yourself on matters you know nothing about, a good starting point might be in downloading "American Son" from his campaign website and seeing what it is that people who served under him have to say about how he "barked out orders to them." http://clark04.com/americanson/ You might want to pay real close attention to what a black female officer serving under Clark has to say about what he did to further the diversity of men and women under his command. Then we'll talk.


retyred in fla
“Good-Night Paul, Wherever You Are”
So I read this book

[Maddy McCall]

37. And then he moved to White Vermont. What does THAT tell you?

[dkf]

41. It amazes me how many people hate Vermont. What's up with that?

Fascinating.

[incapsulated]

48. I don't hate Vermont

I've visted the state several times. Very green and pleasant.

It's also one of those States that are so white, that if you aren't, like me, you start to feel like you're in some sort of otherworld, and you're the thing that "doesn't belong".

I'm not blaming Dean for that, but it's his State, and his environment. He has never had to govern a diverse population, with all it's inherant difficulties, and it is a shortcoming that will show itself in nights like tonight. I mean, what can he say to Sharpton, "there aren't really any black people in my State"? Who want's to draw attention to that?

[KaraokeKarlton]

116. Were you welcomed to Vermont by the people here?

Or were you mistreated in any way? Were you ever discriminated against?

I suspect you felt out of place because it's highly unlikely you faced any of the typical passive racism that can be found in most places.

[KaraokeKarlton]

114. Strange, isn't it?

My state elects politicians like Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders and Jim Jeffords, who are always getting rave reviews on this site. Vermonters know a great politician when we see them, and we keep electing them, just like we did Dean. Yet our state is "insignificant". We should elect the worst right wing assholes we can find and really give them something to bitch about Vermont over. This is really pathetic, isn't it? Anything to try to lampoon Dean is appropriate, but pose the same kind of questions about their candidates and you'd think you stole their damn birthday or something!

:eyes:

[JVS]

43. He likes to ski?

:shrug:

[KaraokeKarlton]

112. Vermont really needed doctors

Rural states usually do. I guess my kids aren't allowed to have any doctors come to Vermont now?

:eyes:

[Skip Intro]

14. I'm from the south, and I don't use that term

"vanilla's paradise" - ?

Born and raised in SC, and I've never heard that term.

[DemBones DemBones]

33. Me, neither, but he's in Mississippi, and I've

not spent much time there so they could say it all over Mississippi for all I know. :shrug:

[Maddy McCall]

38. It is a term in Mississippi for white suburbs, white country clubs, etc.

And I live in Mississippi so I know.

[Rowdyboy]

44. JChild has it exactly

Madison, Mississippi, population 20,000; black population 7; no apartments allowed, cats must be on a leash. Everyone lives in harmony in their vanilla paradise (only whites need apply). Cheapest house, maybe $175k; fast food restaurants-not welcome. Middle class-not welcome. A white man's country club paradise.

At least Jill knew what I was talking about!

[DemBones DemBones]

61. I believed you! I also believe they don't

use the phrase in SC, and I've never heard it in GA, TN, VA, AL, FL, or KY, either.

I'd never heard of a "case quarter" until I was told how it was used in NC. This was told to me one morning, by another teacher whom I carpooled with.

THAT VERY DAY, at lunch time, two of my students came up to me and asked me if I had a case quarter!!! (No, she didn't put them up to it, it was coincidence.) I asked several other students and they also knew the expression, but I'd never heard them use it before that day. I've since learned it's used in Turkey Creek, FL, too. How 'bout in Mississippi?

[Skip Intro]

9. Dean's not racist

Good God, I wonder how many duers doubt that?

Deans doing something positive on race, imho, why throw rocks at him?

The more he gets attacked, and the more he speaks his mind, the more I'm leaning Dean. If it can't be Kucinich.

[slinkerwink]

17. Dean's damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't

that's politics these days for speaking your mind and trying to bring awareness about race, and all of a sudden, you're labeled a "panderer" or indirectly called a racist by Sharpton, a person who has an track record of antisemitism.

[_Jumper_]

53. He's being attacked for his hiring practices

Why couldn't he defend them?

[Skip Intro]

99. sigh, I have tried to avoid this, but

here I go, I guess, right into the Clark/Dean candidate war thing...

Dean did mention tonight something along the lines of the racial makeup of his state - which is north of 95% white. I don't know if that answers all the questions about his supposed racism in choosing his cabinet, but in a state where blacks are not two percent of the population (as best I can tell from a quick google) then what would a representative cabinet look like?

Beyond that, I know, from what I've read here, from what I've read elsewhere, from what I've heard Dean himself say about this and other things, that he is not racist, not a bigot. And, if the critics would be blunt, that is exactly what they are implying. Its absurd.

And, while I'm still undecided between Dean/Clark/Kerry (I like them all, DK is first choice tho), this crazy attack on Dean just makes me look harder at him, and I'm kinda liking what I'm seeing.

It would have been nice to have Clark's performance in tonight's debate to compare and contrast to the others.

[killbotfactory]

12. He's also married to a minority

But don't let that get in the way of calling him a racist. He only married her to pander to the large VT jewish community.

[slinkerwink]

24. *gasp* no wonder!

:growl:

[DemBones DemBones]

45. What does having a Jewish spouse have to do with NOT having

blacks or Latinos in your cabinet? Dean was looking at a presidential race at least as far back as 1999--2000, so why didn't it occur to him that it was going to be difficult for him to convince American voters that he's serious about racial equality if he didn't have black or Latino colleagues in Vermont? He could have hired people from out of state. Heck, he could have hired one of the indigenuous people in Vermont -- he met them when they protested his plans to build on top of their ancestors' graves. He surely saw them on the news after he had the land where the graves were bulldozed, because they had to run out there and snatch their ancestors' bones out of the way of the bulldozers.

BTW, I'm watching the replay of the Brown & Black Debate and Dean's line about Trent Lott just BOMBED. That's the one where he says that if high numbers of minorities in your state had anything to do with attitudes toward race, Trent Lott would be like MLK. No doubt it goes over well with his white supporters but it didn't fly with the Brown & Black crowd. Dean is just tone deaf about race and the South, I think. He has good intentions, but the road to Hell is famously paved with those.

[killbotfactory]

64. How many should be on a 6 person team?

In a state that is overwhelmingly white?

Oh... maybe his policies kept minorities out of his state! Yeah, that's it!

[DemBones DemBones]

86. Well, having one minority person on a six person team would

look a lot better than having none, wouldn't it?

[killbotfactory]

90. He did have a minority

Asians are minorities in this country.

[daria_g]

100. ?? Why didn't he..

Dean was looking at a presidential race at least as far back as 1999--2000, so why didn't it occur to him that it was going to be difficult for him to convince American voters that he's serious about racial equality if he didn't have black or Latino colleagues in Vermont? He could have hired people from out of state.

So what you're saying is, Dean should have gone out in his last term and got some people from out of state who knew nothing of Vermont government to be in his cabinet, purely on the basis of their race, so it would look good to voters when he ran for president?

[_Jumper_]

55. What "race" is she?

One can be a racist and not dislike other religious groups.

[killbotfactory]

62. Jewish race

You do know that jews are a race, right?

[_Jumper_]

97. "Race" is a fraud

One can argue that there are thousands of "races" if they wished. According to American social classifications, Jews are part of the "white race"--the same "race" that Dean is a "member" of.

[killbotfactory]

98. Huh...

I'll go inform the KKK, they'll be surprised to hear that.

[Cocoa]

20. I think you're misunderstanding what it's about

Sharpton was not saying Dean is bad, he was taking exception with how Dean addressed the race issue. He said the way Dean addressed it trivialized the issue.

[slinkerwink]

29. no, sharpton wasn't saying that at all---he was indirectly implying

dean was a racist because his state was fucking white.

[rucky]

35. Sharpton is running for president

Let's treat him like a candidate, not a mascot. We should hold his words - and his record - to the same scrutiny we do the rest of them.

[slinkerwink]

57. exactly, and sharpton has a horrible record!

[DemBones DemBones]

81. That's cool as long as we examine everyone's record, Dean's included.

Dean has a better shot at winning than Sharpton does so we need to scrutinize Dean's record very carefully. And not just Dean's -- anyone who starts doing well in the primaries should have their record thoroughly scrutinized.

Sharpton's a candidate but he also is serving the function of holding folks' feet to the fire. I'd love to see Bush have to debate him.

[Rhiannon12866]

95. Me, too!

Sharpton is an excellent speaker. Bush* is lucky if he can manage to put a sentence together so it can be understood.:shrug:

[KaraokeKarlton]

104. It's sad, isn't it? That people who oppose Dean would sink so low.

Here's the ONLY politician who put his ass on the line for homosexuals (who are also minorities). He risked his political career to stand up for equal rights for homosexuals. If he did that, why on earth would anyone question his commitment to eqaul rights? They shouldn't, but have been if they think they can gain from attacking him. It's pretty telling that he has to defend his record on civil rights from his own party. Here's what I think...just as Republicans intentionally divide people to get the southern white vote, Democrats encourage that division because they think it guarantees them the black vote. That's why we're seeing Democrats play these silly race-baiting games. I saw two candidates on that stage last night who I am convinced is REALLY sick of the division. That's Howard Dean and Carol Mosley Braun. She did the right thing by calling Sharpton and Edwards out. She saw that they were both playing to the division and it pissed her off. If Dean wasn't in the race, Braun would get my vote.

Luckily, I think minorities are smarter than some would give them credit for. I think they can see through the race baiting nonsense.

[Kahuna]

105. What Dean did in the Bronx was how many years ago?..

And did he do it in the context as being a doctor or a politician? There's a difference.

[Indiana Democrat]

111. Sharpton is a racist.

EVERYTHING is about race to him.

Govenor Dean is a good man and a good Democrat. But that's just not good enough for Racist Al.

I am tired of his schtick.