# Is Sarah Palin turning into the white Al Sharpton? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 14, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703 "2011-03-14T21:45:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/21 "2011-03-15T12:53:02Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > This. I don’t see that Sarah has any virtues or values beyond being on TV and getting paid. She’s the political version of Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton. Excellent summary. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/22 "2011-03-15T13:03:16Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t think it’s fair to judge him on Tawana any more than Ted Kennedy should be perpetually demonized for Chappaquiddick. They should be treated exactly the same way – that is, roundly disparaged and despised for having ruined the life/lives of others without ever expressing meaningful remorse, expiation, amends, or even forthright admission of responsibility and guilt (the precondition to any of the foregoing). Neither is/was a real man. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/23 "2011-03-15T13:21:20Z")
“Turning into”? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/24 "2011-03-15T13:38:54Z")
In addition to be willing to go anhere in the media and take questions from anyone, Sharpton also advocates for people other than himself. The only victim Sarah Palin ever talks or cares about is Sarah Palin. Too much is made of the Brawley thing. All he did was make the mistake of believing a girl who told him she was raped. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/25 "2011-03-15T14:36:58Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Too much is made of the Brawley thing. All he did was make the mistake of believing a girl who told him she was raped. He actively accused an innocent man of a deadly serious crime based on a lying sack of shit psycho girl whose story wouldn’t hold water for five minutes. The guy’s career and marriage imploded. He won a judgment against Sharpton but Sharpton, still tooling around in fancy silk suits, has never paid it nor apologized. Scum. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/26 "2011-03-15T15:02:06Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > The folks quoted in this article seem to think so: > > [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51218.html](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51218.html) > > Fame whore who regularly plays the victim card, doesn’t handle criticism well, plays loose with the facts and refuses to fess up to her mistakes. I can see the similarities. No. She’s not a race baiter, she’s never gotten anyone killed, and the mainstream media are much harder on her than they are on Al Sharpton. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/27 "2011-03-15T15:05:28Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Whatever his faults, Sharpton is an intelligent and inspirational leader, and I can sympathise with those who feel the comparison with Palin is insulting to him. Ptooey. He’s a cheap race hustler like David Dukes, only with a lot more political clout. Anyone who doesn’t see that would probably buy the Brooklyn Bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/28 "2011-03-15T15:12:19Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > No. She’s not a race baiter The hell she isn’t. Remember those virtual Klan rallies she turned her campaign appearances into? > [@](#): > > she’s never gotten anyone killed neither has Sharpton. > [@](#): > > and the mainstream media are much harder on her than they are on Al Sharpton. This is a fucking joke. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/29 "2011-03-15T15:21:22Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The hell she isn’t. Remember those virtual Klan rallies she turned her campaign appearances into? What “virtual Klan rallies?” People like you consider virtually any gathering of conservatives to be a “virtual Klan rally.” > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > … neither has Sharpton. This is just ignorant. Worse, it’s willful ignorance. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > This is a fucking joke. And this comment is just fucking asinine. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/30 "2011-03-15T15:24:41Z")
On the never gotten anyone killed bit, that’s a little iffy on Sharpton, At least one of his appearances may have set off riots that did lead to a brutal death. This was in fact when he toned down his act or public persona a lot. While that is not killing someone, there did seem to be a clear connection between his rabble rousing and a deadly riot occurring. I believe it shocked the hell out of him though and he did express remorse and started mending fences after it. But yes, mainstream media has reviled him for a long time and it is only in the last decade or so that it has eased up. You know as he has mellowed. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/31 "2011-03-15T15:41:15Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > (Another distinction, many white liberals hate Al almost as much as conservatives do. We do not have the same balanced equation for Palin-hatred. And to that, I say “WTF!?”) Actually, there’s a lot of anti-Palin sentiment among Republicans, particularly among the party’s leadership who see her as a loose cannon. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/32 "2011-03-15T15:46:34Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Actually, there’s a lot of anti-Palin sentiment among Republicans, particularly among the party’s leadership who see her as a loose cannon. Not a Republican but can I count as someone on the right who finds her an embarrassing example of the dumb-and-proud brand of populism (I get a free pass on calling conservatives dumb, which I usually call the libs out on when they use it against **any** conservative they dislike, but she seems truly aggressively incurious and unknowledgeable)? I also don’t like that the GOP seems to be increasingly embracing – in place of policy – womanish emotionalism and personality (Hell, both Bushes had pansy-ass feel-your-pain, compassionate-conservative streaks to them). – **Huerta88** , uncompassionate. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/33 "2011-03-15T17:21:49Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > I don’t want to fuck Sharpton, that is one difference. Hmmm. Would they get to talk? I could go either way, depending. ---
**Author:** ![Burton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Burton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burton)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/34 "2011-03-15T17:30:30Z")
Sharpton may be the more erudite of the two but that’s not saying much. I ran into him and Michael Jackson’s father in Jersey City a few summers ago right after Michael’s death we were in the same hotel, same floor. They both had very young hookers with them. I rode the elevator with the girls a few times I could see even they were embarrassed to be with them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/35 "2011-03-15T18:44:51Z")
Dio: Read \*Unholy Alliances: Working the Tawana Brawley Story \*. It’s by the NY Times reporters who covered the case and they make it pretty clear that Sharpton lied through his teeth. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/36 "2011-03-15T19:01:54Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > I don’t want to fuck Sharpton, that is one difference. Not to pick on you but more a general observation that this type of comment strikes me as all kinds of sexist dumb. It’s a twofer combination of good ol’ boy trash talk \*and _excuses a woman’s lack of talent/experience as long as she’s fuckable in a fantasy way, etc. There are so many good putdowns that are not gender specific (right, asswipe_ :D) so no need to use this type. \*Great debate example and not directed at any specific poster. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/37 "2011-03-15T21:49:23Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > This is just ignorant. Worse, it’s willful ignorance. Leaving the rest of it alone, who has Al Sharpton been responsible for killing? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/38 "2011-03-16T04:40:51Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Not to pick on you but more a general observation that this type of comment strikes me as all kinds of sexist dumb. Palin’s fuckability is all she has to offer, really. She certainly doesn’t possess any kind of _intellectual_ appeal. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/39 "2011-03-16T04:46:53Z")
Personally, I love the comparison. Sharpton probably doesn’t though. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/40 "2011-03-16T07:36:58Z")
The difference between Palin’s victimization and Sharpton’s is that his is on behalf of others (who have a historical basis for being victims of something) and hers is on her own behalf. I picked up a book yesterday entitled THE PERSECUTION OF SARAH PALIN, just to see if it were a parody of her style, but no, it was serious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703.md?page=3)