# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/41 "2011-03-16T14:17:19Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > 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. No matter how you look at it, Al Sharpton is a cheap hustler who’s made a career out of race baiting. The left hates Sarah Palin because she’s popular among middle and working class whites, and the last thing the left wants is for middle and working class whites to become politically organized to protect their own rights and interests. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/42 "2011-03-16T14:19:48Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > No matter how you look at it, Al Sharpton is a cheap hustler who’s made a career out of race baiting. The left hates Sarah Palin because she’s popular among middle and working class whites, and the last thing the left wants is for **middle and working class whites** to become politically organized to protect their own rights and interests. You mean like union workers? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/43 "2011-03-16T14:22:37Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > You mean like union workers? You mean corrupt unions? Union membership in the private sector is at an all-time low these days, and most folks don’t appreciate being expected to pay and pay and pay for absurdly generous benefits for public employees. ---
**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 16, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/44 "2011-03-16T14:27:47Z")
That’s what you really think? The left hates Sarah Plain because she’s (in your world) "popular among middle working class whites? This is honestly what you believe. You think the left fears middle and wrking class whites? Then how do explain the fact that the majority of the American left ARE middle, working class white people? Do you get this bilge right off of Stormfront or something? Guess what, **Polecat** , I’m a working class white guy, and I think Sarah Palin is a fucking dummy with a mean streak, no qualifications and a narcissistic personality disorder. How do explain that? Incidentally, how about a cite that Palin is popular with middle class white people? ---
**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 16, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/45 "2011-03-16T14:29:41Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > You mean corrupt unions? Union membership in the private sector is at an all-time low these days, and most folks don’t appreciate being expected to pay and pay and pay for absurdly generous benefits for public employees. “Absurdly generous benefits.” Hilarious. Yeah, I had to leave teaching because I ran out of places to park my yachts. By the way, did you know that Ronald Reagan was a union boss? ---
**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 16, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/46 "2011-03-16T14:40:07Z")
Sarah is beloved by the a segment of the working class, typically those that are the white, gun toting, church going and Pro-Lifers subset. But overall her popularity is not really that high and has been dropping even among Republicans. Reagan was a union boss but also a union buster. Unions fortunes took their big turn for the worse during Reagan and I at least think this was good. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/47 "2011-03-16T14:55:08Z")
I love it. Lonesome Polecat mentions that the left opposes middle and working class whites becoming “politically organized to protect their own rights and interests.” I bring up the left’s support of unions. And he basically comes back and says, “Nuh-uh, that doesn’t count since they’re corrupt and money grubbing.” Sigh. The cognitive dissonance is truly astounding. ---
**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 16, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/48 "2011-03-16T15:06:49Z")
“Where free unions and collective bagaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.” -Ronald Reagan ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/49 "2011-03-16T15:53:58Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Tawana Brawley was unsavviness, not maliciousness on Al’s part. Bullshit. He wasn’t some poor idiot, duped by supergenius Tawana Brawley. He was an accomplice, who repeatedly lied and continued to push the lies after it was pretty clear the story was completely false. There are reasons why he was ordered to pay for defaming Pagones. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/50 "2011-03-16T17:00:09Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Bullshit. He wasn’t some poor idiot, duped by supergenius Tawana Brawley. He was an accomplice, who repeatedly lied and continued to push the lies after it was pretty clear the story was completely false. There are reasons why he was ordered to pay for defaming Pagones. Exactly. There were a lot of people who initially supported Brawley because it’s natural for people to assume the apparent victim is telling the truth. But it became clear that this was not the case here and all of the responsible people started backing away from the incident. It was irresponsible people like Sharpton who stayed with it and kept making claims when they knew there was no evidence to support them. They were just stirring up trouble for the sake of publicity. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/51 "2011-03-16T19:02:51Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Leaving the rest of it alone, who has Al Sharpton been responsible for killing? His connection to killing is a bit more direct than Palin and her website, but not much. > [@](#): > > [In 1995, a black Pentecostal Church, the United House of Prayer, which owned a retail property on 125th Street, asked Fred Harari, a Jewish tenant who operated Freddie’s Fashion Mart, to evict his longtime subtenant, a black-owned record store called The Record Shack. Sharpton led a protest in Harlem against the planned eviction of The Record Shack.[47][48][49] Sharpton told the protesters, “We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business.”[50] > > On December 8, 1995, Roland J. Smith Jr., one of the protesters, entered Harari’s store with a gun and flammable liquid, shot several customers and set the store on fire. The gunman fatally shot himself, and seven store employees died of smoke inhalation.[51][52] Fire Department officials discovered that the store’s sprinkler had been shut down, in violation of the local fire code.[53] Sharpton claimed that the perpetrator was an open critic of himself and his nonviolent tactics. Sharpton later expressed regret for making the racial remark, “white interloper,” and denied responsibility for inflaming or provoking the violence.]([Al Sharpton - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Sharpton)) Regards, Shodan ---
**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 16, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/52 "2011-03-16T19:20:49Z")
So basically, Sharpton had fuck all to do with the killing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/53 "2011-03-16T19:48:47Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > So basically, Sharpton had fuck all to do with the killing. Sarah Palin didn’t personally shoot Gabriele Giffords but plenty of people place some of the responsibility on her because of things she said. ---
**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 16, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/54 "2011-03-16T19:52:27Z")
I think we can agree that neither Palin or Sharpton have gotten anybody killed yet, but it’s not for lack of trying in Palin’s case (and I’m not talking about Tucson, I’m talking about her warmongering). ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/55 "2011-03-16T20:01:32Z")
The difference being that there is no reason to believe that the Giffords shooter ever saw or was aware of the Palin website, but the record store shooter was part of Sharpton’s protest. Therefore it is a bit more plausible to assign some of the responsibility for the record store shooting to Sharpton than the Giffords shooting to Palin. Regards, Shodan ---
**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 16, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/56 "2011-03-16T20:13:35Z")
No it isn’t, since Sharpton advocated non-violence, and that shooter didn’t even like Sharpton. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/57 "2011-03-16T20:22:35Z")
Doesn’t matter - Sharpton’s race-baiting blew up in his face. Regards, Shodan ---
**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 16, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/58 "2011-03-16T20:25:04Z")
Nothing Sharpton said or did had anything to do with that guy shooting that store owner. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/59 "2011-03-16T20:39:00Z")
Sorry, I’m canceling this episode of the **Dio** Show. Tune in again next week, when the star shows us that, contrary to widespread opinion, water isn’t really wet. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703/60 "2011-03-17T15:22:00Z")
First of all, I know Reverend Al. I use to babysit his daughters when they were younger. I’ve never liked his involvement with Tawana Brawley, but he dropped her soon enough and moved on to other things. It’s Maddox and Mason that won’t let it go. In person Al is a very funny and smart guy. I really likd him and his family. From what I’ve seen of Palin, I doubt that I’d like her of her family. > [@Burton](#): > > 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. How the flying fuck did you know they were hookers? Did you see the guys pay them? Or did you base it on their outfits? Al is a family man, and as someone who know him, I am not buying this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-turning-into-the-white-al-sharpton/574703.md?page=4)