Do you believe Al Sharpton: Michael Jackson made Barack Obama president?

i consider myself a liberal and pretty open minded on most all issues.  but not even i will ever believe anything that someone like al sharpton, or jesse jackson for that matter, ever says.

Al Sharpton makes everything racial.Right on EJ

Yes I agree with Rev. Sharpton. Michael Jackson created a climate of consent with his music very much like the advent of Rock'n Roll, and when a group of Black students took Black music to the radio station in Nashville and asked the white DJ to play it. That was the beginning of "cross over audiences" on a wide scale. Although there were whites who ventured into clubs where the "Big Band" performers played like Cab Calloway, and  "Satchmo" it was limited. Michael Jackson took this concept to a worldwide audience with his extra-ordinary showmanship because his uniqueness was undeniable. Once the phenomenon of his music  was experienced conversations were sparked about the music and the man. These conversations led to conversations about relationships, style, politics, race, food etc. and  soon people of all colors and nations incorporated a little piece of Michael into their self presentations in dress, dance, sound,  style and "looks."

So the climate of consent Michael created through his music opened the door for dialogue which by the time Obama became known to us had grown to a footprint of like minded folk of all colors. So yes, Michael contributed more than we will ever know to the election of Barack Obama.

However, let us not forget Rev. Sharpton's contribution to the process including his run for president. He expanded on what Rev. Jesse Jackson had done earlier. In addition, Rev. Sharpton's own personal evolution and personal re-invention of himself is continuously opening new doors for Black folks, especially Black men.

The fact that Rev. Sharpton's comments at the Michael Jackson memorial were extemporaneous which we learned based on an answer he gave to Larry King said something good about our ability to "think on our feet."

Lets not forget good old al

The television show HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel showed a 1983 FBI videotape in which Al Sharpton is seen talking about laundering drug money with former mobster Michael Franzese, a Mafioso-turned-undercover-FBI informant posing as a cocaine dealer. Now you might think something like this might be bad news for a presidential candidate, but to hear Sharpton talk about it, there's nothing unseemly about it.

Now, to be fair, no indictments were issued and the sting operation was never completed. But those are pretty thin excuses for a president of the United States. (At least he didn't blame a DUII on his political enemies.)

Sharpton got into this mess through his friendship with boxing promoter Don King, a longtime friend of his. Franzese, a former Colombo family captain, alleges that a South American drug dealer looking to launder money through boxing promotions approached him. According to Franzese,Sharpton was going to arrange a meeting between the dealer and King.

But the drug dealer was really an undercover FBI agent in a probe of boxing corruption. Sharpton claimed the tape was a "total attempt to set up and criminalize people," that it was leaked to scuttle his possible presidential bid, and that HBO distorted the evidence by showing only selected portions of the tape. He also clamed that a second tape existed that exonerated him.

Sharpton sued HBO for defamation and asked for $1 billion in damages. (As if he had a billion dollar reputation before the tape aired.) HBO Sports spokesman Ray Stallone described the suit as "so silly that it is unworthy of comment." Nothing has come of it since it was filed

Sharpton made his name and his fame as the one to lead a protest movement after every racially charged incident in New York over the last 30 years (and many elsewhere in the U.S.) Especially early in his career, he seemed content and even eager to inflame racial hatreds at the risk of violence, as long as it gave him publicity and power.

Several of these protests escalated to the point of violence, in several cases by those who Sharpton championed. Examples include the Crown Heights riot of 1991, and a 1995 arson attack on a Jewish Harlem jeweler that resulted in 8 deaths. That attack came months after Sharpton made remarks about the "white interloper". (He later apologized, saying that he wouldn't use the word white again in that context.)

Two incidents however appear to have caused him to tone down his excesses and refine his image. First, in 1987, black teenager Tawana Brawley claimed that six white law enforcement officers -- including then-assistant district attorney Steven Pagones -- had abducted and raped her, scrawled racial insults on her body and smeared her with feces.

Miss Brawley refused to speak with authorities or the media, but Sharpton and her two other advisers were soon making wild claims. Sharpton compared then-state Attorney General Robert Abrams, a Jew, to Adolf Hitler. All three linked then-Gov. Mario Cuomo to organized crime and the Ku Klux Klan.

Within a year, a grand jury announced the story was a hoax and specifically cleared a Fishkill police officer and Pagones. Pagones sued Sharpton and the other 2 advisers for more than $150 million for defamation. At this point, Sharpton's involvements is similar to George Bush and the Iraqi uranium purchase forgeries -- it's unclear if he was actively involved in fraud, or just recklessly willing to use information he knew was very shaky to make his political point.

The other turning point came in 1991 when Sharpton was stabbed by a drunk white man during a protest march in Bensonhurst; after that he began to mellow. "There are times [since the stabbing] when I've found him remarkable and responsible," says critic Stanley Crouch. He recalls that after the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, a young black man from Brooklyn, Sharpton brought together Hawkins' stepfather with one of the group of white boys that had killed his son. "This would have been more recognized had it been someone like Giuliani," says Crouch. "After the Diallo verdict, he discouraged people from being violent," warning locals in New York that violence would not only put them in harm's way, but it would reduce them to the low level from which the unjust verdict originated," he notes. "So you have these great moments. He's also taken a more mature vision of the police and moved to differentiate those good white cops, who enforce the law properly in tough and often dangerous environments, and bad cops)."

"The television show HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel showed a 1983 FBI videotape in which Al Sharpton is seen talking about laundering drug money with former mobster Michael Franzese, a Mafioso-turned-undercover-FBI informant posing as a cocaine dealer."

"Now, to be fair, no indictments were issued and the sting operation was never completed."

"The other turning point came in 1991 when Sharpton was stabbed by a drunk white man during a protest march in Bensonhurst; after that he began to mellow.There are times [since the stabbing] when I've found him remarkable and responsible," says critic Stanley Crouch. He recalls that after the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, a young black man from Brooklyn, Sharpton brought together Hawkins' stepfather with one of the group of white boys that had killed his son. "This would have been more recognized had it been someone like Giuliani," says Crouch. "After the Diallo verdict, he discouraged people from being violent," warning locals in New York that violence would not only put them in harm's way, but it would reduce them to the low level from which the unjust verdict originated," he notes. "So you have these great moments. He's also taken a more mature vision of the police and moved to differentiate those good white cops, who enforce the law properly in tough and often dangerous environments, and bad cops)."

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Just thought I would pull the above snippets from your carefully designed and crafted story to detract from Rev. Sharpton's current level on his path to greatness to show how a few words left out/or in here and there can paint a positive or negative picture. Which is by the way easy to do hidden behind a fake name, clothed in the colors of the American flag espousing patriotism, committing character assassination on your brothers while hissing fear "the beast is back."

There are  more of us who love Rev. Al Sharpton now than will ever know your real name, or care to. You will never be in the circles he moves in your lifetime because you have no body of work to justify an invite, or access. You will for the rest of your life stand on the outside looking in through the peep holes of a mask. No one will ever value what you have to say (which is quite different from agreeing with it) because you are forced to rely on the "hearsay," and musings of others because your real name and presence has no audience potential.

In the mean time the dark spirit you have chosen to embody continues to eat you from the inside, a price you are willing to pay to achieve "vain glory."

Then one day you will just disappear, and the echoes of Rev. Sharpton's words, at Michael's memorial and elsewhere, his accomplishments and his remarkable transformation will live on in print and electronic media, and in our hearts and minds forever.

God no. They have nothing in common, completely different personalities and accomplishments, as different as can be. Tiger Woods has much more in common with the president if I had to pick a black person to connect with Obama I would think of Tiger Woods, Colin Powel .... all measured disciplined men of great character, by comparison Michael Jackson was nothing more than a good carnival act, a freak show that could dance.  If I was the president I would be insulted to be connected with Jackson.

I have to edit this and add, I respect Rev Sharpton, agree with him about a lot of issues but I don't understand his support of Jackson. This is a free country so that is ok we don't ahve to agree about everything.

This guy should work for Obama

Sharpton's Baggage: Nearly $1.5M in Unpaid Taxes, Penalties

Charlie King, the organization's interim executive director, said both Sharpton and the group he leads were unprepared for their rise in stature in recent years and had trouble dealing with big jumps in donations and income.
"The infrastructure was trying to keep up with that pace, and it was not a perfect fit," he told the AP on Friday. "The National Action Network may not have been perfect, but nothing was going on that was untoward."
He said the organization has new accountants and a new administrative team, and the group recently finally filed long-overdue tax returns.
Sharpton's own debts include $365,558 owed in New York City income tax and $931,397 in unpaid federal income tax, according to a lien filed by the Internal Revenue Service last spring. His for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owes the state another $175,962 in delinquent taxes.
As for Sharpton's personal tax debt, King said Sharpton has started paying it off but contends that faulty record-keeping by the National Action Network led the government to overestimate his tax liability.
Tax headaches are nothing new for Sharpton. The 53-year-old minister has been assailed over his career for running up big tax debts and failing to abide by rules governing his charities and election committees. He is perpetually being sued for failing to pay his bills.
In December, Sharpton revealed that as many as 10 of his associates had received grand jury subpoenas. A person familiar with the investigation told the AP that the FBI and IRS are probing whether Sharpton or his organization committed tax crimes or violations related to his 2004 presidential campaign, during which he was forced to return public matching funds for breaking fundraising rules.
If any of this worries Sharpton, you'd never know it. He is pressing ahead with his latest campaign — an effort to persuade the Justice Department to bring civil rights charges against New York City police detectives who fired 50 shots and killed an unarmed groom as he left his bachelor party.
Over the past few weeks, Sharpton has kept a high profile, promising to lead weekly demonstrations until new charges are brought against police detectives acquitted of manslaughter April 25 in the November 2006 death of Sean Bell.
"He is as focused as ever," said Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat who has also rallied for police reforms since the Bell case. "He is probably more effective now than he was in the past, than he has ever been."
Sharpton was arrested and spent a few hours in jail Wednesday for being among the marchers who blocked the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the verdict.
On Thursday, Sharpton said he may soon add another cause — the case of three shooting suspects who appeared to have been beaten and kicked by police during an arrest in Philadelphia.
Sharpton has been investigated before, and always walked away clean.
In 1990, he was acquitted of tax fraud and charges that he stole from one of his charities. He followed that up with what was essentially another victory in a tax case by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a state return.
In the latest probe, the official overseeing the investigation is U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell — the same Brooklyn-based prosecutor whom Sharpton is urging to file criminal charges in the Bell shooting. Campbell's office has said it is reviewing the case but declined to comment further.
Sharpton's reputation has undergone a remarkable renaissance since the Tawana Brawley days in 1987, when he was accused of helping create a hoax in which the 15-year-old girl claimed she had been kidnapped and raped by a gang of whites that included a police officer and a prosecutor. A grand jury concluded that Brawley made the story up.
Since the late 1990s, his civil rights group has grown from a small outfit, with a few hundred thousand dollars in annual revenue, to an organization that now routinely takes in $1 million to $2 million per year, thanks partly to corporate support.
Donors have included beer giant Anheuser-Busch, which gave more than $100,000 last year, and Forest City Ratner, a real estate development company that courted black leaders for support of a plan to build an NBA arena in Brooklyn. PepsiCo, for several years, gave Sharpton a compensated position on one of its advisory boards.
The group also enjoys financial support from the state's top politicians.
New York Gov. David Paterson has transferred at least $28,000 from his own re-election committee to the National Action Network since 2001. Rep. Charles Rangel, a top Democrat in Congress, has been another major backer, giving at least $83,000. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has given $10,000.
"Everybody who runs for office in the Democratic Party wants to meet with him," said former Mayor Ed Koch, who once battled Sharpton but now calls him a friend and a "bona fide leader."
Koch said Sharpton's past will always be an issue with some whites, and he disagreed with the decision to engage in civil disobedience over the Bell case. But the former mayor believes the respect Sharpton enjoys among blacks is well earned.

NEW YORK —  Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor's mansion.

The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation's most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan's major bridges and tunnels.

But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and associated penalties.

Now the U.S. attorney is investigating his nonprofit group, a probe that an undeterred Sharpton brushes off as the kind of annoyance that civil rights figures have come to expect from the government.

"Whatever retaliation they do on me, we never stop," he told the AP. "I think that that is why they try to intimidate us."

Over the past year, Sharpton's lawyers and the staff of his nonprofit group, the National Action Network, have been negotiating with the federal government over the size of his debt, which they dispute. The group has also been trying to pay off tens of thousands of dollars it owes for failing to properly maintain workers compensation and unemployment insurance.

We Elected him. We the people In God WE all Should Trust And Pray for our presi dentevery day