If you needed more proof that Al Sharpton’s defense of Harry Reid was bogus, here’s another juicy bit. When Mitt Romney was running for president, he was attacked by Al Sharpton. Not for making any racist statements like Harry Reid did, but for his Mormon beliefs, and their alleged racist history.
Why, might you ask? If you don’t remember, Sharpton felt compelled to put Romney on the defensive on Mormonism, and referred to it as “denomination based on racism.”
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and civil rights activist Al Sharpton traded angry, racially charged accusations yesterday, with Romney alleging that Sharpton had uttered “bigoted” comments about Mormonism.
On the campaign trail in Iowa, Romney was asked about Sharpton’s comment during a debate Monday that “those of us who believe in God” will defeat Romney. The former Massachusetts governor told reporters that such a comment “shows that bigotry still exists in some corners.”
Sharpton angrily denied Romney’s charge in a telephone interview yesterday, and he accused Romney of stoking a verbal war with him to gain support among conservatives.
Sharpton said his comments have been taken out of their original context — a debate about religion with journalist Christopher Hitchens, who Sharpton said had suggested that Mormonism once advocated segregation.
“Attacking me, not Hitchens, shows [Romney] is playing politics,” Sharpton said. “What is bigoted about asking . . . about a denomination based on racism?”
Sharpton called on Romney to address whether the Mormon Church ever supported segregation. “He needs to clarify the truth or non-truth of what I was presented,” Sharpton said.
So, Sharpton put Romney on the defensive on race because of his church, not because of anything Romney himself said or did.
Quite a different attitude from today when dealing with a Mormon, who actually made racist statements, who happens to be a Democrat.
Sharpton obviously believes the Mormon church is racist, or at least conveniently claimed as much when Romney was running for president. But, Harry Reid, a Mormon and Senate Majority Leader, was defended despite his offensive remarks. Do I really have to ask why Mitt Romney is practically branded a racist for being a Mormon, but Reid isn’t, despite some racist comments?
Is the truth so distorted by political allegiances that one man’s reputation can be blemished, while another man’s strongly defended?
The real irony here is that the Democratic Party is the party of slavery and segregation, while the Republican Party is the party of emancipation and civil rights.
I’d love to know from Sharpton if he thinks all Mormons are racists because of their faith, or just the Republican ones?
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