Jackson, Sharpton & Dumb

Jackson, Sharpton & Dumb isn't a law firm retained by the Democratic Party to help strike down laws requiring a valid photo ID before “a homeless person” can show up on election day and vote and vote and vote at various polling places.

This post’s title has to do with another one I posted yesterday: Jackson & Sharpton, Who’s Dumber?

Yesterday’s post linked to an audio of the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton talking last Spring on separate programs about what was then called “the Duke lacrosse rape scandal.”

If you’ve heard the audio, you know both Revs embraced and amplified the absurd and false statements of Crystal Mangum, a black, Mike Nifong, a white, and the Raleigh News & Observer, whose Duke lacrosse coverage relied on reporters and editors drawn from a number of racial and ethnic groups.

I asked people to listen to the audio and decide who sounded dumber: Jackson or Sharpton. Jackson got my vote.

Well, if you’ve read the thread of Jackson or Sharpton, Who’s Dumber? , you know some readers took exception to the idea that either man could be dumb. They see the two as smart hustlers.

I’d like to explain why I believe Jackson’s and Sharpton’s comments can be fairly characterized as dumb.

Dictionary.com defines dumb as “ lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted.”

Both Jackson and Sharpton presented themselves as believers of the lies told by Mangum, Nifong and DPD were telling last Spring. That was dumb.

Smart hustlers wouldn’t have done that in circumstances where their statements were being recorded and could quickly wind up on the Net, where literally millions of people could, if they cared to, listen and parse every word the Revs said.

A smart hustler does the sort of thing Jackson first did when Mangum’s lies brought her national media attention: offer “the young mother” a college scholarship whether the accusation was true or not so she’d never have to “perform” again. Jackson added that he was “looking forward” to meeting her when she was “physically and emotionally ready and having prayer with her.” I posted on what he did in Rev. Jesse Jackson steps into the Duke lacrosse spotlight.

Now, what Jackson did was attention seeking and contemptuous of justice because he said the woman would get her college expenses paid even if her accusations were false.

But it was a smart hustle because Jackson allowed that perhaps Mangum might not be telling the truth, and presented himself as a man of God who wanted to help lift a poor woman out of circumstances in which she was “forced” to strip and set her on the road to a college education.

I don’t know whether Jackson and Sharpton really believed much of what they said.

But what they said showed a lack of intelligence or good judgment. And the Revs came off sounding stupid or, if you prefer, dull-witted.

That’s why I called them dumb and asked you to decide which was dumber.

Message to the Revs: It’s no longer like the old days when you could say something stupid or outright dishonest, and then later deny you said it and call the people noting what you’d said “racists.” It’s a new tech world out there.

Message to JinC readers: I’ll post this weekend on how I see the new technologies helping those of us who want to do all we can to expose and counter frauds and hustlers like Jackson, Sharpton, Nifong and Nancy Grace.