How Al Sharpton Got His Own TV Show

30 Dec, 2014 by Dave Blount

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Al Sharpton is generally regarded as a lowlife — a tax-dodging socialist and professional race baiter who has gotten numerous people killed in pogroms. (For those not familiar with his worst outrages against decency, Ben Shapiro provides a quick rundown.) Sharpton is not regarded by anyone as a gifted television anchor. Yet he has his own prime time show on MSNBC. The reason could have something to do with Comcast wanting to merge with NBC, which in the USSA requires the approval of bureaucrats. Fortunately for crony capitalists, these bureaucrats can be bribed. Via Washingtonian:

To rally political support for the merger, Comcast’s political-action committee handed out campaign cash, and [well-connected political fixer David] Cohen worked to head off the concerns over diversity [i.e., complaints that people were being promoted based on merit rather than for not being white]. Between 2008 and 2010, Comcast’s corporate foundation donated more than $3 million to 39 minority groups that wrote letters to federal regulators in support of the NBC deal. Comcast and NBC Universal also worked out an agreement with advocacy groups guaranteeing increased “minority participation in news and public affairs programming”—so long as the deal went through. And in 2009 and 2010, Comcast gave $155,000 to an organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton, who ended up endorsing the merger.

Like Jesse Jackson, Sharpton has made a fortune by putting himself it a position to determine what is and is not “racist.” Sharpton’s position in this regard is particularly lucrative due to his exceedingly close relationship with Obama.

Western Journalism elaborates on the merger deal:

In January, 2011, Washington approved the deal. And lo and behold, Al Sharpton — who had virtually no professional broadcast experience but did have a long history of legal entanglements and ethical quandaries — landed a prime-time show on MSNBC.

Not only would Reverend Al have the kind of “legitimate” pulpit from which he could pontificate with an assumed air of “credibility,” he could also enjoy a reboot of sorts — a network-sanctioned passage out of the shadow of his past troubles.

And Obama’s White House could have its loyal advocate and ally in place to carry forward the narrative five nights a week.

Now, no matter how deeply Sharpton inserts himself into and tries to influence raging racial controversies…no matter how much criticism is directed his way…no matter how many goofs and gaffes he racks up on his show, Sharpton seems to be a protected entity.

He can even help get police officers assassinated without damaging his career. On the contrary, his presence probably lends credibility to MSNBC in the addled minds of the moonbats who are now its exclusive audience. Everyone else has been driven away not only by the channel’s demented hard left politics, but by the ever-deteriorating level of broadcast professionalism.

Behold the ruinous effects of cronyism: