One Good Minute

So today, then:

One good minute, courtesy of Meet the Press***1***. This is about a forty-five second exchange between Al Sharpton (at his best a great mix of James Brown and Howard Dean; at his worst...) and two very hardcore conservative high-profile crazies. The conversation veered between absolute chaos and genuine discussion. Falwell came off as his normal self, but this Land fellow was trying to angle in as the "less-crazy, more palatable" version of a Right-Winger. Sharpton wasn't having it. Land finally crossed the threshold with his comparison of the Right Wing's attempt to outlaw abortion with Martin Luther King's drive for Civil Rights in the American South. Insert your best Sharpton impression when necessary. My favorite line from Falwell is in bold, and should be the soundbite for every breath he makes in public from here on in. Enjoy.

REV. SHARPTON: The right wing was opposed to the civil rights movement.
DR. LAND: Martin Luther King Jr. is a personal hero of mine, Al.
REV. SHARPTON: Good.
DR. LAND: And he imposed his moral values on Lester Maddox and George Wallace, thank God.
REV. SHARPTON: No, no, what he did was fought against the Southern conservative values of those days.
DR. LAND: No, no. He passed a law that made it illegal.
REV. SHARPTON: Don't rewrite history, sir.
DR. LAND: No. He passed a law that made it illegal.
REV. SHARPTON: He fought the Southern Convention that you represent. Dr. King fought that convention. Let's not rewrite history.
DR. LAND: Al, you know, you want a right wing...
REV. SHARPTON: Are you going to deny that the Southern Baptist Convention was for segregation?
DR. LAND: No. We've apologized for it.
REV. SHARPTON: So don't say that Dr. King...
DR. LAND: And we...
REV. SHARPTON: Don't distort that history.
DR. LAND: Dr. King passed a civil rights law...
REV. SHARPTON: Had to fight your convention to do that.
DR. LAND: He passed a civil rights law.
REV. SHARPTON: And he had to fight your convention to do that.
DR. LAND: All right.
REV. SHARPTON: And I'm fighting your convention to keep people...
MR. RUSSERT: All right. All right.
DR. FALWELL: Give the little babies the right to vote.
MR. RUSSERT: All right. We're gonna take...
REV. SHARPTON: And I want those babies to have a good life, but I don't want them not to have civil liberties.
MR. RUSSERT: We're going to take a break. Peace, peace, peace. We'll be right back.
REV. SHARPTON: How can you say peace with these folks?

***1*** Two programs I don't miss on Sunday mornings: Meet the Press and The McLaughlin Group. Sunday isn't Sunday without some hypocrit politician backpedalling or Eleanor Clift dutifully berating one (or more) pigheaded Conservative blowhard.

Postscript (1)

Hear...Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days
Read...Graham Greene Brighton Rock