Al Sharpton: Callers believe Texas floods were God's punishment

From the Houston Chronicle:

On his syndicated radio show "Keepin' It Real," Sharpton said Tuesday that many of his callers interpreted the Texas downpours that swamped cities across the state this week, flooding homes and killing at least 13, as divine rebuke.

"Some people said that they felt that the world had lost its morals, that homosexuality and same-sex marriage, which I support, caused it," Sharpton said in an interview. "Many called and said they thought that was absurd, that it was science. My position is that science is right."

More here.

You know, Sharpton really hasn't been an idiot, at least not publicly, for an extremely long time, since the 90s, I think, when he supported the woman making that false rape allegation. I mean, he's not my favorite MSNBC personality, but he's a legitimate commentator these days, who often makes good observations and assertions. He's really succeeded with his self-reinvention over the years, and I, for one, take him very seriously.

But he also continues to be one of the right wing's favorite jokes. "Oh, Sharpton this, and Jackson that, yuk, yuk, yuk!" Whatever. He's not the guy he was a quarter century ago. And he's CERTAINLY not the guy who said this about 9/11:

"[T]he pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America...I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

No, that wasn't Sharpton. Rather, is was the late conservative Christian leader Jerry Falwell. And his remark was immediately seconded by conservative Christian leader Pat Robertson.

That is, when Sharpton was given a chance, thrown a slow moving baseball just hanging over the plate, really, to blame these floods in Texas on God's anger because of the state's cruel and barbaric right-wing attitudes, he didn't do it. Instead, he talked about science.

This really begs the question: which side of the aisle has the joke ministers? I think the answer to that's pretty obvious.

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