The Reverend Al Sharpton: Take Back Those Libelous Things You Said About Me, Rush Limbaugh, Or I'll Sue

You'd think he was joking, but you'd be wrong.

"Unless Mr. Limbaugh apologizes and clarifies his statements, attorneys for Rev. Sharpton will move forward with a lawsuit," said a statement from Sharpton. Limbaugh lashed out at Sharpton over his failed attempt to purchase a piece of the St. Louis Rams.

Sharpton "played a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot (he called neighborhood Jews 'diamond merchants') and 1995 Freddie's Fashion Mart riot," Limbaugh wrote.

...

Limbaugh "has the right to criticize Rev. Sharpton, but he does not have the right to accuse him of criminal activity," the Sharpton statement said.

Limbaugh's column, defending himself and attacking the race-riot enthusiast Sharpton, is is here.

Having brought me into his group, Mr. Checketts now wanted a way out. He asked me to resign. I told him no way. I had done nothing wrong. I had not uttered the words these people were putting in my mouth. And I would not bow to their libels and pressure. He would have to drop me from the group. A few days later, he did.

As I explained on my radio show, this spectacle is bigger than I am on several levels. There is a contempt in the news business, including the sportswriter community, for conservatives that reflects the blind hatred espoused by Messrs. Sharpton and Jackson. "Racism" is too often their sledgehammer. And it is being used to try to keep citizens who don't share the left's agenda from participating in the full array of opportunities this nation otherwise affords each of us. It was on display many years ago in an effort to smear Clarence Thomas with racist stereotypes and keep him off the Supreme Court. More recently, it was employed against patriotic citizens who attended town-hall meetings and tea-party protests.

These intimidation tactics are working and spreading, and they are a cancer on our society.

What they are attempting to do, and are now 90% successful, is make conservative de facto illegal. It's unlikely they'll charge you with an actual crime (though they keep tending in that direction), but they will impose on you all of the non-criminal penalties associated with being arrested -- losing your job, not being hired for jobs, being forced to undergo "psychiatric evaluations" and "therapies," being barred from entering certain businesses, etc.

posted by Ace at 05:24 PM

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