Al Sharpton

So it turns out that the egregious Al Sharpton's great-grandfather not only was a slave (something Big Al somehow didn't know), but was owned by some sort of collateral ancestor of the late Strom Thurmond. The Washington Post reports that this revelation "gave him a new perspective on his life."

(We are put in mind of the claim by Madeleine Albright, three of whose grandparents were killed in Nazi death camps, that she didn't know she was Jewish until 1996, when she was 60 years old. Just between you and me, I think she was lying.)

It's hard to know what to make of this, aside from remaining in awe of Reverend Al's ability to generate publicity. It does lead inevitably to the observation that Thurmond, who died three years ago, was born only 37 years after ratification of the 13th Amendment.

Of course, those mischievous malcontents at PowerLine couldn't help but wonder about Big Al, "Was he hoping for John Edwards or Jimmy Carter?"