“Can you imagine our reading that James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government so they could stay in power?”
—-Al Sharpton, MSNBC host and history scholar.
Personally, I have a hard time imagining Al reading.
People actually listen to this guy and care what he thinks. Barack Obama listened to this guy. He is paid to inform MSNBC viewers. No really, he is!
Al takes “bias makes you stupid” to new vistas.
Added: Just in case you think this was an anomaly, here is Al mocking a GOP Congressman for pointing out that the United States is a republic, as if he’s the idiot:
Ethics Alarms 
This didn’t come from the Al Sharpton (Parody) account? I would also propose an SNL skit, but we know that would never happen…
How do you parody Al Sharpton?
“Al Sharpton’s, Casa – de – Sushi; we don’t like it, but will sell it for monnn-ey!”
Technically true: they sought to overthrow the government so they could achieve power, not to retain it. Someone saying this unironically in 3… 2… 1…
Agreed. Sharpton is master of nuance and erudition. Never, ever, think he is incapable of abstract thoughts
jvb
This kind of thing must be a real headache for satirists. If you are a writer for Babylon Bee, what are you supposed to do with a story like this?
I was sure this was a hoax, and then I saw the clip on Twitter.
Honestly guys, you’re pouncing. There’s doubtless a DNC talking point out there to the effect that The Reverend Al was posing a hypothetical of the Founders trying to overthrow the United States government they’d just formed in order to stay in an elected position they’d been voted out of. The Rev. is not talking about them overthrowing the British Colonial government they overthrew. And frankly, the talking point would be correct. I think “context” would be a valid rebuttal.
It was Washington’s firmest hope for the peaceful transition of power between administrations. There is perhaps a cogent point possible, about how it would be absurd to consider the founding fathers abandoning their experiment in self-governance by refusing to yield to a newly elected president. It doesn’t seem like Sharpton successfully expressed such a point.
The founding fathers were all evil slave owning misogynists. Why should we care what they would and wouldn’t do, Al?
There was that crazy John Adams guy. He actually thought the British soldiers at the Boston Massacre deserved a fair trial. Don’t get me started on the Massachusetts state constitution he helped draft that outlawed slavery. (I’m going to ignore the Alien and Sedition Act for the moment.)
The best part of that statement was the stony silence of the other panelists. Wonderful. I wondered which one was going to say, “Uh, Rev, Jefferson and Madison actually participated in the literal overthrow of the British government. Remember that whole ‘When in the Course of human events’ thingy? Yeah, that one.”
Although, I just had a thought ramble through my Rush-and-Dr.-Pepper-deprived mind: Could Al have meant that the US Revolution was really not much of a revolution because the new bosses were only slightly difference from the old bosses? Madison and Jefferson and the like merely filled the void left by their former bosses and became the new oppressors my default? Unlike Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, or South Africa?
jvb
See my thought above, John.