“The sometimes uneasy relationship between African-Americans and the Democratic Party flashed into the open on Sunday, when Sharpton attacked front-runner Howard Dean at an Iowa debate for his failure to hire any blacks to a cabinet-level position during his 10 years as governor of Vermont. It was the campaign’s other African-American candidate, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, who came to Dean’s defense, scolding Sharpton for instigating a ‘racial screaming match.’

In some regards, the Sharpton-Dean-Braun exchange captured the divided and unpredictable mood of African-American voters as the primary season heads toward its first votes. Thus far, little attention has been focused on African-American support, given the intense focus by the candidates and the media on the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, two states with negligible black populations.” —Salon

Sharpton’s playing the race card is business as usual for him; he has always been a petty demagogue seeking otherwise unwarranted credibility and respect on an affirmative action basis. I would venture to say that Dean’s lack of cabinet-level black appointments in Vermont reflects nothing more than the fact that the state is lily-white, without significant African Americans in politics at all. Correct me if I am wrong…