The New York Times, of all things, has a long and revealing article about the financial shenanigans of the Reverend Al Sharpton. Why this article appears only in the New York/Region section of the NYT is a mystery, since Rev. Sharpton is a national figure to say the least (I have written about him and his escapades many times before, e.g., here, here and here).
The short of it is that Big Al (well, not so big anymore; he's slimmed down remarkably from the days of the Tawana Brawley hoax) seems to have accumulated a lot of dough, even while not being too keen on paying taxes or other debts.
By the way, I thought this paragraph particularly interesting:
Behind the scenes, he has consulted with the mayor and the president on matters of race and civil rights and even the occasional high-level appointment. He was among a small group at the White House when Mr. Obama announced his nomination of Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to become the next attorney general.
My goodness. I wonder whether Rev. Al knows something about Ms. Lynch that the rest of us should be interested in finding out about.
UPDATE: A respected journalist has objected to my snarky phrase, "...of all things..." He points out that the NYT has done articles that exposed then-Gov. Spitzer, and Congressman Charlie Rangel's tax and apartment issues. While it is certainly true that the NYT is a (if not the) leading journalistic organ for the Left, it has indeed done some excellent investigative work not flattering to Democrats. I don't know that I'd call my characterization of the Times a cheap shot, but it wasn't the most expensive one either. I regret any offense it might have given to the numerous call-it-as-you-see-it reporters at the Times.
He called a rape victim a "whore."
Perfectly at home in the Democratic Party.
No one at the NYTs deserves an apology.
A couple examples of where the magnitude of a stories were too big to bury shows no good will nor journalistic integrity on their part.
For instance, they state: “[Gruber's] comments should not be taken as evidence that the reform law was hatched in secrecy and foisted on the public by trickery.”
Weeks or years from now, if still in business, they will use articles/editorials such as the above nonsense to persuade people that they are honest brokers of the news with, "See! We covered it!" remarks.
Federalist points out that Sharpton called a rape victim a whore. The Gray Lady is the whore.