Al Sharpton in Bed with the GOP

The Village Voice is making a downright serious allegation about the Al Sharpton presidential campaign. Here's the lead:

"Roger Stone, the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount and helped make George W. Bush president in 2000, is financing, staffing, and orchestrating the presidential campaign of Reverend Al Sharpton."

Among the evidence that the Village Voice has dug up: "Stone played a pivotal role in putting together Sharpton's pending application for federal matching funds, getting dollars in critical states from family members and political allies at odds with everything Sharpton represents. He's also helped stack the campaign with a half-dozen incongruous top aides who've worked for him in prior campaigns. He's even boasted about engineering six-figure loans to Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN) and allowing Sharpton to use his credit card to cover thousands in NAN costs -- neither of which he could legally do for the campaign."

And isn't it obvious why a Republican operative is doing all this? "Stone is apparently confident that he can use the Democrat-bashing preacher to damage the party's eventual nominee."