Preach On, Brother!

Rev. Al Sharpton, in his speech last night at the national convention, addressed President Bush directly:

"Mr. President, I heard you say Friday that you had questions for voters, particularly African-American voters. And you asked the question: Did the Democratic Party take us for granted? ... You said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule .... We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres. We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us."

That's what the transcript says, but I swear I heard him say "we decided we'd ride this ass as far as it would take us," which is a lot funnier and no less accurate.

Rev. Al also sensibly pointed out: "If I told you tonight, 'Let's leave the FleetCenter, we're in danger,' and when you get outside, you ask me, 'Reverend Al, what is the danger?' and I say, 'It don't matter. We just needed some fresh air,' I have misled you, and we were misled."