Pot Meet Kettle

Al Sharpton has found a new cause in the upcoming Alabama Democratic party's gubernatorial primary race. One candidate denies the Holocaust while another advocates killing illegal immigrants to prevent them from entering and settling in the state. Sharpton wants the party to bar the two candidates from running. Sharpton's demand, while sounding all nice and good on its face, is preposterous.

Unless the candidates violate a particular rule or are ineligible for office, it would violate their constitutional rights to free speech, no matter how repugnant they are. Like it or not, it's a fact that even avowed racists can run for elected office. The most a political party can do is distance itself from and renounce the candidate, much like the Republican and Democratic parties did with Klansmen David Duke and Tom Metzger respectively. The party cannot, however, decide who can and cannot run.

Sharpton's demands ring especially hollow given his own history. With incidents like the Tawana Brawley hoax and Freddie's Fashion Mart riot and public references to Jews as "bloodsuckers" and "white interlopers" in his past and nary an apology, he lacks the moral authority to have any say on who else gets to run for office.