Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC’s PoliticsNation, appeared on The Daily Show, where he discussed the ‘great achievement’ of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Herman Cain’s presidential candidacy, and the ideological criteria for what constitutes an African-American “achievement.”
At the open of the segment, Sharpton joked that he likes his new talk showed because “I can be me; I’m not trying to act objective.” After host Jon Stewart expressed moderate support for the Occupy Wall Street – I’m very much interested in the message that’s being articulated and the feeling,” he said – Sharpton argued that “they’ve already achieved something great.” He explained that “they’ve changed the conversation because, three months ago, the whole country was on the Republican discussion of deficit reduction.” Sharpton attributed the fact that “we’re now talking about jobs, we’re now talking about poverty” in Congress. He praised the protesters for “[getting] us on the conversation that we need to be talking about.”
