Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC’s Politics Nation, attacked presidential contender Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan and knocked the candidate for, of all things, his desire to see more private charity rather than public welfare.
Sharpton criticizes Cain for wanting to “end the safety net as we know it.” Sharpton’s criticism stems from a qoute in which Cain says the nation should “Get the federal government out of the way. This will allow states cities, churches, charities and businesses to offer a helping hand rather than a handout.” That preference for private charity rather than public welfare has drawn Sharpton’s ire.
Sharpton might have just talked himself into cross-purposes with President Obama and former President Clinton. Obama, in 2009, said that “our unemployment system should be – not a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future.” And Clinton, all the way back in 1992, said of struggling Americans, “They want a hand up, not a handout.”
Of course, Sharpton has already labeled GOP opposition to a large federal government as an effort to bring back Jim Crow racism, so he can’t really give Cain a pass for praising private charity.
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