Greta Van Susteren during her “Off the Record” segment Wednesday night on Fox News took a hit at President Obama for choosing Reverend Al Sharpton to be his “liaison” in Ferguson, Missouri, following the unrest there.
Van Susteren specifically referenced Maureen Dowd’s column in The New York Times this week, which frowns on Obama for choosing Sharpton.
Dowd reminds her readers that the reverend once falsely accused individuals of gang-raping a black teenager, promoted anti-Semitic feelings in 1991, and owes $4.7 million in outstanding federal and state taxes.
“All this and more makes it perplexing that President Obama uses Sharpton as his go-to outreach guy,” Van Susteren said. “It’s a rotten message to send to the nation. I don’t get it.”
The Fox News host then suggested that Obama chose Sharpton so that he could ensure he wouldn’t be shown up by someone else’s success.
“President Obama has lots of choices,” Van Susteren explained. “Why didn’t he pick someone well-respected with a record of helping, not dividing?
“He could have picked New Jersey Senator Cory Booker,” she continued. “He was a very popular mayor of Newark, now a Democratic senator, who has a history of reaching across the political aisle. Why not pick him to help? Maybe President Obama is afraid Senator Booker will show him up by having success.”
According to Politico, Sharpton became a force on the ground for the White House just a few days after the shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown that caused Ferguson to erupt in protests.
