Kerry's Sunday In Miami

Jesse and John
According to The Indian Express, John Kerry decided that he needed to go to church yesterday. We know that John Kerry is a devout (if somewhat subdued) Catholic. But with an eye toward the African American Vote, we can understand his need to go where the voters are.

Democratic luminaries John Kerry, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton appeared at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami just yesterday. What concerns us isn't Kerry's trolling for votes in a church, but its what was said, and who said it.

Watching CNN yesterday, the EdWonk noticed that the church's minister introduced John Kerry as "The next President of the United States." Because of their non-political tax exempt status, this remark is contrary to the spirit, intent, and possibly letter, of the law.

Speaking from the pulpit, Kerry remarked that, "One million (1,000,000) African American voters had been disenfranchised during the last election. While certainly several hundred voters were mistakenly (and wrongly) barred from casting ballots in Florida, the overall number does not approach the figure cited by John Kerry. Kerry pledged that his "legal team" will ensure that African Americans will not be denied their right to vote.

Jesse Jackson is quoted as saying that African American were "Targeted" for disenfranchisement in 2000, with 1,000,000 of them deprived of their right to vote. "Today it's getting worse," he said. "It's not just Florida. It's Minnesota. It's Colorado...It's an ideology. It's a plan."

Perhaps Kerry, Jackson, and Sharpton would better serve their respective constituencies by focusing on education as a means of increasing the political and economic power of their supporters rather then inflammatory, divisive, and unsubstantiated rhetoric.