A seemingly delighted Al Sharpton struck back at Rush Limbaugh on his Wednesday show after Limbaugh speculated that a Teleprompter flub Sharpton made was caused by jealous black journalists.
Sharpton's mangled verbiage on his Tuesday show became an instant classic, and conservatives crowed about the gaffe. On Wednesday, Limbaugh had a lot of theories as to why Sharpton had gotten his words so wrong.
"Somebody is sabotaging the Rev. Sharpton via the Teleprompter," he said. "It's either a racist Teleprompter or whoever is preparing the Teleprompter is racist."
Or, he said, it could be an evil horde of...jealous black journalists? "There are a number of black accredited journalists who are really ticked off that the Rev. Sharpton is up for this gig," he said. "One of them, or some of them, might have gotten together here."
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On Wednesday night, Sharpton weighed in, addressing Limbaugh directly.
"There's no racist teleprompter!" he said. "I messed up a line!" He even pointed out that he had made a small error on that night's show. Then, he thanked Limbaugh for highlighting the program.
"I want all of your listeners to start watching me," Sharpton said. "I want you to keep bringing them over. I don't want to preach to the choir. I want your choir, Rush!"
Sharpton said that he is aware that many "conspiracies" and grievances exist about his hosting of the MSNBC show. (Those include his vocal support for the Comcast-NBC merger and, as Limbaugh said, disappointment from some black journalists that a non-journalist is getting such a high-profile spot on MSNBC.)
Sharpton said that he's earned his spot on the network through his history of activism--and that, though he may sometimes flub his words, his message will get through.
"They'll get the point," he said. "Just like they did when I went after you, Rush, and the NFL. Keep on talking about the show. Keep going for the bait."
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