Earlier this week I had a post critical of Al Sharpton’s place in a meeting with the Whitehouse regarding African-American unemployment figures.  Little did I know I would have an opportunity to post about a gentleman I really feel is a Republican contemporary of Al Sharpton — Newt Gringrich.

Both Gringrich and Sharpton sound perfectly reasonable in interviews and press conferences. Yet, from time to time each of them jump and scream about racism in completely irrational manner and later essentially refuse to apologize (Sotomayor, cartoons and perceived slights respectively).

Worse, when you actually look at the majority of ideas Gringrich or Sharpton has, they really dont’ make much sense — they tend to be the same old ideas repackaged. Additionally, in Gringrich’s case recently, they both get key important facts wrong (the shoe-bomber’s nationality).  Yet outsiders  consistently pander to the two gentlemen as though they are actually doing something important — other than raise money to pay themselves through their organizations and appear on television.

My guess is that both Gringrich and Sharpton owe their positions to their ability to get both positive and negative ratings on media programs — in the end it’s about the media drawing ratings.