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Mag ticks off Sharpton

BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

August 19, 2006

WASHINGTON - The Rev. Al Sharpton is accusing the conservative Weekly Standard of "race baiting" after the magazine caricatured him as a white Senate candidate's white-gloved chauffeur on the cover of its current issue.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned glossy portrays Sharpton wearing a "Driving Miss Daisy"-style livery suit, holding open a limo door for Connecticut Democratic Senate contender Ned Lamont, an anti-war candidate the reverend supports.

The Standard, run by Iraq war supporter Bill Kristol, is backing pro-war incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat turned Independent. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), wearing her regular duds, appears in the picture, holding a Lamont sign.

"To portray a black man dressed up like a driver, driving a white man around like it's the 1930s, that's racial stereotyping of the lowest order," said Sharpton, who has campaigned with the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Lamont's behalf.

"It's race baiting. It should be repudiated," added Sharpton, who said Lieberman recently tried to convince him to switch sides. Ironically, Lieberman announced Friday he had hired New York-based political consultant Josh Isay; Isay's firm also represents Sharpton.

A call to the magazine's Washington office wasn't returned. Artist Zak Pullen said the Standard editors usually only give him a general concept, but in this case dictated the cartoon's because they were on deadline.

"Don't blame the artist," said Pullen, speaking from his home in Wyoming. "This was not my concept. It was given to me by the Weekly Standard ... I didn't mean it as derogatory."