MSNBC host Al Sharpton will be the keynote speaker at the Council on American-Islamic Relations's (CAIR) 20th anniversary banquet on Saturday. Sharpton, who is President Obama's "go-to man on race," and who claims to be helping the White House pick outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder's successor, will be a guest of honor of the group, which was listed as a co-conspirator in a criminal case against an Islamic charity that raised millions for Hamas.

As an MSNBC panel discussed congressional reticence with President Obama's strategy pertaining to ISIS, the Rev. Al Sharpton jumped in with a challenge to John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to call floor votes on congressional authorization for action against the terror group. 

Some politicians have the same public image throughout their careers. Others at least try to give themselves a makeover (e.g., the “new Nixon” of 1968). In a Wednesday post, Esquire’s Charles Pierce claimed that for the past decade, we’ve had what amounts to a new Al Sharpton, and that “the transformation began when Sharpton ran for president in 2004.”

Pierce noted Sharpton’s Tawana Brawley/Crown Heights “not-entirely-concerned-with-the-truth-of-things period,” but argued that in ’04, Sharpton the candidate “reintroduced himself to the country as a serious man with serious concerns,” and that “more or less, that's been the path on which [he] has remained ever since.” These days, Pierce remarked, “bringing up the sins of [Sharpton’s] past now seems as strange an avocation as summoning up Malcolm X's early career as a burglar.”

Of all the left-wing charlatans who have been given hosting responsibilities at MSNBC, PoliticsNation's Al Sharpton is perhaps the worst example of trying to pass off an activist as a journalist. It's impossible to tell where the race-baiting reverend's advocacy ends and his supposed reporting begins. [Watch the video after the jump]

This is the second installment of the Media Research Center #LeanOver campaign to let the craziness of radical MSNBCers speak for itself. The first video highlighted the rantings of Hardball host Chris Matthews. Look for a similar takedown of Ed Schultz in the coming days.

Now online: the August 25 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC’s bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This week, journalists pronounce the blatantly partisan indictment of Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry a “blemish” that could “mar his legacy,” even as an MSNBC regular blasts it “the stupidest thing I’ve seen in my entire career.”

Also: an MSNBC contributor declares the shooting of Michael Brown evidence of America’s “war on black boys” that could metastasize into “genocide;” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell declares Al Sharpton’s foray into Ferguson is really a “peace mission;” and Rolling Stone prints this hilarity: “Barack Obama never had reporters eating out of his hand the way that right-wingers love to allege.” Highlights are posted after the jump; the entire issue is posted online, with 21 quotes (six with video) at www.MRC.org.