Does Al Sharpton run MSNBC now? On Saturday, the cable network broadcast hours of live coverage of the Sharpton-organized 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. When Sharpton prepared for his keynote speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, his friend Rev. Franklyn Richardson singled him out as “the one who has become the voice of this era.” They broadcast Sharpton’s entire 20-minute speech live.

When he was finished on stage, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz, Melissa Harris-Perry, and Michael Eric Dyson formed a hallelujah chorus, all praising Sharpton in the same glowing light as the "peerless" and "pre-eminent" civil rights leader of our time, like he was paying everyone’s salary: