Al Sharpton is a gifted public speaker. He is also a race-baiter and a hatemonger.

I was talking with a colleague earlier this evening when it seemed like the volume on every TV set in the newsroom was turned up to the max. They weren't, but when Sharpton speaks he's not exactly a shrinking violet.

As I voiced my observation that Sharpton was now addressing the convention, my colleague, an African American, opined that Sharpton was his man.

I confess I wasn't completely surprised at this statement, but I expressed my dismay that man who pushed the Tawana Brawley fraud would be a featured speaker at the Democrat National Convention.

My colleague's reply: "He's harmless."

I mentioned Freddy's Fashion Mart, and he again dismissed Sharpton as "harmless."

Well, tell it to these two people:

Oscar and Maria Marrero lost their daughter, 19-year-old Angelina, when one of Al Sharpton's followers torched Freddy's. Six other innocent workers died that day in 1995 after Sharpton had spent months denouncing "white interlopers."

The conversation further devolved into claims that Brazil is ticked off at the United States and if they boycotted us, we'd be in big trouble. That Switzerland is the richest country in the world per capita, etc.

I had to get back to work, but I'm considering returning tomorrow to announce that the Republicans are having former Ku Klux Klan head David Duke speak at their convention in prime time. I'll be curious to see how he reacts when I dismiss Duke as "harmless."