Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the embattled mayor of Baltimore, is obviously a talented and capable individual.  The daughter of a pediatrician and a member of Maryland's state legislature, she distinguished herself as a lawyer and later as the youngest person ever elected to Baltimore's City Council.  A few years later, when City Council president Sheila Dixon, also a woman, was elected mayor, Rawlings-Blake succeeded her as president.  And when Dixon was forced to resign as mayor – yes, forced because of her conviction for embezzlement – Rawlings-Blake became the city's new mayor, a position she solidified a year later by running for and winning the office with 84% of the vote in the general election.  In other words, this is a woman who knows her way around, is capable, and can take care of herself, even during the city's current troubles.

So why did (Rev.) Al Sharpton, a male, a non-Baltimore resident, an MSNBC talk show host – and a tax evader to boot – pop up in that city to run interference for her, even shoving a reporter, Leland Vittert of rival FOX News, when he tried to question Her Honor?