Whatever else Al Sharpton may be, he's not an idiot. Sure, he's a tax cheat, his grip on reality is tenuous, he's barely literate, and his knowledge of American politics is dwarfed by that of the average two-year-old, but he's no dummy. Somehow, he managed to parlay his life as a lowly street thug and FBI informant into a major media career. You may not like him, but you have to admit that takes a certain amount of (admittedly crooked) brainpower.