I meant to write about this when it first surfaced but I wanted to try to figure out the background. Andrew Young, who many people still view as a civil rights leader, has sold his soul to Wal-Mart. He’s made a deal to become the public spokesperson for Working Familes For Wal-Mart. Truly shameful.

Young isn’t saying how much he’s being paid. But, even if he’s doing it for free, it’s appalling. In justifying his willingness to work for the Beast of Bentonville, Young said, in a op-ed piece (quoted in Corporate Crime Reporter) “those who have committed their lives to helping the poor believe that if more companies followed Wal-Mart’s lead, and provided opportunity and savings to those who need it most, more Americans who are battling poverty would be able to ascend the rungs of the ladder that leads to the American dream.”

Makes you sick, huh? What opportunity does Young think Wal-Mart is giving people? The ability to be so poor they can only shop at Wal-Mart? Inadequate health insurance? The ability, if you’re a women, to face discrimination? Actually, Young makes me think of Jesse Jackson’s more apt quote: “Even slaves had jobs.”

I wrote about this phenomena of Democrats sucking up to Wal-Mart last year. And it still is astounding to me–call me naive–that this continues. Nothing better illustrates how the Democratic Party is losing its grip on its title as the defender of workers and the poor than the on-going relationship between Wal-Mart and the Democratic Party.

So, Andy Young, what regime or corporation would you not touch for a dime?