Jesse Jackson, embroiled in a new furor, has been here before

Jesse Jackson should have long ago learned the dangers of speaking too bluntly with the media anywhere in sight (or, in the controversy that erupted today, a microphone anywhere near).

Jackson, before this year, laid claim to running the most noteworthy campaigns an African American had waged for the White House. In the 1988, in fact, he was a major factor in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination -- he won 11 primaries and caucuses, briefly led in the delegate count in the early spring and was the last challenger standing against the eventual nominee, then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

The groundwork for this strong showing had been laid by his candidacy four years earlier. But his 1984 campaign remains best remembered for the flap over disparaging comments he made about Jews and New York City.

As recounted in this post on Washingtonpost.com, Jackson "referred to Jews as 'Hymies' and to New York City as 'Hymietown' in January 1984 during a conversation with a black Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman.

Jackson had assumed the references would not be printed because of his racial bond with Coleman. But several weeks later Coleman permitted the slurs to be included far down in an article by another Post reporter on Jackson's rocky relations with American Jews. A storm of protest erupted ..."

A "storm" of protest hasn't yet greeted the revelation that Jackson -- ostensibly a Barack Obama supporter -- used crude language a few days ago as he waited to appear on Fox News Channel and, in a whispered aside to another guest, expressed his view that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has been "talking down to black people."

One very strong protest, however, was issued this evening by Jackson's son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois. The congressman's office e-mailed this statement (complete with three sentences boldfaced):

"I'm deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson's reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama.  His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee -- and I believe the next president of the United States -- contradict his inspiring and courageous career.

"Instead of tearing others down, Barack Obama wants to build the country up and bring people together so that we can move forward, together -- as one nation.  The remarks like those uttered on Fox by Revered [sic] Jackson do not advance the campaign's cause of building a more perfect Union.

"Revered [sic] Jackson is my dad and I'll always love him.  He should know how hard that I've worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. So, I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric.  He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself."

On a lighter note, to check out what our friends at The Swamp aptly refer to as a "now-prescient Saturday Night Live cartoon" on an imagined Obama-Jackson-Al Sharpton dynamic, go here.

-- Don Frederick

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Comments

[John Am]

I used to have a great deal of respect for you even though I seldom agreed with you on just about everything . But apologizing for a truthfull and honest remark about Barach Hussein Obama puts you in the same catagory as the rest of Obomas' lackies.

[Roger D.]

Who is Jesse Jackson? A Reverend without a church? The head of an organization that does what? He's a Martin Luther King Jr hang on that should have kept quiet years ago.

His views and comments mean nothing. He is a non-entity trying to retain the glory days of yesteryear.

Sit down, Jesse, and let Mr. Obama move forward with the hopes of a nation to do better.

[John]

Jesse Jackson is a personal problem for America. He spent his entire life racing from one racial issue to another and he loves to dive before the news cameras.

He offers nothing. He is a hustler and media hound, but nothing more.

John

[Yaakov Sullivan]

As a wife of a Black Arab I am very sad to read this. Ad Americans we shouldn't speak in terms of race.

[jojo star]

if bill clinton said that he would be a racists

[Brandon Forde]

I find it interesting that I had to go to the Guardian (UK Newpaper) to find out what was actually said. So much for reporting the facts. Instead this is simply another example of the US media self-censoring in itself to protect itself and not truly cover what happened. Distorts the true story.

[Leo Mather]

I'm a self educated , self-employed contractor. i have been involved in and followed politics since I was 12 yrs. old.
Barrack seems like a nice man. But who is he? He joined a black church to divine or should I say define his blackness.
Now that the election campaign is in swing it seems he is lost. Where are the far left views.

I believe I'm middle America. I want a president that can hold his ground know matter what. Obama is like all the rest of these wishy washy politicians. He will do anything to get elected. Too bad. Both candidates are poor. Our election process is lacking to say the least.
I know some of what McCain has in him character wise.

[Peter Barkley]

I'm part Canadian and could only think how necessary it is today to watch what you choose to say in a public space. Anything can and will be picked up and then transmitted out of context or not. I was also fascinated by how fast Mr. Jackson moved to apologize and how equally fast his own son reprimanded him. I also would note that Mr. Jackson needs to take note that speaking to the benefit of one group in a country as diverse as the US cannot either win an election or reach diverse citizens of many stripes, hopes and needs. One also notes Mr. Jackson spoke in one tone and lost in his run 2 decades ago.

I for one admire your Mr. Obama as much as any individual I've seen and heard in decades. You and we will be very fortunate indeed if he's elected.

[GC]

CNN is such a joke. At 5:15 PM or so Wolf Blitzer said controversial comments had been made, but that they were so offensive that they couldn't even be repeated on television. He then had a conversation with Donna Brazzille, who used to run Jackson's Presidential campaign, and the conversation ended with them saying that Obama should forgive him.

I expected Jackson to have called Obama the n-word and the c-word in the same sentence or something. Thanks CNN for doing your best to make me think you're biased.

[Susan]

Al Sharpton wants to give Jesse a pass ONLY because the comments were said with the intent to only let the black man sitting next to him hear. So if you say crude things about a person you supposedly admire and support that is o.k. It is not o.k. to say these things publicly. My problem is that in order to say "I want to cut his b...off" I would expect there is a deep hostility from the Jackson camp for Obama. Now whether it is personal, or whether there is this growing resentment in the black community because they feel that Barack and Michelle talk down to them, I really don't know. I personally think that Obama does preach as if he knows all. However what in the world would prompt any Rev. to use that sort of language about a friend is a mystery to me. It seems that Barack has a penchant for picking friends/ supporters that use bad language, racial slurs, and just hateful phrases when describing their feelings. Why would anybody feel compelled to want to cut off another man's b.... I am left speechless.

[Character Counts]

Someone wrote: "if bill clinton said that he would be a racist."

Isn't that how some people will interpret Jesse Jackson's gaffe?

[hostageforhire]

Jackson's comment is a real indication that Jesse Jackson & the Black Coalition control the Obama campaign. Jackson's juice in Chicago built a political career for both his son and Obama. Jackson tipped his hand. His comments weren't throwaway ramblings. White America just got a look into the black community's "inside baseball." Jackson is the black adviser that makes Obama “black enough.” Mobster, Sam Giancana had similar pull over the J.F.K. administration, and was noted as making similar unfavorable comments regarding J.F.K. Giancana had a direct line to the White House as will Jackson & Sharpton.

Jackson's son, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), national co-chair of Obama's presidential campaign, immediately rejected what he termed his father's "ugly rhetoric. - Jackson owns his son & Obama. Jackson has the power to cut off four political nuts. Obama is a patsy for the black agenda. It would not be in a white's person best interest to vote black. Likewise blacks will not vote McCain. It shouldn't surprise you that China votes for the Chinese. Russia votes for Russians. Quite frankly, I'm a little offended that Mexico hasn't had a black President. RACIST!!!

[Character Counts]

Poor Jesse, he just hasn’t figured out that he has become irrelevant.

[Keith]

I'm sorry....Jesse Jackson is calling out Mr. Obama? This is the SAME Jesse Jackson that has commited adultry, had at least ONE child out of wedlock, used Rainbow and Push funds as "Hush" money for the mother of his child...Funds that were supposed to go towards helping African American causes yet he saw fit to use it as bribe money....Guess this is the best example yet of the pot calling the kettle black....Seems to me Mr. Jackson is a tad bitter that he couldn't even beat Mr. Dukakis for the nod a few years back....

[Jason K Himelstein]

Jesse Jackson is a hypocritical low life.
He is more racist than George Wallace.
Jesse Jackson a Reverand? This is laughable.
As Bill Clinton's "spiritual advisor" he fathers a child out of wedlock.
Jackson is a well known womanizer, who extorts money from large companies by usung the race card.
He is a self-promoting charlatan, and the press knows it, but the press is afraid to be labled as "racist", so they give him a pass.
Jackson is a has been, a total disgrace to his race...the HUMAN race.

[David]

Here is the ultimate irony: Back in 1970, when Rev. Jackson was Reverend Jesse, he was preaching the creed of personal responsibility. I supported him back then for the same reasons I support Obama today.

Unfortunately, Rev. Jackson discovered there was a lot of money to be made playing racial politics. He became a wealthy man, but he lost his soul. Are you listening, Reverend Jesse?

[Vic]

Again Jesse Jackson has shown that he is just another big mouth with a foot in that mouth. Not the first time. Who cares what Jesse has to say. He leads no one..he speaks for no one ..except Jesse Jackson. Give it up Jesse you are past history.

[Ted Fischer]

We should demand that Jesse Jackson be fired from....... whatever he does, Just as they fired Don Imas.

[Robert]

This proves unfortunately that as a race we have a long way to go,and as a country, we have a longer way..all i can say is God help us...

[pedeen]

Why should anybody bother with Jesse Jackson? he is just an old man who cant think beyond slavery! Hey Jesse black people are free! and we dont need you you can go to hell!

[sethook]

Did I miss the part in this story that covered the response from Rev Al on this hateful conversation put forth by Jesse? Maybe Jesse needs to appear on the Imus show and explain his words.

[Hello Uncle Tom !]

One may not agree always with the rev. Jessee Jackson
But rev. Jackson has always called a spade a spade and
when his remarks amount to calling Obama UNCLE TOM
then we must respect that as a judgement based on a
thorough analysis . Obama much more visciously than
sen. Clinton, will step on anyone to achieve power... to
such an extent that it is becoming more obvious each
passing day.....how little loyalty and honor mean to this
undesirable specimen of Chicago politics in its most
detestable manifestation.

[wanda]

jesse jackson knew exactly what he was doing. He knew his words would be picked up by the media. I remember him from the 60's when he came to springfield ill with the blackstone rangers. His goal is to keep his face in the news. Gramps give all a break. You have nothing to say now, just like you had nothing to say then.

[Tom Colton]

Jesse Jackson just told the world how he REALLY
feels about Barack Obama when he said over that
open mic: "I'd like to cut his n*ts off." That's what he
actually said. It's called a freudian slip-it's how he REALLY feels about the other guy. You can spin it all you want to, but those of us who majored in psych
know the truth of what I just asserted. Those of us
who also majored in philosophy know that it would
be irrational to accept Jesse's apology as anything
more than vain "face saving" and that it would be
profoundly illogical to think for even a heartbeat,
that Jackson has any respect for Obama or even
wants him to become president. It's just like when
Friday before last Bill Clinton told friends in front of
a reporter that "Barack Obama can kiss my *ass if
he thinks I'm going to support him". But you guys
in the press buried that remark and on Sunday and
Monday of that weekend when Hillary and Barack
pretended to be friends that's all you reported. That
omission wasn't neurotic or irrational; it was
deceitful on the part of the American Media. It's
called: To lie by omission.

[A Ford]

--- Barack Obama is only one man who happens to be running for President. He is standing in the middle of a storm of controversy that swirls around him. Can you imagine yourself in this position? I think the more controversy, the more change we need as a nation.
---Jesse Jackson is a monumental civil rights leader and advocate who never wavered from his call to effect change for all, and especially for black Americans. His comments reflect how many feel? I think yes. Now, his son Jesse defends and speaks out for a new direction: denounces the “old way”. This is good. Our children should shed the bitterness of that which is unresolved from the past. –A demarcation. The young Jesse Jackson is effecting change in a modern era. And that’s not easy to do.
----The Reverend Wright I happened to see on Bill Moyer's (Bill Moyer’s Journal PBS) was a compassionate and directed person with his finger on the pulse of any city in this country, and correctly, the shambles of our current nation. Why are we focusing on his presentation? Does that negate the message? In his subsequent interview with the press, I felt he was goading them at their own game. Perhaps not the best timing, but who cares, he expressed it. ---And some of us “got it”.
---We need the truth---now more than ever. Truth: set free from judgment. I want to hear more about how people really think and feel in my country. ---No more CNN Political Gossip Nation, and the 600 cable, and network channels that follow suit because it is all about the $$$ ratings. We are a force fed news gossip nation.
---In conclusion, I am a 50 something white American gal living in a really mixed neighborhood in the diverse state of New Jersey. I have great neighbors. It is a peaceful existence. I wish it for every American B&W, L&A&NA. Did I miss anyone? How can we come together and realize true equality for all? I am not sure, but I do know it begins with realizing that Jesse Jackson Sr. gave us the gift of a certain truth. He speaks his mind. And, like his power house speeches and opinions from the past, I hope we can remember and help him realize his dream--- like his friend Martin Luther King, for a better life for all Americans.