Did Jesse Jackson say he wanted to cut them "off" or "out"?
In case you didn't know, there's a brand-new controversy raging about Jesse Jackson's whispered comment on Fox News about what he'd like to do to Barack Obama's private parts.
The controversy is not about whether the reverend's remarks are crude; that seems pretty well-established. And Jackson tried to preemptively apologize on another network as soon as Fox News ask
ed him for comment before airing the tape.
The controversy is not over whether Jackson's mutilation desire shows a jealousy between the two Chicago South Side black leaders, at least one way on Jackson's part.
The controversy is over whether Jackson said he wanted to cut Obama's "nuts off" or "nuts out." No, really.
Apparently the actual tape is somewhat muffled. Although establishing such genital distinctions was not covered much back in journalism school, for the record for the moment The Times is going with "nuts off," because that's what Fox News showed on its screen caption.
There is, however, a good bit more to this simmering story, which thrust Jackson back into the publicity spotlight where he always looks so comfortable. And, as usual, The Times' Matea Gold doesn't miss a detail. She has the full engrossing story now over on the Show Tracker blog.
We'll just say also for the record that, frankly, "off" or "out" seems like pretty much the same effect and pretty much the same pain. But we're pretty much speculating there, fortunately.
--Andrew Malcolm
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
Subscribe to this Blog
Which is more painful cutting them "OFF" or "OUT" ?
My guess is Jesse wants it to be "VERY PAINFUL"
VJ Machiavelli
http:/www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com
Posted by: VJ Machiavelli | July 11, 2008 at 11:41 PM
yes, who knows, maybe what he was saying at faux news was really something like, 'wan' 'em to cut it out now'?
Posted by: dave | July 13, 2008 at 04:49 AM