The Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized Wednesday for saying Barack Obama is “talking down to black people” during what Jackson thought was a private conversation before a FOX News interview Sunday.
Jackson was speaking to a guest at the time about Obama’s speeches in black churches and his support for faith-based charities. Jackson added before going live, “I want to cut his nuts off.”
His microphone picked up the remarks.
At a hastily arranged news conference Wednesday evening in Chicago, Jackson said he supports Obama “unequivocally” and that he hopes to “get this behind me.”
“I have great passion for this campaign and traveled across the country … arguing the case for the campaign,” Jackson said. “And this thing I said in a hot-mic statement that’s interpreted as a distraction, I offer apology for that. I don’t want harm or hurt to come to this campaign.”
He said, “They were hurtful and wrong … but we have a relationship that can survive this.”
Jackson said in a written statement he was trying to emphasize that Obama’s moral message should “not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy.”
Jackson said the conversation “does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms.”
Jackson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he doesn’t remember exactly what he said Sunday but that he was “very sorry” for his comments about Obama. He called his comments “a side light in a broader conversation about urban disparities.”
Jackson said he has called Obama’s campaign to apologize.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton noted that the Illinois senator grew up without his father and has spoken and written at length about the issues of parental responsibility and fathers participating in their children’s lives, and of society’s obligation to provide “jobs, justice and opportunity for all.
“He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson’s apology,” Burton said.
Jackson’s comments sparked something of a family feud. His son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., said he was disappointed by his father’s “reckless statements.”
“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,” the younger Jackson said.
The comments are not the first the elder Jackson has had to explain after believing he was off the record.
In 1984, he called New York City “Hymietown,” referring to the city’s large Jewish population. He later acknowledged it was wrong to use the term, but said he did so in private to a reporter.
I can't comprehend how this is even remotely important, except for fodder for 24 hour news, but this is fucking hilarious.
Your link doesn't work. As funny as this is, the whole race aspect of the election is starting to annoy me, yeah we get it he's black we've known that for a fucking year now.
It was awfully inappropriate of Jackson to say he wanted to castrate Obama, considering castration was once used to punish disobedient slaves. However, Jackson's willingness to admit he made a mistake and to apologize for it puts him light years ahead of John "Hitler is an agent of God" Hagee.
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
It's amazing how easy it is to just deny and backpedal. How often do we hear something like this:
"Quebec police were caught on video employing agents provocateurs to incite violence (uncuccessfully) at a peaceful protest. Though the video evidence is nigh-incontrovertible, and on YouTube, they have denied that the incident in question ever happened."
Except that, in an effort to fairly balance facts with lies, the news report will put it like this:
"Critics have alleged that Quebec police incited violence at a protest, but the police maintain that this didn't happen, and furthermore state that it's being blown out of proportion."
And then, unless you're lucky, they'll forget about it and never mention it again. (In this case, the police eventually were forced to admit that, yes, they did exactly what they were accused of. But that's only because the whole world was watching the video on YouTube and glaring at them.)
Bush showed that having used hard drugs (and still supporting a barbaric drug war) is no impediment to becoming president if you use this strategy: claim to have found Jesus and stonewall on the details. If there's disagreement about something, even if one side is clearly lying, a disturbing number of newspeople feel obligated to report both sides equally: as a roughly equal number of people making contradictory claims, with no objective evidence presented.
BREAKING NEWS: JESSE JACKSON IS A RACIST PIECE OF SHIT. NEWS AT 11.
"The 4th Earl of Hereford led the fight on the bridge, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic."'
We saw this before with Mayor Harold Washington. When he got sworn in, Mayor Washington had the stage blockaded by a number of black off duty police officers who stood there locked arm in arm just to keep Jackson off the stage. Jessie was pissed at Washington then for the same reason he is pissed at Obama now: It isn't him on the throne.
بيرني كان سيفوز
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Nuclear Navy Warwolf
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in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
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ipsa scientia potestas est
I suspect that not only is Jackson annoyed that a non-slave descended black person who embraces universal appeal over marginalised "black culture" BS is already far more successful than he is, but such a person dares to speak his mind to black communities without ignoring the problems in such communities. Saying that more black men need to be decent fathers instead of bailing at the onset of pregnancy isn't "speaking down" to black people; I would've thought on the most part they'd be sane enough to agree.
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Has anyone actually noticed what issue Jackson was bothered about? He's pissed that Obama wants to continue with these faith-based initiatives. And he's right to be pissed off. I'm pissed off too.
I don't like Jackson and the castration thing was way over the top, but on this issue, he's right.
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things... their number is negligible and they are stupid. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ghetto edit: Apparently the actual reason Jackson was mad wasn't in the article. Thank you, Fox News. But WaPo has it.
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things... their number is negligible and they are stupid. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
Metatwaddle wrote:Ghetto edit: Apparently the actual reason Jackson was mad wasn't in the article. Thank you, Fox News. But WaPo has it.
Faith based initiative weren't it either - according to the news papers here it was the "being there for your kids" bit that he felt was talking down. Imagine that - the guy with out of wedlock kids that he was never there for is the one pissed off about getting lectured to be there for his kids.
بيرني كان سيفوز
*
Nuclear Navy Warwolf
*
in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
*
ipsa scientia potestas est
Actually, that's not it at all. His exact words were, "See, Barack been talking down to black people on this faith based -- I want to cut his nuts off." He also said, "Yeah, my concern is you look at the inner city and the suburban schools-- that structural gap will not be resolved with faith, but rather with investment." He's not approaching this from an ideologically secularist, establishment-clause standpoint, since he did say, "You look at these first class and second class schools, we need a real commitment to have government-based, along with faith-based, to, in fact, get our economy moving again." But he does feel that faith-based programs are ineffective, which puts him ahead of Obama.
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things... their number is negligible and they are stupid. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
If that indeed is the reason I'm siding with Jesse on this one.
Brotherhood of the Monkey @( !.! )@ To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. ~Steve Prefontaine Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
I'm no expert on this, but aren't the churches the most effective charities that serve black communities?
Obama would certainly be aware of it, as a lot of his experience organizing comes from mobilizing the churches and their members.
Faith-based initiatives have limitations and certainly need to comply with secular laws if they're getting government funds, but dismissing them out of hand serves no purpose.
Personally I think Jackson Sr.'s comments are simply sour grapes over being sidelined.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
My experiences with black churches is that they greedily rake in money from the poor and give maybe a few dollars back to the community. My ex-girlfriend was a member of a black church that encouraged you to part way with any money that you have and that the more you give to the church the more god will give to you. The result was that she didn't have enough money to pay the rent and was getting evicted.
Brotherhood of the Monkey @( !.! )@ To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. ~Steve Prefontaine Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
