Crunchy Con

Jesse Jackson's big mouth

Wednesday July 9, 2008

Categories: Democrats

As I said on the Dallas Morning News blog, far be it from me to mourn the trials and tribulations of Jesse Jackson, a public figure I consider to be one of the real villains of American public life. I'm proud that I wrote a series of columns some years back in the New York Post, exposing aspects of his shakedown operations that hadn't come to light. No other newspaper would touch it, even though I had documents to back me up. Surprise! And I'm grateful that the Fox News Channel was the only network that gave any airtime to my reporting.

Nevertheless, Fox's airing Jesse's unguarded vulgar remarks about Barack Obama makes me queasy. The microphone was hot, but Jackson wasn't on the air when he said those things. They should be regarded as off the record, in my view. I find it delicious that Jesse's true colors are coming out, and that he greatly diminishes himself by trashing Obama for speaking out against victimology, especially for doing what Jackson himself has always lacked the guts to do. Nevertheless, it's cheap of Fox to burn Jackson by using this tape. I've been on TV interview shows like this, and people say things before and between segments that they wouldn't say on the air. Do interview subjects now have to worry about every single thing they say once they enter a studio? Will Dr. James Dobson have to worry that MSNBC is going to bug the green room, and air any dumb remark he makes in a private conversation? Will liberals now go to Fox News studios in the same spirit as US businessmen traveling in Soviet Russia -- assuming that everything they say is being listened to and might be used against them?

Anyway, if I were an Obama supporter, I'd be thrilled by this. You really can't ask for better publicity than to have it broadcast that Jesse Jackson wants to cut your nuts off.

Advertisement
Comments
Lord Karth
July 10, 2008 12:22 PM

Karen:

Mr. Jackson has been in the public eye for over 30 years and has made two attempts to run for President; for someone who has his political and media experience, an error like that is simply too stupid for serious consideration. I've personally met and spoken with the man; he's nowhere near that stupid.

On the other hand, we've seen how opportunistic Senator Obama is; here's a man who throws his own grandmother to the wolves for political advantage. One opportunist, on his way up, cuts a deal with another, who wants back in the game. What's so hard to believe about that ? It's just another political deal, that's all.

Your servant,

Lord Karth

Karen Brown
July 10, 2008 12:26 PM

So, was it equally stupid when GW Bush did it? (At the time, a two term president, former governor, and been in the public eye one way or another his entire life..)?

Do you think that experience exempts people from making stupid mistakes?

Or that stupid mistakes are the way to success?

In the public eye, sure. For being an idiot and having his own son have to apologize for him. If that's the case, I expect to see Jesse Jackson with his own reality tv show any minute, because he's apparently at the
'anything to keep the cameras running' phase of his life.

Which, in my mind, makes him more a non-entity and less to be taken seriously than if he'd let himself gracefully fade into the past.

Rhonda Johnson
July 13, 2008 8:53 AM

If you really want to know about the REV. Jesse Jackson, check out the latest Judical Watch and his going to court with the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. This man craves power and doesn't care who he steps on.

Spurwing Plover
February 25, 2009 4:17 PM

Just last year JESSIE JACKSON and a bunch of his RAINBOW/PUSH touble makers were holding stupid protest calling for more dumb gun control laws and lying down in front of a gun store they only ended up getting themselves arrested like the usial liberal pests they are trying to keep us from exiersercising our 2nd amendment rights which only proves he isnt no real revrend just a public pest

Birdzilla
September 11, 2009 6:03 PM

Back after BUSH was elected he and his RAINBOW/PUSH wackos were planning a big protest until his own skelletons were brought out of his closets and he silenced

Read All Comments

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.



Please type the text you see in the box below to verify your post and help us prevent spam. You have a limited time to type - you may wish to compose your comment in a separate document and paste it here upon completion.

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

Advertisement

Search This Blog

About Crunchy Con

Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.

feed icon Subscribe

RSS Feed

Receive updates from Crunchy Con

Advertisement

Advertisement


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.