Video- Jesse Jackson confronts Tea Baggers

Now that's the way to handle them, just laugh in their faces.

Poll-itics: Obama Senate replacement edition

By GottaLaff

Tammy's second?

A new Zogby poll in Illinois finds Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is the favorite among possible replacements to fill the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

"The survey shows that, given a choice of 10 possible candidates, 21% think Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) should appoint Jackson to the seat when Obama leaves it vacant to ascend to the presidency, far more than the rest of the field. Tammy Duckworth (D), a former congressional candidate from a suburban Chicago district, is the only other potential candidate to win double-digit support -- 14% said she should be appointed."

Well, it is Zogby, after all.

Most enduring image of election night: The Photo

By GottaLaff

To me, this is a moment that will be remembered more vividly than most:

I was liveblogging throughout the entire election day/night, so I didn't allow myself the luxury of savoring specific moments. But when I looked up at my TV set and saw this image, I literally stopped and stared. I then scrambled to capture it in a screen shot, but too late.

Obama won. I still have to pinch myself. It will take a few more pinches to process the fact that we have an intelligent, well-spoken leader who actually cares about trivialities like "we the people", the U.S. Constitution, and the well-being of his country/the rest of the world.

Steal Back Your Vote: The (non-partisan) Comic Book

By GottaLaff

Greg Palast (on behalf of himself, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Robert Kennedy, Jr.) is on the Randi Rhodes show right now, talking about this, and about how 3 million new voters (they're targeting newly registered voters, and guess who they are) have been already purged in one state (missed which one, could have been California), and so, so many more in other states.

He also strongly urges NOT to vote by mail. I've said this before, I bring my absentee ballot to the polling place and hand it to them. It's paper, and it's traceable.

Oh, and a provisional ballot, aka voting conditionally, is not "voting for real". Do not accept a provisional ballot. He says it's better to call a lawyer (an Election Protection Attorney) instead.

Steal Back Your Vote lays out the Six Ways They’re Stealing the Election – and the Seven Ways you can Steal It Back. It’s a 24-page downloadable graphic guide - an investigative comic book. It’s non-partisan, it’s humorous, it’s harrowing and it’s helpful.

And we need your name on it. The non-partisan guide’s initial sponsors include Voto Latino, Operation Rainbow/PUSH, Progressive Magazine and VoteRescue; individual sponsors include troubadour Willie Nelson and Code Pink’s Annie Nelson. [...]

You know Bobby’s work. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blew the lid off the Theft of 2004 in his masterful Rolling Stone article. Many of you know me for my BBC television report that exposed Katherine Harris' "fake felon purge" of Black citizens in 2000.

This is too important to ignore. Make a donation if you can.

John McLaughlin calls Obama an "Oreo"

By GottaLaff

+ =

John McLaughlin is in hot water. Maybe I should call him a hard-boiled egg:

Longtime Washington talk-show host John McLaughlin is facing fire Monday for referring to Barack Obama as an "Oreo" during a segment on his Sunday political program, "The McLaughlin Group.

Or maybe I should refer to him as John Imus. Either way, he was discussing the Jesse Jackson hot mic moment.

Referencing Jackson's comments, McLaughlin said Obama "fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo — a black on the outside, a white on the inside."

"Does it frost Jackson, Jesse Jackson, that…an Oreo should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fighting for?" McLaughlin asked his panelists.

The term "Oreo" is often viewed as a derogatory term toward some African-Americans who appear not to exhibit certain stereotypes of their race.

Panelist Peter Beinart, a senior fellow on the Council of Foreign Relations, immediately called that depiction of Obama "completely unfair."

Yeah, "unfair"... "derogatory"... demeaning... disdainful... offensive... pejorative... Oh, I could go on, but I'm sure there will be a lot more. After all, it's only July. I need to save up some adjectives for the next one, or 30.

Video: Lou Dobbs and Jesse Jackson's "remarks"

By GottaLaff


Hey, as long as he's sorry... Oh, and Lou Dobbs can go jump in a lake. I'm fresh out of snark and into outraged mode.

UPDATE: Listen carefully... Lou Dobbs misquotes Jackson. The correct quote is in my post down thread.

That was fast: O'Reilly Factor to Air Video of Jesse Jackson Comments About Barack Obama

By GottaLaff

Quel surprise: (UPDATE: The quote is at the end of this post)

Breaking: The O'Reilly Factor will air exclusive video of the Rev. Jesse Jackson making disparaging comments about Sen. Barack Obama. TVNewser has learned the comments were made prior to an interview Jackson did Sunday morning on Fox & Friends. We're told some of the comments are so raw that O'Reilly will most likely only run a couple of soundbites.

The video will show Jackson chatting with Reid Tuckson, EVP of United Health Group. The two were at Fox News Channel's Chicago bureau getting ready to be interviewed about a new health care initiative.

Jackson was apparently unaware his microphone was hot when he made the comments about Obama, which we're told are racial in nature.

Oh, swell. My original post tells the back story. Here's a little more:

Later, during The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer and Lemon interviewed Jackson about his comments. At one point, Blitzer said, "because it's so crude, we can't even repeat it on the air right now."

Oh, it gets better (worse):

When reached for comment about the story, a Fox News spokesperson said, "We want to thank CNN for driving tune-in to The O'Reilly Factor tonight."

> More: Jackson will respond to the hot mic comments at 8pmET tonight — but on CNN, not FNC. He will be interviewed by Campbell Brown during CNN Election Center...

> More, More: Matt Drudge Reports Jackson will hold a news conference at 6pmET...

UPDATE: CNN video... Jackson's quote was that Obama was "talking down" to African Americans and that he wanted "to cut Obama's nuts off."

On CNN just now, they said the Obama campaign accepts Jackson's apology.

Jesse Jackson to Obama: I'm sorry I got caught

By GottaLaff

But love is never having to say you're ... never mind:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson issued an apology to Barack Obama Wednesday for making what he called a "crude and hurtful" remark about the Illinois senator's recent comments directed toward some members of the black community.

Awww, that is so sweet, so conciliatory, so-- :: brakes go SCREEEEECH!::

According to Jackson, a Fox News microphone picked up comments he meant to deliver privately that seemed to disparage the presumptive Democratic nominee for appearing to lecture the black community on morality.

Those damn Fox-ups!

Jackson didn't elaborate on the context of his remarks, except to say he was trying to explain that Obama was hurting his relationship with black voters by recently conducting "moral" lectures at African-American churches.

Jackson's apology came a few hours before Fox News planned to air the remarks.

Timing is everything.

Speaking to CNN Wednesday, Jackson said he feels "very distressed" over the comments.

I'm sure he does. I'd be distressed, too, if those Fox folks Foxed me over. In his own words:

"This is a sound bite in a broader conversation about urban policy and racial disparities. I feel very distressed because I'm supportive of this campaign and with the senator, what he has done and is doing," he said. "I said he comes down as speaking down to black people. The moral message must be a much broader message. What we need really is racial justice and urban policy and jobs and health care. That's a range of issues on the menu.

"Then I said something I regret was crude. It was very private. And very much a sound bite," he also said.

Crude? Private? Sound bite? That sounds supportive to me.

In a statement issued earlier Wednesday to CNN, Jackson said, "For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize. My support for Senator Obama’s campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical moment."

Am I being too hard on Mr. Jackson?

The Obama campaign had no immediate comment.

Well, I do. This is no way to show his "wide, deep, unequivocal" support for Obama, private or otherwise. And come on, you'd think he'd be more savvy.