Weekly Jackass Number Forty-Nine: The Rev. Jesse Jackson
There are thousands of ways to fill in the blank in the following sentence:
The most dangerous place in Washington is between _______ and a camera,
but surely Jesse Jackson’s name fills it better than most. Is there a cause too far afield for Jackson to involve himself in? More to the point, once he involves himself, does he contribute anything of substance?
The most recent example is fresh off the presses, as Jackson campaigns for Terrell Owens’ 1-year suspension by the Philadelphia Eagles to be lifted. Yep, that’s right; our troops are being killed by suicide bombers, and Jackson is concerned with the welfare of a young egotistical multimillionnaire. Jackson’s defense is laughingly incorrect:
Terrell Owens did an interview last week and engaged in some unsportsmanlike speech, deemed detrimental to the team, but nonetheless free speech.
Ummm, no; there is no First Amendment issue here…this is the National Football League, not a government agency.
This bizarre concern over a petty sports contract would be enough on its own to warrant the prize, but it comes on the heels of an absolutely vile editoral Jackson wrote concerning the Samuel Alito nomination:
Over the last weeks, the nation has paid fitting tribute to Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement which she helped to spark. But even as he praised Rosa Parks, Bush nominated a judge who would reverse much of what she fought for.
Jackson’s evidence, such as it is? That Alito would prefer to follow the intent of the Founding Fathers and reserve for the states such powers as not specifically enumerated in the Constitution…per, um, the Constitution. This, you see, makes him an opponent of civil rights because some states once enshrined racism…never mind that said racism was unconstitutional, and thus rightly struck down by the Supreme Court.
Nonsense? Of course it is…but Jackson is not concerned with such niceties as the ‘truth’; no, it merely suffices that Alito doesn’t kowtow to the views of the Jesse Jacksons who see discrimination hiding under every nook and cranny; that is enough to earn him this slander.
Of course, there are many, many other reasons we could award this week’s prize to Jackson; indeed, entire books could (and have) been written detailing his infamous words and deeds. Suffice to say, this one is long overdue…
UPDATE 11:03 a.m.: For more cluelessness in action, don’t miss the latest installment of the Carnival of the Clueless, presented in living Technicolor by Rick Moran…
UPDATE 11/14/05 6:45 a.m.: Thanks to Betsy Newmark for the link…
Free speech isn’t cost free even though it is a Right. The cost comes in the form of accepting the consequences of your speech. Honor and respect flow to those that do: Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King leap to mind.
I couldn’t bring myself to read Jackson’s remarks so I have a question: did he compare the NFL to Selma?
Pundit Roundtable
Hi folks, and welcome back to PUNDIT ROUNDTABLE. I am your host, Ken McCracken, and this week we present a ‘early election’ edition of the Roundtable,looking forward to the elections of ’06. The questions for our pundits this week…
Here’s the real question:
WWCD about TO if she were NFL commissioner? And would Jackson consider her racist?
Well, she won’t have to worry so much about TO because by the time she’s NFL commissioner (after being vice president and president) his 15 minutes will be long expired…
too many steves, he stopped short of that…just short…
Charles Krauthammer dealt with the “What about Brown v. B of E?” question best:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/21/AR2005042101014.html
“[P]roponents of judicial imperialism immediately resort to their trump card: Brown v. Board of Education and the courts’ role in ending Jim Crow.
But Brown was different. The race cases were cases of a disenfranchised citizenry. The representative branches of government were legitimately superseded because they were not representative.”
Mark, I actually think you’re giving Jesse Jackson WAY too much credit. IMHO, he doesn’t see discrimination hiding in every nook and cranny; he doesn’t even look for it. Ol’ Jesse is about two things only: stroking his ego by making sure he gets plenty of face time in front of the camera and stroking his (and his sons) bank accounts by shaking down Corporate America.
Right On fatman! Face Time = Growth in the Bank Account. Which is all you need to know about Jesse Jackson (and, btw, Al Sharpton). Which, in a nod to the PC Police, is all that the 700 Club is about too.
Does Jesse Jackson have a job or is it just to stir up trouble?
i do not have the eloquence of mark, or colin, or T/M/S, or clint.
jesse jackson is a racist.
Personally, I find simple and clear messages to be quite eloquent.
CARNIVAL OF THE CLUELESS #22
This late, late edition of the Carnival is dedicated to Nyquil, Actifed,, Robitussin, and my sainted Irish grandmother’s concoction of one part Lipton Tea, one part (Irish) whiskey, and one part barley soup. Of course, Irish whiskey is one of th…
Thomas, there is shady eloquence in your ravings. Keep up the good work, and don’t let the darkies get you down.
You de man, and funny too.
Thomas’s comment has been deleted…I don’t often do that, but that was WAY over the line. You’ve been warned, Thomas…another one like that, and I’ll ban you…
Jackson and Sharpton are nothing more than race hucksters……..unfortunately the current effette white established is cowed by race guilt..
Just like givng a spoiled child everything they want, the behaviour continues to worsen, not get better..
They are not about equanimity between races but about putting the white race into slavery….
This wont stand and eventually rational blacks will put them in their place, or there will be a new separate but equal effort…