Yes, we can.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, since the president presents Supreme Court judges for appointment, his or her views on abortion might be tangentially important. His or her views on equal marriage rights even less so, but that, too, will eventually come to the Supreme Court.


But as for this question, here and now, and the presidential candidates' positions ... it amounts to less than a hill of beans. Would many of Obama's supporters vote to revoke equal marriage rights? Would many of McCain's supporters hesitate to do so?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Am I the only one thinking, "Oh good, Jesse Jackson's gone and shown that he and Obama aren't on the same page."

[innerSpaceman]

Um, yes, you are.









(Only 'cause I don't know what that is all about)

[wendybeth]

That's because Jesse is pandering to his perceived constituency, and were I a member I would be insulted by his comments. He's just jealous because Obama might actually win the spot he coveted, and he's doing so by reaching out to all people, not just a particular demographic. I'll bet Obama has a cleaner personal record as well.

[Gemini Cricket]

"See, Barack's been talking down to black people ... I want to cut his nuts off." ~ Rev. Jesse Jackson

My, my! What horrible fantasies this reverend has!

[scaeagles]

I find this fascinating on so many fronts.

My first thought is that it was staged. The unbreakable and first rule of wearing a mic is that it is ALWAYS on and Jackson knows this. I am almost going conspiratorial on this and thinking it was staged. Obama is in the midst of a HUGE attempt to appear as if he is in the center (which has moved him to flip flop even more than McCain is at present - a hard thing to do indeed), so why not set it up to have people like Jackson talk badly about him?

Then I think that I'm wrong. It could simply be petty jealousy. Or even legit disagreement that Jackson vented in an unfortunate way (for him - no matter the reason, this is beneficial to Obama).

Then I think if this was a white person he would be crucified. Jackson is getting off easy.

Very interesting indeed.

[flippyshark]

I kind of doubt that Jackson would go along with a conspiracy that required him to purposefully make himself the bad guy. On the other hand, he has frequently volunteered to be a phobic dumbass all on his own.

I just love that his apology for this contains a mention of "I wasn't speaking on record," as if that diminishes the offensiveness of the remark. (It's like when you get this from some so-called friend - "Gosh, I'm sorry you overheard me calling you an asshole. I didn't mean for you to hear it. Honestly. So, we're cool, right?") He gave the exact same lame non-justification when he referred to NYC's Jewish constituency as "hymietown." He apologized and immediately indicated that it was a private remark. Hell, that makes it even worse, doesn't it?

Okay, I've rolled my eyes enough for today.

[BarTopDancer]

Rolling Stone has a great article on Obama, how he put his campaign crew together and some of their inner workings.

[BarTopDancer]

So Jackson thinks Obama is talking down to "black people" because he speaks like the educated man he is and he doesn't speak to them like they are stupid?

I'm confused.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, I agree with Jackson's sentiment. Obama's recent rant about black dads abandoning their kids was, although identifying a true problem, way off the mark and very insulting in insisting it was the root of all problems for blacks in America.


Not to excuse either Jackson's stupidity with a microphone or assholery with personal sentiment.