almost okay

The Open Mike Boner of the Year Award for 2008 has to go to Jesse Jackson for his crude aside to a fellow program guest while appearing on Fox News last Sunday. Thinking his microphone was turned off, Jackson expressed his frustration with Senator Obama, claiming that the presumptive Democratic nominee for President was “talking down to black people”. Jackson's remedy for Obama's pompous condescension? “I want to cut his nuts off.”

Of course! Why didn't the Ku Klux Klan think of that? Oh, you say they did? A long time ago? Hmmm...

When in God's name are we going to get over this Black vs. White thing? In the case of Jackson and Obama it becomes even sillier: Too-Black vs. Not-Black-Enough. Isn't it about fucking time that we started just believing in the best candidate and electing him to do the job?

After realizing that he'd committed a huge faux pas, Jackson attempted to make things right by apologizing even before the network had a chance to air the conversation, mostly because he believed that the public airing of his private comments would “violate the context” of them. I'm not quite sure under what circumstances Rev. Jackson thinks it's acceptable to recommend castration (other than for a family pet), but it sounds to me as if he thinks wanting Obama's testicles in a jar is just fine as long as nobody hears him say so.

What bothers me most about this incident isn't that the remark itself was crude, but that it involved fantasizing about extremely violent behavior as punishment for the use of words. It's a typical, thug-like macho mentality that would prevail in this world if it weren't for the rule of law and order, and it's not all that different from the rationale that a Klansman from the forties might have used to lynch a black man who had dared to speak to a white woman.

No, Jackson's remark hinges on the very fact that we still (in 2008 for Christ's sake!) do not see people without looking at the color of their skin, and that we expect certain behavior from those people based solely on that color.

It's just not fucking right.

To complicate matters further and embarrass Rev. Jackson even more, his own son, Jesse Jackson, Jr. - a Congressman from Illinois who is co-chairing Obama's Presidential campaign - was forced to publicly denounce his dad's statements. Obama has strategically chosen not to speak about it and has accepted Jackson's apology through a spokesperson.

I have to believe that a large part of Jackson's emotional reaction to Obama's current success is based on jealousy. In 1984, Rev. Jackson made his own run at the Democratic nomination for President, surprising his fellow candidates and political pundits alike with wins in South Carolina, Louisiana, D.C., Mississippi and Virginia. Unfortunately, he fell way short on the delegate count that year (by a couple bazillion), but he tried again in '88, doubling the number of his primary wins but still falling well short of the votes he'd need to garner the nomination. (Remember Michael Dukakis? The first American of Greek descent to ever run for President? In case you don't, Dukakis won the Democratic nomination that year, and was then soundly drubbed by George W.'s daddy in November.)

Anyway, those two historic campaigns made Rev. Jackson the most successful African American Presidential candidate ever, and now he's looking at the Number Two slot, which, I assume, sticks in his craw.

So in closing, please allow me to offer congratulations to Rev. Jackson on being named 'Ass of the Week', along with a little bit of advice: The next time you have some “very private” personal thoughts on cutting somebody's “nuts” off, maybe you should keep them to yourself, Rev., microphone or no microphone.

In honor of the recent Independence Day celebration, today's Craig's List girl has pulled out her most patriotic bikini and volunteered to strip it right off for only 150 Kisses. Cherry works out of the greater D.C. area and offers true GFE for the discerning upscale gentleman. Role playing and domination are her specialties. Now that's one flag I'll gladly salute.