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Post from Rachel Goodman's Blog:
Say it ain't so, Jesse.
By RachelGoodman - Mar 29th, 2005 at 1:27 pm EST
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson has joined Terri Schiavo's parents in Pinellas Park, Florida, to urge the Florida Legislature to intervene in the case. Sure, Rev. Jackson is a man of faith, and if this were really a battle about faith, his involvement might make sense. But Jackson has stood against manipulation of Christianity as a political wedge before: although he is opposed to gay marriage, he nonetheless urged black voters not to vote for Bush on that basis.

So what gives? How can Jackson justify climbing on board the media circus that the right has incited to score points over one family's tragedy? If sixty-seven percent of Americans can see the naked politicking here, it seems difficult to believe that Jackson cannot. Jackson, however, told the crowd "This is a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes."

I'm totally perplexed. Thoughts?

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Trying To Find A Purpose
By ToddHill Mar 29th 2005 at 3:50 pm EST
Jesse Jackson is trying to find a purpose, since
he no longer has one anymore. Any possibility to
grab the camera spotlight, he does that.

This isn't about morality for him, nor is he the
one to preach about moral values. After all, he
has children out of wed lock.

This is the same man who interviewed Michael
Jackson this weekend, threw him softball
questions, and then offered his prayers to him as
he works through his trial. If Jesse wants to bed
down with this issue, then he beds alone.

Todd
life
By pops Mar 30th 2005 at 7:32 pm EST
life is the reason he is doing what he is doing!
Yeah right
By ToddHill Mar 31st 2005 at 3:51 pm EST
I wish conservatives and sympathizers would show so much compassion for life when it comes to the death penalty. Or when it comes to euthanasia. That compassion could go a long way when it comes to bombing the hell out of women and children in foreign countries. What about allowing the slaughter of hundreds of men, women, and children in Sudan? What about the millions of children dying of AIDS in Africa?

If civil rights leaders and government officials want to talk about "life," lets start with those issues above first before challenging the supremecy of Judicial Review. I suspect we could have a greater impact on those issues.

Todd
  
What Jesse Doesn't See
By jg Mar 29th 2005 at 5:36 pm EST
It seems to be a certain type of misunderstanding of the real moral issues at stake here: privacy rights; separation of powers; respect for the rule of law. Jackson is wrong to be selective in his invocation of these ideas: he certainly was invoking the first and the last of these in 2000 during the recount fight. But now, back in Florida, he's ignoring these. I don't know if he's being hypocriticdal, because in order to be hypocritical you have to have a certain level of cognizance of your own hypocrisy. He may just be being uncritical in the sense that he's not doing a good job grasping the deep issues actually at work in this case.
Hmmm
By RachelGoodman Mar 29th 2005 at 6:39 pm EST
I don't know, Siddique. I don't want to misunderestimate the man, and I can't imagine he hasn't heard all the talk about rule of law, privacy, and separation of powers in the last couple of weeks. It seems to me that, for whatever reason, he's thought those things through and decided that he still comes down on the other side. I'm more inclined to go with Todd's cynical view of Jackson than to assume he doesn't grasp the significance of rule of law here.
  
Jesse's a media whore
By Assamite36 Mar 30th 2005 at 4:18 pm EST
Moving on.
  
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