Go get 'im Jesse.
CHICAGO - Barack Obama found himself amid yet another firestorm ignited by a Chicago pastor as the Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized Wednesday for crude comments made about the Democratic presidential candidate's speeches at black churches.
Jackson said the ``hurtful and wrong'' comments made Sunday were part of a private conversation with a fellow guest on ``Fox & Friends'' during a break from taping. The guest asked him about speeches on morality that Obama has given at black churches.
The reverend told reporters at a Chicago news conference Wednesday evening that he had said Obama's speeches can come off as speaking down to black people and that there were other important issues to be addressed in the black community, such as unemployment, the mortgage crisis and the number of blacks in prison.
The remarks apparently include a reference to male genitalia.
Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, who has been booked on the Fox program ``The O'Reilly Factor'' to respond to Jackson's comments, reported that Jackson recalled his remark as, ``The senator is cutting off his you-know-what with black people.''
Jackson, who declined to repeat the comments, told The Associated Press that he doesn't remember ``exactly'' what he said Sunday but that he was ``very sorry.''
``It was not a public speech or a declaration,'' Jackson said, adding the comments ``will not be helpful.''
``For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize,'' Jackson said earlier in a written statement. ``My support for Senator Obama's campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal.''
Jackson said he has called Obama's campaign to apologize.
``My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy...,'' Jackson's statement said of his comments.
``That was the context of my private conversation and it does not reflect any disparagement on my part ... or my pride in Senator Barack Obama,'' he said.
Jackson said he decided to apologize publicly after he heard from Fox that they would air the comments.
Obama ``of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology,'' campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.
No racism intended but it looks like the dems are putting on a minstrel show.
