Jackson Caught on Tape - The Remix

A week ago, FOX News' Bill O'Reilly aired part of a videotape of Rev. Jesse Jackson trashing Barack Obama. O'Reilly said the network "held back some of Jackson's comments because they weren't relevant."

There was no holding back the "weasel" who O'Reilly said "leaked it out to the Internet":

Barack ... he's talking down to black people ... telling ni****s how to behave.

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 9, 2008. Jackson apologized Wednesday for comments he made about Barack Obama's speeches in black churches during what he thought was a private.

"It was very private," Jackson said. A spokesman for the Obama campaign said that the Illinois senator accepts Jackson's apology. Jackson's son, however, was less kind. "I'm deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson's reckless statements," Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. said. Here, Jackson and Obama share a lighter moment in Illinois last month.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson issued an apology to Obama Wednesday after comments he made about the presidential candidate were picked up on an open microphone. After a Fox News interview on Sunday, Jackson said, "Barack, he's talking down to black people."

Skip Peterson, AP

In this Feb. 5, 2008 file photo, Rev. Jesse Jackson holds a campaign sign for Obama, D-Ill., in Chicago. Jackson said Wednesday, July 9, 2008 he's "very sorry" for comments he made about Obama during what he thought was a private conversation with a reporter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

With rumors swirling, O'Reilly went on "Studio B" to "get it all out so everyone knows."

Jackson has issued another fulsome apology, this time in a statement from Madrid, where he is traveling:

I am deeply saddened and distressed by the pain and sorrow that I have caused as a result of my hurtful words. I apologize again to Senator Barrack Obama, Michelle Obama, their children as well as to the American public. There really is no justification for my comments and I hope that the Obama family and the American public will forgive me. I also pray that we, as a nation, can move on to address the real issues that affect the American people.

For a lot of black folks, Jesse's mess is the issue. They want him to move on. He was nuts to think his use of the N-word would not come out sooner or later. Jackson's rank hypocrisy irredeemably damages the dwindling influence he has in the African American community.

Polls show the racial waters are roiling. Any interjection of race into the presidential campaign dampens Obama's appeal to white voters whose support he needs to win in November.