Does Jesse Jackson help?

Or does he tend to grandstand?

Who knows his history well enough to say he tends to help causes he attaches himself to. Or is he more about self-agrandizement.

Does he help more than he hurts or vice versa?

I guess I didn't appreciate hearing how he bashed Kerry in public for not attending a rally thirty miles away from where Kerry was appearing. Was he asked to appear, I wonder? Did Jesse have to be so public?

which was an appearance to attend a rally with Stephanie Tubb Jones in a mostly black neighborhood in Ohio.

the Jesse Jackson thing was not scheduled with the campaign. when jackson asked him to come he already had the scheduled appearance i mentioned above where he had to be at.

I thought the Jesse thing might be a low blow.

(sigh) we don't get to pick our advocates do we. Bev taught us that. But dang, don't eat our own.

i know you say this is your first campaign or first interest in politics so it might affect you more.

i use to worry about every little criticism of my party and candidates. but it's just the way it is in politics.

jesse jackson was this way with bill clinton also and recently with hillary clinton where he said she told him she would do something which she didn't.

believe me, it's a waste of time responding or worrying about every little thing that comes from the media and other public figures. it's much better to just get out there and talk to friends, family, people in your community.

I'm not a big fan of his. I think Jesse is a very polarizing figure, which as we well know, is not necessarily a good thing. Basically, I think he wants to recapture the glory days of the Civil Rights movement, and in order to do so, sometimes he creates controversy where none should exist.

I am from a small town near Decatur, Illinois, a mid size industrial city in central Illinois. Decatur's population is about 12% black. Well, several years ago, there was an incident at a football game at Eisenhower High School, one of the large public schools in Decatur (and the one which happened to have most of the low income inner city kids attending). Anyway, during the game, five or six kids - all black - started fighting in the stands, running across the bleachers, nearly knocking people over, generally being public menaces. I know this because it was caught on tape, because the school was filming the game.

In response, the school decided to expel all the students involved. Crime is a very serious problem in Decatur, and gang violence is way more than you'd think it would be in a town in central Illinois. I can't remember if the fight was gang related or not. Anyway, kids get expelled.

Well, along comes Jesse. He COMES to Decatur to protest the expulsion, alleging racism in the school board's decision. He calls Decatur "another Selma" - the ludicrousness of which statement astounded even my yellow dog Dem mother. He organizes a "civil rights march," carries on, just generally stirs up shit for a few weeks, earns Decatur national media attention, all because he decided that if a black kid gets expelled from school for fighting, the motive must be racist.

I can't remember if the school overturned the decision or not. I don't think it did. I do know the one kid Jesse specially advocated for (because he had the best grades of the bunch, or the least troublesome record, or something) ended up getting arrested and sent to juvie. For what reason, I've no clue.

So I guess I don't really respect Jesse all that much. Calling the Eisenhower High School school board racist and alleging that Decatur was "another Selma" was so far over the top for me. It was clear that Jesse misses the good old days of activism and actual meaningful struggle for equality, and was thus willing to blow a relatively common disciplinary action way out of proportion in a misguided attempt to recreate the glory days of protest. It failed pretty spectacularly.

Then, when he insisted on bashing Kerry repeatedly (after Kerry has been nothing but kind to him - I saw a speech he gave to the NAACP in which he sang Jesse's praises), I lost what meager respect I had for him. No, do not count me among the world's Jesse Jackson fans. I think he's all about attention and aggrandizement - not unlike a certain former Green Party candidate whose name we shall not mention.

...They're both true.

Nobody gets spared his invective at times...he throws a lot of shit at the wall, and it doesn't always stick. But he's really good at rallying people, and a lot of people admire him for real good that he's done. For an example of how he works, a few years ago here in Chicago he led this big drive to stop the utilities companies from cutting off poor people in winter/reaming them with exorbitant rates. He did all the huckster tricks: showing off the most extreme cases, flinging horrid insults at the fat cats, calling for turmoil in the streets, etcetera. And of course they didn't get much of what they were asking for--but eventually there was some real reform, and some more heating and cooling centers opened, and improved policies helping people pay bills, etc.

He's a bargainer. When you're haggling with a vendor, you don't start off with the price you really expect to pay. You give a quote that's outrageous. You insult the quality of the merchandise. You imply the vendor's trying to rip people off. Then the vendor gives a performance of poverty and deep offense, and quotes a slightly lower price, etc....