March 29, 2001

12:49 AM

Jesse's Mistress Writing A Tell-All.The mother of Jesse Jackson's love child is penning a tell-all book alleging she received a secret payoff of $450,000 from the civil-rights leader, that to prove Jackson was the father of her 22-month-old daughter, she froze a condom containing his sperm, that before giving birth to their child, Karin was pregnant by Jesse a previous time, but had an abortion at his request, and that after learning of the affair, Jackson's wife, Jackie, was so angry that she pointed a gun at him in their Chicago home and had to be restrained by a guest.
posted by frednorman (10 comments total)

Wait a second, the NY Post is basically borrowing a story from The National Enquirer? Wtf?
posted by crushed at 3:28 AM on March 29, 2001

wow yawn whatever
posted by lagado at 4:21 AM on March 29, 2001

Run, Jesse, Run!
posted by darren at 6:30 AM on March 29, 2001

I wonder why no one comments on this. I'd imagine if say tomorrow the same happened to J.C. Watts there'd be hundreds of comments.
posted by tiaka at 7:41 AM on March 29, 2001

J.C. Watts goes around preaching family values - it's a major plank in his personal platform, and not something he's addressed now and then -- and basically implying that he is better than other people from the standpoint of personal morality. Not stating outright, but implying so. This is not stated to endorse Jackson's actions (of course, of course), or to imply that his own moral authority has not been undercut, but simply to state the obvious.

And since when is poor reporting a thing not to be attacked by liberals and conservatives alike? It matters not to me who attacked what here in the past. The article's not only sloppy, but so transparently ideological that you can see the smirk on the writer's face. The giveaway is the Regenery Publishing as a "major publisher" bit at the end. This was ideological in the same way Salon's recent article about Jenna bush and marijuana was. And if you'll check the latter article -- written, ironically enough, by a conservative from Newsday -- was attacked by would-be sympathetic letter writers for being inexcusably sloppy.
posted by raysmj at 8:06 AM on March 29, 2001

Every week (about the point a new issue is released) I hear somebody say, "Since when is the National Enquirer doing serious journalism?"

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but they kinda are. They have a new slogan: Get it first. Get it fast. Get it right. And their delivery trucks say No Elvis. No aliens. No UFOs.

Now, since all the tabs are basically owned by one company -- until last year it was two, read the article -- all they're really doing is some brand fine-tuning. The Star is still doing sleazy celeb covers, the Globe is still doing alien Elvis UFOs. But the Enquirer is actually trying to get scoops.
posted by dhartung at 8:13 AM on March 29, 2001

dhartung: You forgot the Weekly World News, also owned by the Enquirer's parent company. Its "alien" visits with political figures have, along with many other features, actually served a formidable political barometer. When Rush is seen talking with the alien, the GOP takes over Congress. A couple of years later he's whispering in Bill's ear, foreshadowing the Clinton reelection. I'd pay attention if I were you.
posted by raysmj at 8:49 AM on March 29, 2001

This just in...Jesse Jackson caught in gay love triangle with Batboy and Bigfoot. Bigfoot denies claim, blames the whole debacle on the Yeti.
posted by mrBMsandwich at 1:32 PM on March 29, 2001

Today's headline on my Weekly World News daily calendar: "Mourners gasp in horror as . . . Corpse Sits Up In Coffin And Burps!" Yes, a regular bulwark of journalistic integrity.
posted by OneBallJay at 1:48 PM on March 29, 2001

Hey! I have a Weekly World News desk cube calendar. The headline for March is "Space Alien Baby Survives UFO Crash" and is accompanied by a really creepy looking picture.

I liked last month's a LOT better - "Farmer Develops The Elvis Chicken! New bird sports slick hairdos--& swivel their hips when the walk!" The photo is great.
posted by phichens at 7:54 PM on March 29, 2001