Jesse Jackson Says Quoting Him Incites 'Fear and Divison'

I guess being quoted as saying "Zionists control American foreign policy" has caused the anti-Semitic creep Jesse Jackson some problems.

Too damn bad.

Jesse Jackson has lashed out at Post columnist Amir Taheri for having the temerity to take note of some Jackson predictions on how a President Barack Obama would approach the Middle East.

The "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, Jackson told Taheri at the World Policy Forum in France, but the "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end during an Obama presidency.

Not surprisingly, those words had Obama's aides quickly running for cover.

A spokesman stressed that Jackson is "not an adviser to the Obama campaign and is therefore in no position to interpret or share Barack Obama's views on Israel and foreign policy."

As for Jackson himself, he accused our colleague of trying "to incite fear and division" and of "selectively imposing his own point of view and distorting mine."

But he didn't actually deny saying what Taheri said he said. And, Jackson's protests notwithstanding, there's really no alternate interpretation to a charge that "Zionists . . . have controlled American policy for decades."

Again, he meant what he said.

Until things blew up in his face.

Obama's hacks objected to the report.

Barack Obama's campaign yesterday sharply rejected a Post columnist's report that Jesse Jackson expects the Democrat to reduce Israel's clout at the White House.

Jackson himself denounced columnist Amir Taheri for "selectively imposing his own point of view and distorting mine" in the Tuesday column.

The column said Jackson predicted to a policy forum in France last week that "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end, and added in an interview that Zionists would lose a great deal of their clout if Obama is elected.

So accurately quoting Jackson is out of line, but repeating a big lie during a debate is an acceptable practice.

Team Obama: Bringing us all together.