Jesse Jackson proves once again why he's one of the most odious figures in current public life. Lebron James, who prior to last week was the most revered athlete on the planet, makes a grand spectacle of shopping his talent and winning hundreds of millions of dollars as a reward, is like a "runaway slave?" That's not just a stretch, it's quite literally insane.

Jason Whitlock drops the hammer on Jackson for playing the race card far more effectively than I can:

Yep, it's the card. LeBron James and his kiddie handlers screwed up, staging an image-damaging public-relations disaster, and now some African-Americans want to change the subject by changing the argument.

NBA owners and their $100-million contracts are slave owners and King James is Kunta Kinte escaping on the Underground Railroad to Miami's Tootsie's Cabaret, where he'll make it rain.

It's stupid. Dan Gilbert's rant was certainly immature, but it wasn't remotely racist. [snip]

From all reports, James knew months ago he was going to Miami with Wade and Bosh. His interviews were a farce. He invited white billionaires to grovel at his feet. And Jesse Jackson wants to call Gilbert a slave owner. Please.

Lord knows Jesse Jackson played an important role in the Civil Rights struggles that helped the country come to grips with the horrendous legacy slavery left in America. But long ago Jackson turned the noble cause of Civil Rights and anti-discrimination into a one man profit industry for himself, his family, and his friends. And in the process he's become an unserious huckster and a caricature who twists every scenario - no matter how implausible or far fetched - into a replay of the segregated South in the 1960's.

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