Hot Microphones

CNN: ELECTION CENTER
Jesse Apologizes For 'Crude' Obama Remarks

It's a funny thing about microphones in television studios... you never know when they're on or when they're off. You may have finished your interview or maybe your interview is scheduled for an hour from your arrival... you just don't know. The thing is, these microphones always happen to be on just when you're saying something that you would rather not have anybody else hear. Has anyone other than me ever noticed that?

Here's a funny story (seems like now of days, I always have one)... When I was a teenager I worked at Burger King. We had a shift manager who was F-I-N-E and all of the guys wanted to work on her shift. She would just laugh at all of the adulation. There was a PA system in her office and if she needed someone to clean up a spill or refill the milk shake machine, she would just get on the PA system and make her needs known. Well, she accidentally left the PA system on one night when she was in the office with her boyfriend (he had a deep voice, like Barry White). She said, "It's bigger than a cheesesteak... oh my God!" Then he says, "That's right baby, it's bigger than a cheesesteak and it's all for you...heh, heh, heh. " Everybody in the store heard that part of the conversation. People were laughing, clapping, and just carrying on when she came out of her office and when her man walked out of the office. We all began chanting, "Oh, look, it's CHEESESTEAK... hahahahahahahahahaha!" She realized she had left the mike on and tried to backtrack... "Oh, no... no... we were talking about a sandwich... get your mind out of the gutter!" And, of course, nobody believed her story.

Yesterday, Rev. Jesse Jackson had one of those moments... he was caught on a hot mike and on video whispering to another brother, "Obama is talking down to black people... I feel like cutting his nuts off!" The other brother had the good sense to stay stone faced and not respond. He probably realized that they were in a FOX studio. I can hear him now, "Jesse done lost his damn mind. Does he know where we is? Shoot, I ain't 'bout to be called out by The Field Negro... he's on his own. I ain't sayin' a thang... I ain't even gonna smile. Lawd, Jesse must be goin' senile!"

Today, Jesse is all over CNN apologizing for what he said. That's the thing about those "hot" mics... you never know when they're on and they always catch you saying something that you really mean but, would rather not have a whole lot of people hearing you say.

My message to Rev. Jackson... The next time you have something like that to say, make sure you are outside in the open and with a close friend who you know is not wearing a mic. I learned that much from watching "The Wire".