Jesse Jackson, Sr. is worried for the safety of the President. The Reverend made his way to Martin Bashir‘s show today, where he was asked to comment on Republican disrespect of the president. And while the conversation began on the topic of acceptable political discourse, literally within the same sentence Jackson turns around and warns of the possibility that “somebody shoots an AK-47 in the White House.” Huh?

Rev. Jesse Jackson has been fairly mum lately in the public sphere, but he emerged today to talk race and politics with Eric Bolling– not exactly an ideological ally– and had an opinion or two on the effect the economy has affected Americans. Specifically, he noted that the housing crisis that began in 2008 with subprime mortgages was targeted at black Americans and “flat-out discrimination.”

As the Herman Cain potential sexual harassment scandal continues to unfold, Bill O’Reilly has begun to question where civil rights leaders are standing on this issue, particularly Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. On his program last night, O’Reilly inquired as to was keeping them quiet, particularly since Cain had himself noted he believed race was a factor in the scrutiny. In a passionate but friendly exchange, O’Reilly challenged Dr. Marc Lamont Hill to give a non-partisan reason for their silence, to which he replied in sum that they had learned their lessons about jumping to defend people without all the facts.

Rachel Maddow was curious why now all of sudden, many states are trying to change voting laws and concluded “it is getting harder to vote, and the way it’s getting harder to vote targets likely Democratic voters.” Her guest, Jesse Jackson agreed, but he also put the struggle for voter rights in the larger context of the need to compete against anti-Obama mania that seeks to “undermine democratic access.”

It finally happened. After two and a half years of pleading with the public for a chance to be heard, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich finally took the stand today in his defense. As one would expect from his many media appearances, Blagojevich adamantly denied any wrongdoing, but also, according to press in the room, put the jury to sleep with an unnecessarily elongated biography that detailed his disco years and love of Elvis.

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is taking some ribbing in the blogosphere for a rant against the job-killing iPad on the floor of the House, in contrast to his effusive praise of another Apple device as a jobs engine just last month. However, if you listen to a fuller context of his remarks, he’s actually not slamming the iPad or the iPod, but our consumer economy for not retaining a manufacturing base.

A former employee of Jesse Jackson‘s Rainbow Push Coalition says he was fired for being gay. On TODAY, NBC’s Pete Williams reports the accuser, Tommy Bennett, worked for Rev. Jackson in Chicago for two and a half years. During that time, Bennett claims he was subjected to overt anti-gay treatment, including workers refusing to work under his supervision, and an “office prayer” that asked God to “get these homosexuals out of here, and do it in Jesus’ name.”

And then, there’s a graphic allegation about Jesse Jackson himself, including “gestures and comments” that Bennett interpreted as an “invitation for sexual contact.”

Rev. Jesse Jackson has arrived on the scene in Wisconsin and told Megyn Kelly today that “we need a better deal for the American worker.” He also warned there would be an escalation of the protests as a result of the bill passed by Wisconsin Republicans. Kelly questioned why the answer isn’t to vote out Republicans next time rather than continue to protest now, but Jackson insisted that the injustice was too great to ignore.

Glenn Beck has been on Fox News now for a good two years– he’s heard it all. But it’s rare to find any profound level of disapproval among his Fox family. On last night’s Follow the Money on Fox Business, colleague Alan Colmes repeatedly denounced Beck’s use of Nazi references and apocalyptic rhetoric, shouting over a half-amused, half-disappointed panel that he was “sick and tired” of what he perceived to be the right wing’s double-standard on violent rhetoric.

These out-of-left-field (politically as well as figuratively) labor protests in Wisconsin have brought out the weird in cable news. Glenn Beck retreated to his studio to study the rise of the Antichrist; Rachel Maddow retreated to hers to warn viewers of the shocking truth that people may hold different beliefs on the matter. Meanwhile, her colleague Ed Schultz grabbed the first flight over to revel with the union protesters and, amid cheers and chants, interview an old familiar face on the situation– Jesse Jackson.

Lawrence O’Donnell strove today to prove the magnitude of the letter published today by 400 rabbis in the Wall Street Journal asking Rupert Murdoch to condemn the repeated Holocaust references on Fox News by trying to get just two of them to agree on something. O’Donnell invited Rabbis David-Seth Kirschner and Yehuda Levin to debate the issue and found himself not even being able to cut to commercial, much less reach any common ground.

Jesse Jackson appeared on MSNBC yesterday and let it be known that President Obama better enjoy his vacation now, because in January Jackson expects a lot from the President. Not only does he want a renewed commitment to the war on poverty, but he also wants the President to go right to Congress and to stick up for the women and children Jackson meets in homeless shelters who apparently are working every day and still can’t afford the rent.

You can add this to the list of very bad things the new Arizona Immigration Law is being compared to: Terrorism. Jesse Jackon appeared on MSNBC today and told Contessa Brewer that the new law, allowing police to require proof of citizenship from anyone they “suspect” of being an illegal immigrant, is the equivalent of ‘terrorism for the innocent…you look suspicious because you are Mexican.”

ESPN’s Michael Wilbon was on CNN this morning to discuss an incident earlier this week where he, like many others in the media, falsely attributed quotes to Rush Limbaugh while reasoning that Limbaugh shouldn’t allowed to purchase a minority stake in the St. Louis Rams. Meanwhile, Limbaugh makes lemonade on the WSJ‘s Opinion page.