On the January 5 edition of CNN's Crossfire, co-host Tucker Carlson claimed that Reverend Jesse Jackson, while appearing as a guest on Crossfire, has quoted God and has stated that God has spoken to him. Carlson's remark came in response to co-host Paul Begala's criticism of Reverend Pat Robertson's 2005 New Year's predictions and his claim that they were based on what God told him, which Media Matters for America noted on January 4. According to all available Crossfire transcripts (which date back to 1991), Jackson has appeared 41 times as a guest on Crossfire. He mentioned God or Jesus on eight of those occasions, but never purported to quote God directly or said that God had spoken to him.
From the January 5 edition of Crossfire:
BEGALA: Well, the folks at Media Matters for America report that, this week, Reverend Pat Robertson, one of my favorites, revealed that God told him -- quote -- “I will remove judges from the Supreme Court quickly, and their successors will refuse to sanction the attacks on religious faith” -- unquote. God also told Reverend Robertson President Bush that will pass his Social Security and tax cut bills.
[...]
CARLSON: I hope that the next time Jesse Jackson gets up and tells us that Jesus supports affirmative action or set-asides on a highway program, you will stand up with me and tell him to shut up.
[...]
CARLSON: So you like it when the left does it, but not when the right does. Well, at least you're honest. At least you're honest.
BEGALA: I don't like people quoting God. I don't like people saying, God spoke to me.
CARLSON: OK. When the Reverend Jesse Jackson does it, I hope, again, you will join me in denouncing him.
BEGALA: Jesse doesn't quote God.
CARLSON: Yes, he does.
BEGALA: He doesn't say God spoke to him.
CARLSON: Every time he does on this show.
BEGALA: No, he quotes scripture.
Jackson has written that “Jesus was a liberal” [Chicago Sun-Times editorial, 8/3/04] and that “Jesus said feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the needy--a liberal spirit of compassion and love” [Chicago Tribune, 10/13/96]. He has also written that “God is not a political animal.... It isn't a question of whether God is on America's side. The question is whether America is on God's side” [Chicago Sun-Times, 11/9/04]. His Crossfire mentions of Jesus and God were consistent with these writings:
From the November 5, 2004, edition of Crossfire:
JACKSON: How do we defend the poor and deliver the needy? Jesus's position was that I've been -- in order to preach to the Gospel, to preach good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted and to set the captives free. We seem to have set aside the basic moral, ethical mission of the church for issues that are essentially diversionary. ... I am not attacking. But I am saying you do measure your Christianity by how you defend the poor and deliver the needy. So, one, for instance, that the rich young ruler would give tax cuts to the wealthy, looking from mansion down. Jesus would tend to give to those who need minimum wage, who need health care, who need affordable housing. How you treat the least of these is the measure of your Christian character.
From the January 8, 2004, edition of Crossfire:
CARLSON: [Former Vermont Governor] Howard Dean revealed recently that God instructed him to make civil unions among gays legal. God apparently is against gay marriage, however, because Howard Dean is against gay marriage. Why would God be in favor of civil unions, but not in favor of gay marriage?
JACKSON: Well, I think this manipulation of God in the middle of campaigns is not a good thing. We measure the character of our religion by how we defend the poor, by how we deliver the needy. And there's a great contrast between those who fight for those babies in the manger and those who side with the politics of [biblical era King] Herod, those who support the poor and those who support the rich young rulers. So we're measured more by our political policy as political leaders, than we are by the private utterings of our faith.
From the November 17, 1999, edition of Crossfire:
JACKSON: Wait, wait, wait, wait. And they balance the scales of justice every day. See, I think because of our fear of [school shooting incidents in] Columbine and Paducah and Pearl -- well, zero violence did not stop the madness in those schools. Now, I think we should minimize violence. I mean, you know, where's our judgment? God has zero tolerance for sin. Because of grace and mercy, there's a sense of judgment, a sense of balance, a sense of second chance. Our children deserve chances and opportunities for redemption.
From the May 27, 1999, edition of Crossfire:
CARLSON: Reverend Jackson, isn't this a little bit awkward for you? You were over there, it seems to me just recently, with [former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] Milosevic, who had photographs taken of you two holding hands and talking. Now he's a war criminal.
JACKSON: Holding hands and praying.
CARLSON: And praying. I imagine doing some talking as well.
JACKSON: Indeed.
CARLSON: But, now he's a war criminal, this person with whom you have been associated. Aren't you just a little bit ashamed of yourself?
JACKSON: We called him -- just as Moses prayed to God to the heart of pharaoh, and said, 'let my people go.' I prayed the same for him and he let our three soldiers go. Thank God for that.
From the May 4, 1999, edition of Crossfire:
[begin video clip]
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): I do feel that there's -- it's very difficult for me to comprehend someone holding hands with a butcher like Milosevic, but that's something Mr. -- Reverend Jackson will have to explain. But anything that brought about the return of our Americans, then I have to be delighted about.
[end video clip]
[BILL] PRESS [former co-host]: That was actually -- Reverend Jackson, how do you explain that to Senator McCain?
JACKSON: Well, tell him [McCain] that Jesus held the hand of sinners because that was the right thing to do, but tell him more that -- see, he, as a prisoner of war -- I could have bailed him out as a POW [prisoner of war]. As a prisoner of Washington, with political ambitions, I might have a rope long enough to get him. And so he knows that it is our -- it is sacrilegious to question the power of prayer. Our prayers were heard. We prayed the same prayer Moses prayed: “Pharaoh, harden not your heart and let my people go.” Our prayers apparently were a factor in their release, and I thank God for that.
From the September 11, 1998, edition of Crossfire:
JACKSON: You know, Mr. [Senator] Ashcroft [R-MO], when Susan Smith killed her two babies in South Carolina and said that an imaginary black man did it who didn't exist -- there was all this racial tension around that for a few days -- I appealed to the state of South Carolina to not kill her; to give her life without parole, and thanks be to God that was granted. There was no hue and cry for that woman to be killed. I am glad it was not. I am simply trying to be consistent on the moral question. Do you think she should have died?
From the June 12, 1996, edition of Crossfire:
REP. BOB BARR [R-GA]: Okay, let's deal with the facts. Okay, Congress is doing something about it. We're doing something positive. Let me show you something here. This was a picture that appeared in the paper of a couple of blacks that had gone down again for a photo op down to one of these churches, standing here with black Muslims holding AR-15 assault rifles and Thompson 45-caliber machine guns. You talk about images of hate. You talk about photo ops.
[...]
JACKSON: I don't think we should fight fire with fire --
BARR: It's in the paper --
JACKSON: Or fight God -- because I think that it is the job of FBI and our government to catch arsonists who burn fires.