Word: disavows
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...midst of his foreign venture, Jackson was hit by yet another storm over Black Separatist Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam movement, whom Jackson had repeatedly refused to disavow as a political supporter. In an openly anti-Semitic tirade, Farrakhan called Judaism a "dirty religion" (some listeners heard the phrase as "gutter religion"), accused Israel of "injustice, thievery, lying and deceit," and charged that the U.S. was engaged in a "criminal conspiracy" in its support of Israel...
Noting that Jackson had claimed to be waging a moral crusade, Jewish leaders turned the morality issue against him. If Jackson did not disavow Farrakhan, they argued, then Walter Mondale should reject Jackson as unfit for any role in the party's political campaign. Caught in the controversy, Mondale faced the delicate task of trying to maintain Jewish support without alienating Jackson and his millions of black supporters...
...Jackson had any doubts about how lame his reply sounded, they were speedily dispelled. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Robert Strauss met with Jackson right after the debate and, with Mondale listening, told him sternly that a continued refusal to disavow Farrakhan would hinder party efforts to work out a convention compromise on Jackson's platform demands. Said one Jackson aide: "It was the first time I've ever seen Jesse take guff from anybody." Jackson tried unsuccessfully to phone Farrakhan; it seemed Likely that the candidate wanted to put more distance between himself and his raucous supporter...
Jackson's continued refusal to disavow Muslim demagogue Louis Farrakhan still poses a problem for would-be party unifiers, but even he has decided to concede some of his previous policy demands to prevent infighting at San Francisco. His recent well publicized love-in with Party Chairman Charles T. Manatt was an important symbolic step...
...from Jackson. None was forthcoming. Instead, Jackson commented that Coleman and Farrakhan were "two very able professionals caught in a cycle that could be damaging to their careers." He later stated that Farrakhan's apparent death threat was "counterproductive" and "wrong," but he complained that the pressures to disavow Farrakhan were a "form of harassment" by the white media. Why not badger President Reagan to reject his endorsement by the Ku Klux Klan? Jackson asked reporters. The furthest Jackson would go was to demote Farrakhan from "surrogate" to "supporter...