CAMPAIGN RELATED: Jesse Jackson Apologizes For Comments About Barack Obama -- SEE THE VIDEO

Jesse Jackson was caught saying things about Barack Obama he wished no one heard....
There was an open microphone...
FOX News and Bill O'Reilly show the clip tonight...
Now, Jackson is apologizing well ahead of the tapes....

Here is how Jackson described what happened.... (from CNN this afternoon).
I was in a conversation with a fellow guest at Fox on Sunday. He asked about Barack's
speeches lately at the black churches. I said it can come off as speaking down to black people.
The moral message must be a much broader message. What we need really is racial justice and
urban policy and jobs and healthcare. There is a range of issues on the menu.
And frankly, I think that is his basic urban policy position. No one else has put one together
except him in the situation.
And then I said something I felt regret for -- it was crude. It was very private, and very much a
sound bite -- and a live mike. And so I feel -- I find no comfort in it, I find no joy in it. So I
immediately called the senator's campaign to send my statement of apology to repair. READ THE FULL CNN TRANSCRIPT.

Here's the apology from Jackson. "For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize. My support for Senator Obama’s campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical moment. My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility.... That was the context of my private conversation and it does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms."

A spokesperosn for Obama said this on his behalf: “As someone who grew up without a father in the home, Senator Obama has spoken and written for many years about the issue of parental responsibility, including the importance of fathers participating in their children’s lives. He also discusses our responsibility as a society to provide jobs, justice, and opportunity for all. He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson’s apology.”

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