Something else we can blame Jesse Jackson for: in a discussion of the n-word on The View -- in which both the show's black panelists defended their right to use it -- resident tight-ass Elisabeth Hasselbeck nearly was brought to tears by Whoopi Goldberg's aggressive deployment of the slur.

As you can see from this clip, the censors at ABC must have worn out their fingers on the audio mute button, cutting out Goldberg's many, many variations on "nigger."

I myself find it ironic that one of the show's most white bread figures was the person who got most upset by the exchange (it's no surprise that black folks' complex relationship to the n-word is beyond the capacity of Whoopi, Elisabeth or Sherri Shepherd to articulate on TV). Note to poor Elisabeth: You have got to stop picking fights that you don't have the heart to finish. You haven't seen your hero George Bush getting all weepy over any of his bonehead moves, have you?