Paula the Greek

“Rev. Jesse Jackson: Paula Deen can be ‘redeemed,'” the Associated Press reports:

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson says he’s agreed to help celebrity chef Paula Deen try to make amends for her past use of a racial slur, saying she shouldn’t become a “sacrificial lamb” over the issue of racial intolerance.

Jackson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Deen called him this week, and they discussed how she might recover.

Jackson says if Deen is willing to acknowledge mistakes and make changes, “she should be reclaimed rather than destroyed.”

I’m assuming “redeemed” was a word that Jackson said to AP, as it appears in quotes in their headline, but not in the body of the article. And Jackson also uttered the R-word to the media, when Jimmy the Greek reached out to him for a lifeline after his own self-immolation in 1988:

The former CBS sports commentator became an Orwellian unperson immediately after that press conference, a reminder that as long as television personalities get caught putting their Florsheims in their mouths, Jackson will be there to swoop in to share the national limelight just before their 15 minutes of fame are concluded.