Jesse Jackson Says Black Men 'Can't Vote Against Healthcare', Media Mostly Mum

If a prominent white man said all white men in Congress should vote for or against a pending piece of legislation, what do you think the media firestorm would be like?

As you ponder, consider that Jesse Jackson on Wednesday told a reception held by the Congressional Black Caucus, “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”

Although the comment was first reported by The Hill at 5:42 PM EST Wednesday, LexisNexis and Google news searches identified astonishingly little media coverage.

Here's The Hill's report:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill.

“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill,” Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”

The remark stirred a murmur at the reception, held by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation as part of a series of events revolving around the 25th anniversary of Jackson’s run for president.

Despite this murmur, a LexisNexis search identified absolutely no major media references to this incident.

As for a Google news search, the Washington Post reported the CBC doing a tribute to Jackson on the House floor Wednesday morning, but didn't follow-up with anything that happened at the reception in the evening. 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Political Wire blog reported this at the newspaper's website moments ago. 

MSNBC.com's First Read blog also reported this in the last couple of hours, but well at the end of a news wrap-up. 

And, just minutes ago, USA Today's On Politics blog covered the incident as well.

That appears to be it...for now.

Once again, what kind of media firestorm would occur if a prominent white man said that all white men in Congress had to vote for or against a pending piece of legislation?