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Friday, Jun 26, 2009 5:30 PM UTC

On House floor, a moment of silence for Michael Jackson

The Congressional Black Caucus leads a brief memorial to the late star

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Topics: Michael Jackson, War Room,

On House floor, a moment of silence for Michael Jackson

At some point, it was inevitable: Some politicians, somewhere, were going to have to talk about Michael Jackson’s death. President Obama hasn’t done it, so the responsibility fell to the Congressional Black Caucus, which led a moment of silence in Jackson’s honor on the House floor on Friday. 

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., briefly eulogized the late star and called for the moment of silence — and showed that, in the rhetoric department at least, he’s not his father.

“Madam Speaker, if there is a God, and I believe there is, and that god distributes grace and mercy and talent to all of his children, on Aug. 28, 1958, he visited Gary, Ind., and touched a young man with an abundance of his blessings,” the congressman said. “With that gift, that young man, Michael Joe Jackson, would touch and change the world. His heart couldn’t get any bigger, and yesterday it arrested.”

Video is below. If you’re looking for other coverage of Jackson’s death, unfortunately I can’t find too many reasons to report on it in a political blog — and not for lack of trying. But there’s plenty of other great stuff on Salon, including a very interesting obituary by Bill Wyman and a package of reactions and thoughts by various writers — including me! — on Jackson’s legacy and troubled life.

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

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