Update: Well, SunTimes reports that Obama “Disavowed” the comments of Emil Jones. What he actually said, was “We don’t have time for such stuff”. Now Emil Jones speech appears on the convention web site, where he is identified as a state senator.

Jones calls Delmarie Uncle Tom, apologizes, obfuscates

From the moment the news hit the headlines, pressure had been building within the Illinois delegation, as well as camp Obama on this unfortunate episode.

The president of Illinois-NOW Bonnie Grabenhofer spoke out against Emil Jones in this video  posted alongside this Chicago SunTimes article which also includes Delmarie Cobb relating the entire episode.

The entire regional media is in a hubbub over this and how it might affect careers, our search light through this jungle of Chicago Machine is provided by the eminently resourceful CapitalFax Blog. They illuminate for us the nuance and background speak of this saga.

Mayor Daley was asked about what he thought of the Uncle Tom slur being hurled at a nice lady, replied he:

‘I think it’s a misuse of words. There’s no ‘Uncle Toms,’ anybody supporting Hillary, Obama. It’s just a mischoice of words. “

Capital Fax Blog explains it to us,

Translation: Daley believes Jones said it, but “mischose” his words. Daley has not been all that pleased with Jones lately, so this flap had to make him smile just a wee bit.

Another Illinois politician, Debbie Halvorson, is said to be ‘apoplectic about this, again, CFB:

“She was talking to Jones outside the breakfast [meeting Monday morning for Illinois Democrats] and I overheard something about this destroying her career,” e-mailed a reporter pal.

 AP writer Christopher Wills samples the Illinois delegation for reactions and reports wide disdain for Emil Jones, who is retiring next year.

Roland Burris, the former attorney general and the first black man to win a major statewide office, minimized the importance of the incident. He didn’t condone using the phrase “Uncle Tom” but said it was probably made in jest.

Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, offered one possible solution, at least when it comes to Jones.

“I think Barack Obama would be wise to keep him locked up in the basement until the election is over,” said Davis, who, like Jones, is black.

(Emphasis added)

it looks like the Obama campaign is taking this to heart, and pretending like the Emil Jones speech at the convention never happened.

John Patterson who writes the blog Animal Farm at suburban Chicago newspaper The Daily Herald , notes:

Emil Snub
Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat, gave a brief speech at the convention, one of several Illinois officials. CSPAN ID’d Jones as an Illinois state senator, omitting the president title.
And the convention Web site has yet (8:26 p.m. Denver time) to post his speech. Those before and after are posted but not his.

Emphasis added.

Final thought, Emil Jones announced quite recently that he is retiring next year.  Did that put him in relaxed, casual state of mind, or as this astute commenter observed in the Illinois state capital city’s newspaper State Journal and Register:

Has anyone else other than me noticed a pattern of behavior of people around Obama? Every time Obama starts to get a lot of attention, those people who supposedly mentored Obama get a bit jealous of the attention Obama is getting and they have to find a way to steal it away from him. Rev. Wright did it, now Jones is doing it

In any case, as of  this  blog post,  Emil Jones speech doesn’t exist officially.
Sheri Tag, give that jack an extra crank.