It was allegedly a hot mic episode, but sometimes I wonder just how “accidental” this stuff really is. President Obama was speaking to a group of fundraisers and didn’t realize his mic was still on.

(hat tip Conurls)

I knew it would happen and you knew it would happen. The night Bill O’Reilly told the world on his program that he had far more damaging tape of Jesse Jackson’s “hot mic” gaffe that he wasn’t planning to air. At that moment I knew the countdown had officially begun and it would only be a matter of time until we all got to hear the rest of that stinkin’ tape.

Not surprisingly, someone at Fox leaked the details of the tape, which is of course is forcing O’Reilly to air the rest of the tape tonight (reluctantly I’m sure).

I think TVNewser summed up the situation best: “Oops — it’s out there. Now we have to show it and do a whole new ratings blockbuster news cycle on it.”

I hate this kind of crap. There’s no reason to play games with the public, he should have just aired the full tape to begin with. It smacks of real arrogance that O’Reilly would think anyone would actually fall for this stunt. It worked out too predictably to be believed.

Among other things, Jackson allegedly uses the “n-word,” however it’s not clear yet in what context.

UPDATE: Video of Shepard Smith talking to O’Reilly about the tape

UPDATE #2: O’Reilly acknowledged the leak on the show, but didn’t air the tape. It’s been confirmed that Jackson did use the n-word, but at the end of the day I don’t really know how a big a story that is. I’m declaring this story official dead–stick a fork in it.