Jesse Jackson: Steve Jobs Would‘ve Supported ’Occupy Wall Street’

Only one day after Steve Jobs’ death, Jesse Jackson managed to align the Apple founder with the growing Occupy Wall Street movement.

Jackson began an interview on MSNBC’s "Jansing & Co." yesterday by offering condolences to the Jobs family, saying he “knew Steve over a period of time, not as a technical computer genius, but also he had an acute sense of social justice and a peace warrior. So he was a well-rounded guy, not just a computer genius we talk about today.”

When host Chris Jansing asked if Jobs would have supported the Wall Street protesters, Jackson said "no doubt about it" and then used his airtime to promote the movement.

"[Jobs] had the sense, this idea of making computers available for the common people. He was kind of the people’s people. As for the Wall Street protests, you are looking at the reaction of the abuses of Wall Street power extremes.”

“Student loan debt is bigger than credit card debt, so many youth cannot afford to go to school or they cannot stay in school. They graduate, they are without a guaranteed job and a low credit score…If we were to forgive student loan debt, it would be a big stimulus to take the economy forward....Secondly...the banks...are not lending and the home market continues to fall.”

(Although Jackson forgets that “the common people,” especially in this economy, aren’t likely to shell out the extra dough Macs command for their aesthetics and eye-catching designs, etc.—to say nothing of the fact that Apple offers financing, too…so now you can add computer debt to your student loan debt.)

And here's an odd twist: Jesse Jackson Jr. doesn’t seem to share Dad’s tender sentiments about Jobs being for the "people."

The U.S. representative from Illinois ranted on the House floor last April that the iPad was “probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs” and that it’s caused diminished revenue for bookstores and publishing houses, leading to store closures and payroll cutbacks:

“Why do you need to go to Barnes and Noble?” Jackson asked. “Just buy an iPad and download your book, download your newspaper, download you magazine.” Jackson also implied that the Apple creator wasn’t feeling the financial pinch: “Steve Jobs is doing pretty well.”

The Jackson Thanksgiving dinner chat ought to be a hoot.

(h/t: The Daily Caller)