Van Jones Responds To Criticism Stirred By Glenn Beck: I'm Not A Truther

Time:

In response to a torrent of criticism, originated and directed by Fox News's Glenn Beck, White House adviser Van Jones has apologized for some of his past statements and distanced himself from a document he once signed. [...]

Jones now says that he did not sign on to the ideas described in what he signed. "As for the petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever," Jones said in the statement.

Read the whole story: Time

Comments

[SonnyRice]

06:10 PM on 09/07/2009

The President should be aware that ANY person either elected or appointed should be of American values first. I have read and heard this fanatic Van Jones make statements that should have the Government WATCHING him not Hiring him. I enlisted in the service during the Viet Nam War and came home to voices of hate for our doing our duty to America. Today my elected President hires people with un-American values. I should have died back then so as to not have to watch my country change. Double standards have replaced moral leadership. I listened and applauded as our great nation showed the world that in America all are equal. The truth is Americans should be seen, taxed and remain silent. I must have fallen asleep for many years and missed the battle for America. Please be kind enough to let me know the where an when of the battle fought in SILENCE that America lost. Also if there are any survivors please send help to get me back to the America I was born in, I would hate to die on this now foreign soil.

[jpayne30]

12:02 AM on 09/08/2009

Sonny, you're probably a great guy and I can appreciate that you are trying to hold onto the ideals of America that you feel makes us great, but please let go of this Norman Rockwell delusion. I wish you could sit down and have a conversation with Thomas Jefferson. You might see how badly you've missed the mark with your ideas on what makes a good American. You seriously think questioning things is bad? You really feel our duty is to remain silent? Wow. Seriously?!

Take off the rose-colored glasses and realize that it's WE who need to be watching the government and not the other way around. You want your pie-in-the-sky view of America you have, but the reality is that you were never born in that America. This might shock you, so you'd better be sitting down, our government, on occasion, lies to us. They do, and we're not always the good guys, and this goes back-a-ways.

I love democracy, and I love our potential but it's up to the people to be informed and keep the government honest and headed in the right direction. If you think Van Jones is anything but someone who is working his butt off to make peoples lives better, including future generations of people who will benefit from his environmental activism, then you just flat out don't know what you're saying.

I say all this respectfully but I mightily disagree with your views.

[slg57]

06:00 PM on 09/08/2009

Many here seem to really want an anti-American in the white house as an adviser to our president who represents all Americans or at least the majority. He needed to read Barracks book telling how to fool white America which he did. We are on a slippery slope while so many here seem to rather have a socialist form of government, what experiences have lead to this is hard for me to grasp. Life is choices and if after making some bad ones leave you out of the work forces you only have to look at what bonehead alliances and signing on to some radical viewpoints to receive the street cred that Van Jones must have thought necessary to get to a position he wanted to be in, he succeeded, it is not however, possible to serve in Washington DC, ask former Georgia rep Cynthia McKinney who also signed the truthers docs how well being a far left radical serves her now, and her recent run for president. Maybe she and Van can start another movement together. Yale graduate and it results in this,his future will now be marked by his choices. Hmmm.

[Notsofastsir]

12:13 PM on 09/07/2009

Sure you are. Only a "truther" signs such a petition.

[texastrixie]

11:56 AM on 09/07/2009

How can asking for a 9-11 inquiry be grounds for dismissal? How many inquiries and historical books have been written which imply that FDR knew about there was an imminent attack coming to the US and did nothing so he could shake us out of our isolationist stance? How many inquiries into the death of JFK?

The Republicans may think that only Democrats are fodder for insane, wierd investigations, but they will find out this is not true. It just takes enough time for things to go sour, or for the bitterness that comes with failure to surface.

As Iraq devolves into three (or more) warring factions that cannot hold together as a nation (say in 10 years?), there will be MANY inquiries into who railroaded us into that mess, who knew what, and when did they know it, etc. The Republicans think this will go away if they can just scream "unpatriotic" loud enough. But when Iraq fails to hold together, the world will turn on us and say, "We told you so!," and the American people will be furious when they have to confront the country's failings (and our own for allowing our government to do this).

Someday Senators will be asking the same questions as those 9-11 Truthers (it will be just as insane, but hey, don't you know they faked the moonlanding?). No one will be saying they should be run out of town (well, only the Republicans involved).

[BOin08]

08:21 AM on 09/07/2009

turns out Beck was right on this guy...at least someone in the media is doing a little investigative reporting....

[denicci1977]

04:44 PM on 09/07/2009

Oh the ignorance of Beck supporters.

[aquarius64]

08:08 AM on 09/07/2009

Hate to see this a $ $ ho / e Blech get a win like this. Unfortunately the Obama White House made it possible by not throughly VETTING this guy! Any administration, be it Democrat or Republican, is going to get political heartburn when you hire someone who signed a "9/11 was an inside job" petition. Lesson for the day: always reading whatever you're signing. As evident here, "I didn't know what was written when I signed" is not a defense.

[Bobbygoode]

04:13 AM on 09/07/2009

Van Jones's group ColorofChange, with which I don't believe he's affiliated any longer, is the one responsible for getting sponsors to flee of racist demagogue Glenn Beck in catastrophic numbers. So for Beck this is a revenge vendetta. Unfortunately, Van Jones should have ignored the baloney. If right wingers can sign "birther" petitions, or petitions of any kind, so can Jones sign a petition that probably asked the basic question "Gee George Bush sure capitalized in the hugest way from 9/11... what's the whole story."? Big deal.

[Fenom]

02:35 AM on 09/07/2009

This is yet another non-trovercies pushed by Right -Wing Nuts. They talk about people's right but that doesn't apply unless you agree with them. He signed a petition.....so what. The tragedy here is that people listened to Beck, a certified pshco.

[JJThinking]

10:24 PM on 09/06/2009

It's too bad that conspiracy theorists, anti-semites, and paid disruptors have kept serious inquiries and discussions about 9/11 from happening.

[ailbhe]

11:01 PM on 09/06/2009

Agree, but the mainstream media has labeled everybody who demands a serious investigation to be a conspiracy theorist, tin foil hat wearing weirdo, anti American etc.

So many events surrounding 9/11 have been ignored.

The history of the mujaheddin movement in Afghanistan and the very public figures who were involved with supporting and raising money for it to utilise it against the Soviets and the continued support of it through the nineties by sending them out to the Balkans and Chechnya has been ignored.

The relationships between those who today fund Islamic extremism (Saudi's) and the Bush administration has been ignored.

Anybody who questions or even mentions these issues joins the tin foil hats.

[wonketteRAWKS]

02:43 PM on 09/06/2009

Whatever his stance, are we just a little tired of hearing "I didn't know what I was signing?"

[JJThinking]

10:22 PM on 09/06/2009

Agreed.

[hrholmes]

11:46 AM on 09/06/2009

I would like to know the truth about 9/11/01 but we all know that just ain't gonna happen.

[Ergon]

08:25 PM on 09/06/2009

Lots of evidence it was Controlled Demolition and interference with NORAD. Who was in charge that day? Dick Cheney.

[ThesagaciousOne]

10:56 AM on 09/06/2009

Van Jones/CoC - 57, ... Uhhh 40, no ... uh .. well 15 for sure

Glen Beck - 1 Very Big One

Game Set Match - Beck

[bbrecht]

10:20 AM on 09/06/2009

This is so sad--- here's a man with vision-- slapped down for his politics by a phony rat who doesn't deserve air time. I am sad for our country.

[Carol06095]

08:12 PM on 09/07/2009

And what was his vision? What were his ideas? What was he going to change?

[bbrecht]

08:31 AM on 09/08/2009

Read his book The Green Collar Economy-- its premise is that environmental initiatives can create jobs and restore our economy, thus solving two problems at once. The next generation needs this kind of leadership and the old folks need it too--

1/3 of all working people under 35 live at home with their parents (a new AFL CiO report).

[rolech]

08:20 AM on 09/06/2009

It only makes sense when you have a socialist/communist president, he would choose czars that follow his philosophy.

[Intelligentia]

01:49 AM on 09/06/2009

Mr. Jones should not have resigned!

[TheBaffler]

05:37 AM on 09/06/2009

You're naïve if you think he resigned. Obama has cowardly given him the boot for political expediency. Nobody ever gets publicly fired in Washington, they all 'resign.'

[ThesagaciousOne]

12:42 PM on 09/06/2009

I always wondered if you could throw a Van under a bus.
President Obama has shown that it is possible.

[Prakosh]

01:31 AM on 09/06/2009

He was railroaded by a right wing cabal headed by Glenn Beck.

[TheBaffler]

05:37 AM on 09/06/2009

He was betrayed by Obama.