Will Glenn Beck Bring Down Van Jones After All?
SEE UPDATE BELOW
A couple days ago I ran a post defending Van Jones from some of the more absurd charges leveled at him by noted race-baiter Glenn Beck over the last month. Jones is not an "ex-con," he's not a communist, he's not even a czar. He's not, to pick just one of Beck's darkly hinted smears, on a top-secret mission to commandeer the U.S. treasury and dispense slavery reparations. He is, however, two things that scare the whitey tighties off of Beck and his tighty whitey audience: black and liberal.
It was mostly a tempest in a teabag until the last couple of days, when Jones got tagged with a few things that could very well end up being the end of his career in the executive branch.
The first and less consequential is a video of Jones answering the question of why Republicans in Congress continually vote against clean energy as follows: "Because they're assholes." That is a) pretty funny and b) a little difficult to get worked up about. When he said those words, Jones was an activist speaking to an activist audience, not a government official. When a Republican vice president told a senior Democratic senator to "fuck himself", the rightosphere responded with enthusiasm that bordered on tumescence. Republicans -- not activists, but senior politicians -- spent years cavalierly calling everyone to the left of Genghis Khan a traitor. Call the waahbulance.
Anyway, let's face it, blocking progress on the signal challenges of our time for partisan political gain does kind of make you an asshole. Jones issued an apology anyway.
Yesterday brought a more disturbing discovery: that Jones had signed a Oct. 24, 2004, petition from the 9/11 Truth organization. The so-called "truthers" come in many varieties. At the far end are the loony tunes who believe the Bush administration rigged the whole thing using some combination of thermite bombs, missiles, and holograms. Ever so slightly less loony, though much more widely believed, is the notion that Bush officials knew the attack was coming and looked the other way. Not loony tunes at all -- in fact shared by tens of millions of Americans -- are concerns that warnings were insufficiently heeded, reaction to the event was riddled with incompetence, and official investigations have answered many questions poorly, if at all.
It was in this latter vein that the petition was written, with some political flourishes tossed in, reflecting the political context of the time. Many of the questions raised by the petition were banal, if anything, about topics addressed (adequately or not) in the official 9/11 commission report. What made it so toxic was a part of the preamble, which "calls for immediate public attention to unanswered questions that suggest that people within the current administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."
That's bona fide crazy town. Did all 100 of the signatories notice it? I have trouble believing they did, even in the angry panic that preceded the 2004 election. There are some fairly prominent names, members of 9/11 families, heads of NGOs, professors, authors-- Paul Hawken and Richard Heinberg among others. People who have reputations to risk (alongside predictable cranks like Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader, of course). Were they mostly concerned with the unanswered questions or did they really want to associate with the notion that Bush officials knowingly let 3,000 people die? A source says Jones said didn't read the petition closely -- thought it was just a petition to support the families' questions -- and I suspect that's true for many of the signatories. In a released statement Jones disavowed it:
In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration – some of which were made years ago. If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize. 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.
My work at the Council on Environmental Quality is entirely focused on one goal: building clean energy incentives which create 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and use renewable resources.
Paul Hawken also released a statement corroborating Jones take on it:
In the fall of 2004, I was approached by 911Truth.org to support the grieving families of the 9/11 tragedy. Family members who had lost a loved one, and many American citizens, felt that the 9/11 Commission had not fully explored key questions involving that fateful day.
My concern then and now was for the victims. I felt that a deeper inquiry into policies and security would be helpful to reach a fuller understanding of the cause of 9/11 and how to prevent future terrorist attacks.
I do not recollect any of the questions that are posed on the website, never saw the subsequent press release of Oct 26, 2004, and never signed such a statement. I was interested in questions, not blame; inquiry, not jumping to conclusions.
It is unfortunate that Van's name has been used in this way as I know he would not knowingly endorse a statement that would place blame or create divisiveness.
That would probably be that, except: Today, it emerged that Jones was on the organizing committee of a 2002 march also geared at demanding an inquiry into 9/11-- again, the document combines sensible questions and objections to the way the Bush administration used 9/11 ... with some slightly crazy implications of conspiracy. The explanation's likely the same -- signing on before reading all the details -- but in DC, two is a trend.
Press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked today if Jones still has the confidence of the president, and he basically refused to answer, saying only that Jones is "still employed at the White House." That doesn't bode well -- even money has Jones out by the end of the day.
Is it just? Of course not. Jones is certainly guilty of poor judgment: as a lefty activist fighting a malign administration he basically signed on to anything that came across his desk, without always reading closely or thinking them through. He was far, far from alone at that time. But he's had nothing at all to do with the truthers outside of having his name on these documents. By no even mildly charitable interpretation is he "a truther" like the lazy-ass media is now saying.
Of course the right will offer no charity, and the media will echo whatever the right says. Politics ain't beanbag.
Kate Sheppard observes that ...
... when Jones joined the administration last March, many environmentalists worried they were losing their most charismatic and visible spokesman.
Instead of playing a public role in drumming up support for clean-energy polices—something he was extremely effective at—[Jones] is now a relatively low-level bureaucrat struggling to steer stimulus funding toward green-job programs. In all honesty, Glenn Beck may have more to worry about with Jones outside the White House than in it.
It may be true that Jones can be more effective on the outside, but this is about a lot more than him. It's about whether an outspoken progressive can work in government. About whether the likes of Glenn Beck, a revanchist, fear-mongering huckster who would have no place in the public sphere of a sane country, can collect a scalp.
Next week Obama will give an address to school children, encouraging them to stay in school and study. In response to yet another outbreak of mendacious bullying, the administration just changed the wording on its press release. It was a gutless move, evincing the kind of news-cycle jumpiness the Obama team eschewed so well during the campaign. Dumping Van Jones would be the same kind of thing.
This is all about bitch-slap politics. If Jones drops out, think Beck or the right-wing slime industry will stop? Think they won't keep going after Carol Browner, John Holdren, and the rest -- twisting and attacking every word and gesture from the Obama administration? "Uncovering" people as wildly caricatured leftists? Faux-populist fear merchants are like sharks; they have to keep moving, keep eating. There's no sating them. Letting Beck bag Jones would be like chum in the water.
Jones will end up on his feet and doing good in the world no matter what. But the resolution of this fight will tell us a great deal about the balance of power between the Obama administration and the toxic 25 percent. The wingnuts have an active propaganda network, including a devoted cable news channel, but Obama still has the trust of the American people and a popular agenda. He needs to get his mojo back.
UPDATE: Ben Smith of Politico reports that two more signatories to the petition -- Rabbi Michael Lerner and historian Howard Zinn -- also claim to have been misled, and to have signed onto something much narrower. Both claim never to have seen, and denounce, what ended up in the final press release.
--Follow David Roberts on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drgrist
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Glen Beck didn't bring down Van Jones. Van Jones brought down Van Jones.
Very sad to see GB have ANY effect on any political discourse, much less on this one. But even though it appears that Van Jones was to some degree tricked about the truther petition he signed, it's too close to the Tom Ridge disclaimer about not reading his own book jacket for VJ to get away with that defense in this superheated political climate. Even more unfortunate is it that, as the article points out, degrees exist in the world of truthers. Because the Shrubbery WAS warned both in writing, by word of mouth from the Clintons, and the president's daily briefing, it was entirely legitimate to investigate 9/11 further. That rational and needed investigation is far from the wingnuttery of believing Shrubs WANTED it to happen or were part of its creation. Yes, the crazies will be emboldened by this resignation, but this is not the battle our President needed to spend his time on -- the distinctions were too always too subtle for the GB's of the world who would have been hysterically pounding this every day for the rest of the foreseeable future. Our POTUS just has to make sure that when they come after the next one, his administration is on top of the issue and can withstand any pressure.
very correct observation that Glenn Beck is a race baiter....
it has been happening for awhile now!
The truth has been put out there in the comment section of the Huff Post.....
and picked up at http://www.suburbanempire.com
The sassy little liberal op-ed in Vermont....produced by left wing birds, in a right wing flock.
Let me be clear, Van Jones and only Van Jones bought down Van Jones, not Beck. Of course we might still have a green job czar if Mr Obama did the proper vetting of his choices that any middle school student find with a simple Google search.
It's truly disturbing that someone's job was in jeopardy because of something Glenn Beck said. I mean, c'mon, Glenn Beck, king of the wackjob right-wing extremists. Why does anyone care what he says?
I suppose it was all about timing with the health care debate looming large. A bad set of circumstances for Van Jones -- I hope he finds another way to make the impact on the climate issue that he set out to do.
Do you even know anything about what happened in this story? I know you were not informed by any liberal media because they didn't report anything until the day Jones left. But maybe you should do some research because it wasn't what Glenn Beck said it was what Van Jones said and did on MANY different occasions! He made comments that even Democrats objected to.
You are missing the true dynamic here shamanbart. Van Jones job was in jeopardy not because of something Glenn Beck said but something Van Jones said.
"but this is about a lot more than him. It's about whether an outspoken progressive can work in government. "
If Van Jones is simply an "outspoken" Progressive, than the Blue Dogs shockingly are more relevant than ever. It is now a quiet civil war to see if the Democrat party identifies more w/ the Van Jones Progressives or the JFK Blue Dogs. It's time to think about the direction of the party, and whether it can move forward together. The two views are a mixture of oil and water.
You need to read this article regarding Hugo Chavez, you know the person OUR FCC Diversity Director praised as doing the right thing in closing down opposition media outlets. His name is Mark Lloyd.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0520744720090905
This is exactly what this administration thinks is a good democratic idea. Lloyd was on video espousing the virtues of choking off freedom of speech.
What would happen if they do that and an administration comes to power that you do not like or trust. How would you be able to fight for your cause? You will have given up your ability to speak out.
This is not about parties, it is about our fundamental rights as a free nation. Read the constitution and save your freedoms while you can.
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
George Washington
I agree with you Bill. What is the saying, "you don't know what you got until it is gone". None of what is going on right now in this country is about the Dems or the repubs. it is about the government taking over our lives, and taking on more and more power. As long as they have us fighting amongst ourselves then they can swiftly throw in more and more bills and regulations that in the end will be our downfall.
This has been going on for a very long time now, and people cannot see it because they are too busy fighting amongst each other. Please people take some time and just sit and read the constitution, especially our rights and freedoms, then you will see exactly how badly we are being sold out. They throw out bills with thousands of pages that no one even reads. This has been going on for years too. We need to all (repubs and Dems) ask questions of our so called leaders. Why do we need an army of citizens just as powerful and as well funded as our military? That is just one of the many questions I would love to ask these people. Every last bit of power they take away from us by over riding our constitution, we will not get back.
There are other news stories here on HP that are questioning who Becks next 'target' will be. As much a clown as I think Beck is, he is the ONLY one doing the homework that needs to be done when putting someone so close to the President to give advice which will affect policy. Frankly, if you want another 'target' to look at, dig up what you can find on Cass Sunstein.
To me, Jones' resignation shows weakness from the White House. Glenn Beck is going to be gloating and he will be emboldened to go after more people in the administration. In the same article announcing Jones' resignation, Republicans are already going after Obama on the whole czar thing.
Republicans smell blood in the water, and I can't see what Obama is going to do to overcome this lack of confidence in his leadership. Charlie Cook wrote that this is one reason why Obama is losing independents.
You seem to be missing the point in this entire issue. No Administration should ever have a person with Van Jones' background in it. What you should be concerned with is the fact that there are other radical advisers still in the White House and connecting the dots with the other radicals in Obama's past indicates there is a very big problem brewing for this country.
Quit worrying about Beck or any other person and pay attention to the administration of our country.
If any thing this should peak your curiosity enough to do some serious research into who the players are and what Obama is doing.
ACORN, SEIU, The Apollo Alliance, Mark Lloyd, John Holdren, Ezekiel Emmanuel, Cass Sunstein, and more are not the people or groups that should be involved in a country based on the Freedom and the US Constitution.
Well Put!
Very well put. That is part of the problem. People can't see the forest for the trees. If someone speaks up and reports corruption in high places, it should make people start researching some of these people who now have power over us. Instead it is always easier to kill the messenger. Do some research on some of these other appointees for yourselves. Instead of bickering over which media person we do or don't like, we should always question those in authority in washington.
Well it's all academic now with Jones's resignation. I wonder if the group he co founded Color Of Change is still so proud of going after Beck's sponsors? They started the fight, and unfortunately for their friend Van Jones Beck finished it.
And what does this accomplish for beck?? Of what consequence is the losing of van jones?? I'm mean really ,in the scheme of things it doesn't really matter.
its not what this accomplishes for beck, Its what it accomplishes for Rupert Murdoch, who has beengoing after cap and trade and the green agenda. Do u notice the meme on Fox bashing global warming and environmental issues. its not that beck is crazy but he just parrots to protect Murdochs interests. He really desrves an oscar, the acting is great. Murdoch is strategically attacking different United States institutions ie the President, Supreme court Justice Sotomayor, trying to hype seccession innoccuosly, etc there is a pattern what fox does its not news. They create it. Google Elliot Carver and u`ll see what I mean
Color of Change should be proud and so should Van Jones. It is unfortunate that he resigned. He made one of-the-cuff statement and one poor choice unknowingly. What is Beck's record really? Beck fits the category of radical extremist more than anyone else. He is willing to say anything, lie and villify to divide this country. How has Beck contributed to the well being of this country? Whereas Jones was and, I hope, continues to fight and work for the good of fellow citizens.
I wished he would have stood his ground but theenemies of this country who call themselves citizens including elected representives would continue to wage war. This group who will use any tactic to usurp our new legally elected President''s power are virulent and poisonousness. They will harm their own children and ours and they drive forward toward their goals.
The media helps them with their mindless responses. However, I think the corporations behind them are not so mindless. Beck with the loss of ads should be off the air but someone is paying him huge bucks to be the poison that he is.
The WH can only do so much. What are we doing as citizens?
It's sad that a radicalized extremists is put into such an important position for the environment and thus brings the cultural war full swing into an area that Americans should be uniting around.
He should be removed, replaced, and soon. Obama however doesn't seem to be much of leader, I'm not sure he's capable of firing the man unless his handlers tell him to. Maybe Pelosi or Reid will order Obama to do it?
Van Jones is gone.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=8502380
Van Jones is a co-founder of Color of Change, the organization that's behind Beck's withering and unenviable loss of ad support because of his projected racism onto Pres. Obama.
The problem is that with the exception of Daschle and Geithner the Obama Admin. has never publicly backed any appointee including Dr, Freeman who was forced out by smears, distortions and a massive disinformation campaign by AIPAC.
The Administration and Harry Reid have allowed appointees to the Justice Department, the Ambassador to Iraq, the EPA, FEMA, the Treasury and a host of other departments languish until some removed themselves from consideration. In the meantime, many departments remain either understaffed or staffed by Bush holdovers.
The Administration has never mounted an effective response to right wing allegations of socialism, communism, Nazism or terrorism against Mr. Obama himself.
They have never called out elected officials for promoting death panels or Birtherism, or Tentherism or any other lie or smear against the POTUS.
So why would anyone expect the Administration to come out in support of Van Jones?
Van Jones is a tremendous liability to the Obama admin. My fear is that the process they used to vet other appointess will result in the discovery of many more like him..Let's hope not. I'd hate to see Obama get the reputation for surrounding himself with radicals. It would impede his agenda.
If everyone would have done their homework and investigated/reported diligently, this fear you mention would have been realized a long time ago. Sorry to tell you, Obama is a radical and very good at covering up / hiding his true ideology. The deception is mind boggling!
Yea, he such a radical that every move that he has made to this date would of been no different then any republican would of done with the exception of pushing the public option.
You don't even know what a radical.
Your kidding, right? Obama IS a radical and those are his friends and base. His agenda is their agenda.
Show me your friends, and I will show you your future.
Van Jones is connected to "Color of Change.org"....a site that has protested Glenn Beck's portrayal of President Obama as a racist. "Color of Change" is the reason that the Glenn Beck "show"----it's certainly NOT news---- has beens steadily losing sponsors. To get back at "Color of Change", Beck is going after one of its founders. It's just that simple: Beck is attempting to retaliate for the lost of his sponsors by going after Van Jones. If he can successfully get Jones fired, then Beck will go after others who have caused him trouble because of the loss of his sponsors. I pray that this very sick man Beck doesn't get away with this.
Yes, Glenn Beck's ego drives him. I will be grateful when the day comes that he gets his comeuppance.
However, it's more than revenge against Color of Change, in my opinion. It's part of a concerted effort from the right to fight cap and trade or any other environmental legislation the Obama administration wants to enact. The right thinks they have defeated health care reform - or at least got it to the point where it won't be too damaging to their special interests. Now, they're going after the Dems' environmental agenda. Making it sound like a communist plot suits their purposes perfectly.
Your points are insightful and well taken.
The ultimate comeuppance will be received by Barack and Michelle....now that will be the day to remember!
Obama has shown no he has no problem throwing people who bring problems to him under the bus. Jones is on borrowed time.
Ask Rev. Wright.
How ridiculous. Wright was wrong. Period.
Obama had no problem with his antics when he needed the support of Wright in Illinois state politics. He officiated at his wedding for god's sake. But once he cost him a few points in the polls....See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!
I wonder sometimes in which part of the world people like you are living.
The real world.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
