Van Jones will not go quietly into the night. I suggest he go to Current TV (http://current.com/) and team up with Al Gore to create a cable competitor for Faux Noise.

Test for Obama whether he truely knows the 'Chicago way':
The GOP has now sent one of his to the hospital. Let's see whether he sends one of theirs to the morgue.

Must say, I doubt it.

Obama folds again!

One of the two national political parties' days are numbered, and it ain't the Republicans'.

This was, to quote Clarence "Me Too!" Thomas, "a high tech lynch mob."

An actual one. And the Dems backed down. Like with Lani Guinier. And what the hell were they thinking?

That feeding red meat to the Repugs would DIS-embolden them as Health Care takes center stage? This would have been a great time to pull out the brass knucks and show that spine of steel that Biden bragged on in the campaign.

Now they're licking their chops and drooling. Blood in the water. Red meat to wolves.

But no: the guy who called Obama a "racist" on national TeeVee (OK, Faux Nooz, but still, broadcast across the nation) wins! Glenn Beck successfully intimidates the White House.

And wins by taking out a Black member of the Administration by a blogswarm of creepy old White Guys (and some girls).

GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLL!

As Democrats remain the dominant invertebrate species in the District of Columbia -- although I understand leeches are coming up fast.

Because Democrats and Republicans share only two salient features in common in my experience: they both fight Democrats all the time and would never make common cause with one.

Republicans defend war criminals.

Democrats only defend perfect and spotless Democrats, and not even then, generally.

If you want to say batsh*t-crazy stuff and still be treated as a respectable participant in the national debate, you'd better be a Republican."

maccaca

The only trouble with the triumphalism miasma is that specifically targets the celebrants .

Damn..damn...damn...damn...

I have to admit that I was troubled by the whole "truther" connection.

That said, if the administration thinks that they can simply move on, and that the right-wing craziness will abate, they are in for a rude awakening.

What I find striking about Glenn Beck is that the Fox Network did nothing to distance itself when Beck, full of himself, declared that the President is racist and has a problem with white people. Yes, I think pundits should have room to express their opinion, but this crosses any line of etiquette that I'm familiar with. They should have fired the bozo on the spot. But they didn't, and that only reaffirms my belief that Fox is the GOP propaganda network. What should I have expected from the network of the "terrorist fist jab" and "baba mama" rhetoric.

By the way, anyone visit the Fox Nation web site? I thought I had stumbled on something put out by Larouche or the Bircher Society. Crazy stuff.

So Bush and Cheney openly call a NY Times reporter an "asshole", so what. Cheney tells a senior member of the Senate to "Go Fuck Himself" on the floor of the Senate and refuses to apologize, so what. Van Jones calls Republicans "assholes" (they tend to be), and he is crucified in the press.

Time for Obama to take off the gloves (I wish).

And yet Pat Buchanan can continue his love of Hitler and Glenn Beck can spew all of this (be prepared for LOTS of reading) and they are given millions to do so and nobody tells them to shut up and go away:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/6/777714/-Beck:-close-to-painful-murdering-of-the-dark-people

He could have made it except for the truther stuff. He'll be repenting that shit at leisure.

Lost in this discussion over whether Obama should cave over leftish personnel (here, because of "extraneous" oddities) is the issue of whether Obama should keep certain creepy Money Establishment types like Geithner, Summers, Bernanke etc. who are too friendly to the Right's interest groups. We need some exits Stage Right.

Certainly Color of Change's success in getting more than 50 advertisers to drop Beck caused Beck to step up his attacks on Jones, but the real reason behind the general attacks on Jones was his race. And President Obama, to his great discredit, caved to the right & let Glenn Beck & extremist partisan Mike Pence run the White House personnel office, just as President Clinton dumped Jocelyn Elders for her egregious remarks suggesting masturbation was normal, oh my!

The fact is that many effective black leaders are now automatically disqualified from serving in presidential administrations, because most speak truth to power in a way lily-whites haven't the guts to & many make forays into radicalism. Beck, et al. have successfully punked not just Obama-Jones, but many, many black activists (especially men). If the President has accepted Jones' resignation, shame on him.

The Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com

BTW, many here seem not to appreciate that Van Jones had some real "issues." We aren't supposed to mindlessly defend our own like "they" do.

But Republicans ARE assholes. Time for a Truther Commission on that topic.

Let me be blunt: that Truther petition was one thing we could not defend.

And should not.

Our advantage over the Republicans is that we are the party of rationality, of the real world. We cannot indulge the crazy of the Left, and combat the crazy of the Right. We do not need to encourage conspiracy theorist thinking.

This is not Obama folding, this is Obama showing better sense than Bush and all the Republicans.

Van Jones is one of the good guys. I would have urged him to not apologize for anything - he had nothing to apologize for.

I would have urged Obama to stand behind Jones.

I've heard Jones speak many times and he makes a lot of sense and represents a voice much needed in Washington and to everyone's detriment seldom heard.

I do agree however, as much as the world needs people like Van Jones in places like Washington, he probably is more effective outside of the mainstream.

As far as the 9/11 truth commission, there's a lot that needs to be explained to the American people (and the people of the world) surrounding that whole thing - not even mentioning some accountablity (faulty intelligence my ass). More people need to keep speaking up - bravo to Van Jones!

As odious as the Republicans are, until the day they come up with some evidence that holds up, that truther stuff about 9/11 is pure crackpot shit. If you want to toss Glenn Beck off the air for making crackpot allegations then Van Jones should be kicked off Obama's team as well. Falsely accusing a president, even a president as evil and incompetent as Bush was, of intentionally letting the country be attacked in order to justify a war is quite simply unacceptable.

I was in college during the height of political correctness and remember watching feminists and other identity politics types create legions of future conservatives by making all sorts of accusations that were batshit crazy in a vicious and absurdly self-righteous manner. Today conservatives, like late-eighties lefties, are in the process of destroying their name brand for at least a generation. Frankly, I think we should be doing everything we can to keep Glenn Beck on the air. His audience is old and dying and everyday he exposes the right's insane underbelly in a way that is bound to drive away anyone with an ounce of sense. He's terrific for our side and we want to get rid of him. Brilliant.

More important than keeping Beck on the air, is to further expose his sliminess far and wide. Check the vileness revealed here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/6/777714/-Beck:-close-to-painful-murdering-of-the-dark-people

I am done with this White House until and unless they show some backbone.

Of course I will continue to vote Democratic. Unless by 2012 he has made an utter hash of it, Obama is the sane choice when you look at the other side. But I'm not dedicating a single minute to "helping" this White House. They have shown no interest in helping the constituents that put them in office.

Depressing morning.

I don't know what exactly was stated in the petition that Van Jones signed so I may be talking completely out of my left year, but this is what I do know - a lot of what we were told about 9/11 just doesn't make sense.

Wanting things explained thoroughly in a manner that at least makes some sense isn't "batshit" crazy, nor does it mean that the Bush administration was involved in the terrorist acts.

Wanting a thorough investigation - a "truth" commission seems to me a rational request.

I don't consider myself "crazy" or a "conspiracy theorist," but there's a lot of what I've been told or not been told surrounding 9/11 that just doesn't add up and in some cases seems totally inplausible.

I don't think it is indefensible to ask one's government to try to come up with some answers.

Listening to those supposedly "responsible" administration people like Powell, Rice, Rumsfield etc. trying to sound responsible in front of Congress did not istill any sense of confidence in me that I was being told the truth.

I do agree that Beck, as long as Fox wants to keep him on, hasn't done anything that deserves his firing. And Jones has not said or done anything to apologize for or that requires him to leave the Obama administration.

What's so scary or threatening in trying to find out the truth?

Van Jones, as director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, cut a vile CD against whites, the government, Israel, The Man, oil companies, and everything else American.

These were his word's - and this it what did it for me.....

"....At this point. The end of the occupation. The right of return of the Palestinian people. These are critical dividing lines in human rights. We have to be here. No American would put up with an Israeli-style occupation of their hometown for 53 days let alone 54 years. US tax dollars are funding violence against people of color inside the US borders and outside the US borders. "

First they came for Van Jones...

Hieronymus Braintree, are you seriously equating Beck's vicious screeds in a national forum to the personal opinions of a low-level administration staffer? I can't speak to the specifics as I haven't seen the petition, but somehow I can't see that Mr. Jones' actions really carry much weight in the grand scheme of things. I also think he's entitled to his opinion even if it's nuts. Which, as I agree largely with ej, I'm not certain it is.

I'm very upset that the administration isn't willing to stand up for those on their side but rather is eager to kowtow to the crazies on the right in matters big and small.

This country is definitely going to hell if you guys cannot see that this guy was an absolute racist and a nut job to boot. It's OK to admit when you're party has done something wrong. I'm sick of both sides defending the worst of them just because. Isn't it time we all stand up for what's actually right instead of what our party is saying? If you cannot see what a jerk Van Jones is, there's no hope for any of you.

Predictably the racists come out to crow and further the idiocy about those damn dirty extremist black nationalists in our government and how they want to 'stick it to whitey'. Forget the absolute lack of proof of any member of the administration supporting that crap.

As far as the Truther stuff...when LGF thinks it's crap... -
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/34594_Truther_Document_Signatories_Say_They_Were_Misled

While I still disagree with LGF for the most part, they have much more flashes of sanity like this than virtually any other right wing site or public figure anywhere.

I wonder what Van Jones is going to do now? Since he's no longer part of the Obama administration, he's free to go after Glenn Beck. That'd be poetic justice.

....well, bork. Now I wish for an edit function, because I did not meant to put that for my name...

First, we haven't heard the last of Van Jones, and that's a good thing. He's one of the nation's great visionaries on energy and environmental issues,

We don't need visionaries on energy and environmental issues, we need scientists, engineers, and investors. We especially don't need anybody distracting attention from Secretaries Chu, Vilsack and Salazar, people with actual accomplishments. As for hearing of him, he is a genuinely effective recruitment tool for the Republican party.

On the other hand, he'd be an excellent addition to The McClaughlin Report.

This Democrat wanted Van Jones to go. I did not see Beck; never have. Did I care that Van Jones called himself a communist? Not a whit. Did I care that he is an intellectual light weight pushing a highly dubious and over hyped proposition about green jobs (one that even Rob Stavins and Paul Krugman agree with) it's annoying, but not the end of the world. Did I care he called Republicans a silly name? Bad taste, but so what. I VERY MUCH do care that he signed a truther petition. I lost friends and neighbors on 9/11; my office was destroyed; I clenched for months every time a plane went overhead; I picked ash (human and otherwise) along with personal papers from files and desks off my fire escape for days. It is as real for me today as it was on the day I feared for the lives of almost everyone about whom I cared deeply. Van Jones' defense that he “didn’t read the petition” is nonsense. If he didn’t read it, that means he would sign anything by the particular groups putting it forward — also offenisve. Aside from realclearpolitics, which offered a link to Jake Tapper's blog, I saw no MSM coverage of the issue and would not have known about it. That the Paper of Record for my city didn't cover his is infuriating. It was our neighbors who died; our city that was under assault. And for this he had to go. Let him be "more effective" from outside the Administration. A life-long irritated Democrat

Scepticat: Hieronymus Braintree, are you seriously equating Beck's vicious screeds in a national forum to the personal opinions of a low-level administration staffer? I can't speak to the specifics as I haven't seen the petition, but somehow I can't see that Mr. Jones' actions really carry much weight in the grand scheme of things.

Keep Beck out of government, and give Jones a cable show.

Was the Green Jobs Czar "low level"? Despite the title "czar", I think you have an insight. Obama has created so many czars that none of them can possibly have any influence. Unlike cabinet secretaries, thank goodness, the czars have no authority. Their only influence comes from persuading the president to pass their recommendations on to the cabinet or to the Congress. The president never has time for any of them, so he isn't influenced by them. That's different from Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Moynihan and Kissinger; it's a good difference, but substantiates your assertion that the position is really "low level".

9corona ... you're going to need to provide a quote that isn't an accurate and honest description of Israeli occupation if you want me to support this guys ouster.

I mis-typed in the comment above that Rob Stavins and Paul Krugman agree with the green jobs premise; they don't. Most economists predict a "transfer of benefits": jobs lost in one sector, gained in another.

It sounds like Jones has done good things and he may have been a force for good in the administration on environmental issues. However just because Republicans tolerate all kinds of bizarre and destructive nonsense doesn't mean Democrats should. He signed a whacko petition and it's not unreasonable to presume that he may harbor whacko fantasies. Why would we want someone like that in the government? Why would Obama?

For those still going on about the petition, I direct you back to my earlier link.

The petitioners essentially mischaracterized their goals to entice petitioners to sign and endorse a more radical line than they were told.

[Sockpuppetry is not allowed on this blog]

[Sockpuppetry is not allowed on this blog]

Dumb move.

They should have said show me something he said since Obama has been elected, let alone inaugurated.

Folded like a pup tent. Now the RightWing gets to say jump and Obama gets to ask how high.

9corona (and also comeon) -

In the quote by Jones that you offered I don't see any attacks on "whites," or as you put - "everything else American."

Do you get to set the standard for all things American? Who are you to claim exclusive ownership of what constitutes - "American?"

His, Jones' voice, is a perspective that isn't heard very often in mainstream politics but perhaps it should be. All the best conventition thinking by conventional thinkers has gotten us in the mess we're in, so maybe letting others, those of us who the mainstream like to label "crazies," lend a voice that might actually help.

We have, as an example, a wide chasm in this country with health care. All the conventional thinking is only going to keep everyone and everything well entrenched in their old tired positions and will only further the chasm as more and more people suffer.

There's no justification in keeping the status quo except to keep the unethical insurance companies making their obscene profits and keeping people from affordable health care. Those who offer the most logical solution, single payer, are label "crazy un-American marxist socialist" and dismissed while those who have prepetrated this immorality upon us get to keep setting the parameters of the solutions available.

Just like in the Middle East. People keep suffereing as all the "conventional" leaders keep going over the same territory with the same old tired thoughts getting nowhere. From what I understand, there is a growing dissatisfaction from all sides in how things are being handled. Time for new thinking and action.

I fought in a war long ago and my expereice taught me that there are very few people who actually participate in war who believe that it is a rational and viable response to resolving conflict. And yet, war persists. Why? Because people keep propagating old tired ways of thinking that just keep the insanity thriving.

Ironically, it is often those who offer an alternative way of thinking and acting against the insanity that are called "crazy."

Jones offers an unconventioal perspective that more often than not makes a lot more sense than what is normally offered us by those same old tired voices that are mostly, but certainly not entirely, older wealthy white men.

The world is so much more than the perspective offered by older wealthy white men. And if what has been tried for decade upon decade hasn't worked than trying something new makes a lot of sense.

Jones offered a voice that is seldom heard in the mainstream and maybe it should or, like I mentioned earlier, he probably is more effective outside the mainstream.

I just watched a documentary about Dalton Trumbo. It's eerie how similar the situation is today, only the McCarthyite government is now the right-wing media, and the government -- the Obama administration -- is now Dalton Trumbo.

ej wrote: "Jones offers an unconventioal(sic) perspective that more often than not makes a lot more sense than what is normally offered us by those same old tired voices that are mostly, but certainly not entirely, older wealthy white men."

So now you've joined the ranks of dismissing someone because of their race? Shouldn't we try to get to a point in our society where race doesn't matter? Who are you to discount what someone says because they are white, black, brown, yellow... anything! You want to see the ugly face of racism? Look in the mirror. Jones was nothing more than a self avowed Communist. He "left" that behind only since it's not really PC in Amerika(sic) today. And we want to hold this man up? Quit making excuses for him. He should have been vetted more properly and wasn't. The only reason why he's gone is because Obama couldn't make excuses for what Jones has done, why should you try to as well? He's an anti-American, end of story. Out with the garbage.

Anyone who sees everything through a racial prism (Columbine style killings, the environmental movement), is a racist. Van Jones feeds off the friendly audiences he addresses, and like a child, his antics grow throughout his speech (or should I say show). He, along with many in the Obama administration, fail to recognize that they work for the people, not the other way around. It took him long enough to resign; this issue was over a week ago.

The history of liberal fellow-travelling with communism is complicated and looking at it clearly is even more complicated because of McCarthy and McCarthyism. But while he may have been a great screenwriter (of two of my favorite movies, actually, Roman Holiday and Spartacus, among many others), Dalton Trumbo was for many years a committed communist. Did he deserve to be hounded by McCarthy? No, but he was not an innocent bystander either. To the wikipedia:

"Trumbo was a member of the Communist Party USA from 1943 until 1948. He bragged in The Daily Worker that among the films that communist influence in Hollywood had quashed were adaptations of Arthur Koestler's anti-communist works Darkness at Noon and The Yogi and the Commissar."

So let's hope, contra melissa above, that the adminstration is not like Trumbo or filled with Dalton Trumbos. He didn't deserve what was done to him; but people like him did tremendous damage to liberals and liberalism in America.

klfusa,

"He, along with many in the Obama administration, fail to recognize that they work for the people, not the other way around."

Exactly what did Jones say, WHILE A MEMBER OF THE ADMINISTRATION, that was so offensive ?

One extreme leftist lunatic down; so many to go; so much to do.

klfusa, no one gets a clean slate or absolution of past misdeeds by joining the Administration. In fact, such an association calls into question their past even more. If the shoe were on the other foot (ie. if this were a Republican Presidency), would you honestly be so lenient or quick to make excuses?

Edit - my comment was directed at Joe Friday, and not klfusa.

D-N, agreed but let's not forget about the Republican lunatics as well. Both sides have more nuts than a payday bar. Unfortunately this President seems to relish surrounding himself with those nuts on the left.

9corona said:

Van Jones, as director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, cut a vile CD against whites, the government, Israel, The Man, oil companies, and everything else American.

These were his word's - and this it what did it for me.....

"....At this point. The end of the occupation. The right of return of the Palestinian people. These are critical dividing lines in human rights. We have to be here. No American would put up with an Israeli-style occupation of their hometown for 53 days let alone 54 years. US tax dollars are funding violence against people of color inside the US borders and outside the US borders."

Even as a middle of the road gay white person, with Jew inlaws, I'd say that statement is dead on correct. Were you looking for the truth? People of color are pretty much targets anywhere where the predominant populace is Bible/Torah bonered white people or are you "white" (with or without a Torah/Bible boner) and just didn't happen to notice?! How about teh gay? Or you're not gay either? Give me your perspective as an African American then?

Everybody sees through an historical, cultural, racial perspective, it's just that some of us are more aware of it than others.

Those of us in this country not in the "default" spectrum of perspective - white, mostly protestant - are generally more aware of it than those who rest contentedly in the more accepted realm of experience and history.

Any voice that diverges from what is thought of as the mainstream often sounds threatening and/or crazy from those accustomed to hearing only one type of voice.

Anytime one references things like - all things American, or the real America, or accusing victims of racism as being racist because they reference what has taken place - is also referring to their heritage, their history, their background, their race.

Their references don't have to be acknowledged because their references all lie within the context of the accepted narrative. Anything that contests that narrative is viewed as threatening and must be done away with, pushed aside, marginalized into irrelevence.

Van Jones is an intelligent, perceptive, sensitive man of accomplishment and deserves to be viewed in that "context." His background has led him to a perspective that may differ than the prescribed narrative, but that doesn't render his views any less valid, and maybe even more valid, than the views of most people of power and influence when it comes to speaking truth.

I have some socialist views but that doesn't make me any less American. My roots are from the American southwest where part of my family came to what is now America and America came to part of my family as the border and their nationality changed right from underneath them.

My perspective of America may differ from those who reference the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, and Europe as their heritage, but that doesn't make me or my perspective any less American. and if I see the Pilgrims or the Texans as something less than heros is doesn't mean I'm a threat.

I'm a decorated combat veteran who has lived all over this country, I speak three languages and have traveled the world and I don't think this country has always done good in the world, I think it has committed genocide and is one of the most racist selfish self-absorbed societies on the planet. With all of that I am a true American and I've probably given more to this country than most self described patriots - not that I hold any of that against them.

Van Jones believes his/our government hasn't been truthful to us about the events surrounding 9/11 and his perspective of heritage differs from what we all are accustomed to hearing from those in positions of power and influence. His voice is one that is rarely heard from officials within our government and we would all be better for it if we heard more voices like his. He is not to be feared, mistrusted, and banished. We all should embrace each other and seek and honor the divergent voice. That is what makes us America. That is what should be our strength.

Obama would have been in irreversable trouble if he kept Van Jones, with the upcoming talks with Israel. Van Jones produced and starred on a CD proclaiming Palestine rights over Israel in his typical swear word language. Everything else Van Jones said in the past could have been sugar coated. But the peace talks would have been torpedoed!

My point was not to defend Dalton Trumbo per se -- there are plenty of others with more knowledge about his case (plus, I would not cite Wikipedia as an authoritative source; and so what if he was a communist? He was no threat to his government or the nation then, and there is no fifth column in the Obama government now either.) The point is that the political atmosphere seems as poisonous now as it was during the Red Scare. And that's something to worry about.

I don't think it was the Asshole comment or even the Truther petition (sounds like others may not have known the contents). What was more troubling was this comments about white pollutors poisoning people of color, the comments and associations at a post 9/11 rally, the DC with Mumia Abu-Jamal.

This suggests that either Obama's team was extremely sloppy in vetting Jones (using the czar role to bypass any scrutiny) or they were fully aware and accept his radical leanings (which Valerie Jarrett's comments would seem to support).

We have a pattern of associations with far lefties - Ayers, Wright, Jones - with views that are repugnant to most Americans in the center. This creates further doubt about Obama's judgement and principles.

So just what petition about 9/11 did Van Jones sign? Link?

growup,

"no one gets a clean slate or absolution of past misdeeds by joining the Administration."

That means that John McCain couldn't run for president in 2008, or Palin for vice-president. Neither Chimpy Bush or Uncle Dick could run in 2000. Most of Chimpy's cabinet would have had to resign.

How silly can you get ?

The difference is, the Bushies said WE WON, FUCK YOU.