Farewell Comrade Jones

Ain't no sunshine during holiday weekends at midnight, apparently. The reactions are coming in to the Van Jones resignation. This quip from Ryan Grim at HuffPo seems to catch both the reality and fantasy of this whole thing:

Jones never denied his past affiliation with the radical left. In the '90s, he was involved with the group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), which sympathized with Maoist-inspired peasant movements throughout the world and was organized to protest police brutality.

Jones, however, left radical politics and made the decision to work within the system, rather than try to overthrow it. For Beck, however, Jones' past statements were evidence that Obama is secretly marshaling a cadre of lieutenants pushing an agenda that is "radical, revolutionary and in some cases Marxist." (Meanwhile, in reality, Obama is backing away from even including a public health insurance option as part of health care reform. How that squares with Obama's Marxist agenda Beck has yet to explain.)

What a splendid spin. Jones didn't leave radical politics--he joined the clandestinely radical Obama administration and only resigned when he was outed by an accused nut, Glenn Beck, whom the media has covered rather extensively. He's now free to carry on the radical politics he left just eight months ago under the cover of environmentalism.

This is more an indictment of the press than the administration. Obama told Joe the Plumber he wanted to 'spread the wealth around', which got poor Joe investigated and maligned in record time with help from the press. Both Jones and Obama have been involved in the 'social justice' movement their entire careers, which seems to be a euphemism for spreading the wealth around on a global scale. Hardly any shock or awe for those paying attention.

If we were still living in real America the mainstream media would henceforth move into full tilt attack mode against this administration for quietly pursuing rank duplicity and disingenuous behavior on the voting public. They won't. So let's rub it in--another maligned Fox News talking head has now been vindicated--Sean Hannity. Like him or not, his comment that "2009 was the year journalism in America died" has now been proven correct.

NEXT 9/6/09

The left will not take this takedown lying down. If Beck can bring down a high-level czar by just reporting facts the major media ignored he can do it again, and again. They have no alternative but to declare war. And the leading clown has already flashed his sword. Beck will undoubtedly have his hands full of defending some trutherish buddies in short order.

DEAN JONES 9/6/09

Sorry, couldn't resist. Here's Howard Dean on Van Jones:



Someone just shoved a petition and he signed it? Well OK, maybe. Radicals like radicals and such. But the choice part of the clip is Dean talking about trutherism. Here's the good Dr in 2003:

Dean: There is a report which the president is suppressing evidence for which is a thorough investigation of 9/11.

Diane Rehm, WAMU (public) radio: Why do you think he's suppressing that report?

Dean: I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far, which is nothing more than a theory, I can't—think it can't be proved, is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now, who knows what the real situation is, but the trouble is that by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not, and then eventually they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the clear, the key information that needs to go to the Kean commission.

It's worth noting that Dean became the front-runner by engaging the far left anti-war crowd, using the Bush lied meme about Iraq, losing it only with the fabled scream. Kerry then took up that mantle and got nominated. So it's not all too surprising Jones was signing petitions in 2004.

In Search of Mr. Jones

Conservative bloggers and pundits were today pointing out the dearth of coverage about Van Jones in the mainstream media. Byron York had this summary late this morning, which showed no results from the majors. None.

York should know they needed more time--Friday morning on a the eve of a holiday weekend is far too early to be expecting any controversial news to come out about the administration. And again, this is really a no-brainer anyway. Who's shocked that Obama hired a radical activist just like Ayers and Wright, then when his activism (that the media forgot to report) was exposed the response is no response, or if pressed to paint accusers as paranoid nuts? SSDD.

Anyway, lacking any household chores or puppies to grind up in the grinder at the moment, I decided to check around a bit myself. Around 430 pm CDT the nation's top newspaper had only mention of the controversy in a search--a mention on a page called "Green, Inc":



Which actually links to a New Republic online column, which is basically a Jones apologia. Nothing in the Caucus Blog or the Opinionator, either, except in the comments section. Here's comment one in the Opinionator:

Meanwhile, Van Jones currently works in the White House. Nary a peep from the Washington Post and NYTimes.

Ha ha, as they say. The Times probably rues the day they allowed the ignorant rabble to comment. Meanwhile the other paper of record in our nation's capital finally added a mention in their "44" blog around 3:52 pm CDT. There were several other items found in a search, all but one added this afternoon.

The WaPo did have a mention of Jones yesterday in their "Post Politics Hour", a feature where journalist Lois Romano is asked questions by readers, which provides some insight. For instance, a reader asked Ms Romano if she was familiar with a pastor who is praying for Obama's death, a story that first appeared in late June, to which she says:

Lois Romano: He's clearly a nut and I dont believe we should give nuts a platform. That being said "The Root" is owned by the Post.

Clearly a nut. And here's her reply to a reader mentioning the disturbance created by Obama's address to the nation's rugrats:

Lois Romano: It's a little odd-- but no odder than the "birthers" claiming Obama is not American.

Birther mention, check. Finally, somebody asks about Jones calling Republicans a-holes, to which she says:

Lois Romano: I looked for that quote and I could never find a primary reference for him saying it. Not sure he did.

Remember, this was September 3 and the quote was already posted on a blevy of blogs and Fox News. And remember this is supposed to be a premier newspaper with access to a top notch research unit. Another reader comments later and provides a link, to which she replies:

Lois Romano: I stand corrected. Unsavory language and name calling is never appropriate. Barbara Bush shouldnt have called Gerladine Ferraro a name that "rhymes with rich" and Dick Cheney should not used a no-no word in addressing Sen. Pat Leahy.

Oh, and remember that time George W. Bush called a N.Y. Times reporter a naughty word into an open microphone??

Manners everyone, please!! Get a grip.

Hey, just a slip of the tongue. Mention Cheney and exit, stage left, of course! And CNN? As of 5:00 pm CDT search of their web page produced the following:



Nothing recent, but an article from July 23 had this to say:

The new special adviser for "green jobs" -- those jobs that help reduce energy consumption and lessen environmental impact -- at the White House Council on Environmental Quality is in some ways like President Obama himself: an African-American community activist and organizer who has rocketed to the highest levels of government.

"...in some ways like Obama himself"? Surely they must hope that notion doesn't catch on.

MORE 9/5/09

Debbie at Right Truth points out Jones' west Tennessee connections, of which I was unaware. It would seem logical for the local paper to be covering this brouhaha then, right? Well... here's a search page of 'van jones' done around midnight 9/5. Must still be hard at work on the stories.