by matttbastard
Geez. Not five minutes after I had gone to bed, besieged White House green jobs adviser (and radical communist-anarchist!!1one) Van Jones finally became a martyr in the GOP’s increasingly ugly race war against the uppity Usurper-in-Chief:
I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today.
On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.
I have been inundated with calls – from across the political spectrum – urging me to “stay and fight.”
But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.
It has been a great honor to serve my country and my President in this capacity. I thank everyone who has offered support and encouragement. I am proud to have been able to make a contribution to the clean energy future. I will continue to do so, in the months and years ahead.
Wonder if Jones is reconsidering that recent apology for calling Republicans ‘assholes’. Because, well, um, yeah.
Related: Alex Pareene on how the speedy demonization of Van Jones illustrates “how the right wing information delivery process works now.”
In a nutshell: Fire up the swift boats, crank up the Wurlitzer, and wait for Tapper and Drudgico to do the rest.
bastard.logic 
Sorry, too many videos on youtube of this man espousing radical views for anyone to take seriously those who would defend him. He should have been vetted before being assigned this post.
If, in fact, he was vetted it only adds credence to the point of many on the right that the president himself shares similar views.
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Jones’ past views/activism weren’t exactly hidden — and didn’t stop Meg Whitman, Tom Friedman, TIME Magazine et all from embracing him.
But, hey, have fun once again bending over for the McCarthyites. Cowtowing to the manufactured hysteria of right-wing extremists seems to be a longstanding tradition for decent “liberals” (snerk) such as yourself.
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Seriously, first comment is from a quintessential concern troll? It really is 2004 all over again.
BORED NOW.
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Oh, I see. I don’t agree with this post, so I’m dishonest. And I’m bending over (gay slur?) for the McCarthyites.
Immature responses like this keep honest liberal thinkers off blogs like this.
Facts matter, Matt.
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Immature responses like this keep honest liberal thinkers off blogs like this.
Hahahhaha you are fucking hilarious. Seriously, you should set up a seminar for aspiring concern trolls. This thread is turning into a fucking clinic.
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Wow, that’s sad. Thanks for sharing though!
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Starhawk’s issued a call-out in support of Van Jones.
Okay, now, I’m really mad! The right wing bullies at Fox News—Glenn Beck and his ilk, are going after a man who I know personally from years of progressive work in the Bay Area—Van Jones. Jones is a grass roots organizer who started the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, as well as the program Green For All. He wrote a best-selling book, one of the few books on environmental action written by an African American: The Green Collar Economy.
Now he’s being targeted by Glenn Beck and Fox News. His crimes: He once called the Republicans ‘assholes’. (Is there a thinking person in this country who hasn’t?) He was arrested at a demonstration after Rodney King was beaten. (He was a legal aid, arrested in a sweep when the S.F. police surrounded the crowd and arrested everyone, including grandmothers who had just stepped out for a carton of milk. I remember that day—I escaped arrest myself because I stopped to order a pizza and arrived just ten minutes too late. Charges against Jones were dropped and he was given a settlement by the city of SF for his false arrest.) And in 2004, he signed a petition asking for an inquiry into the truth of 911. (If every person in the country who questioned the 911 commissioned is now to be banned from public office, we’d be left with a pretty sorry field of the utterly compliant from which to choose our public officials.)
Van Jones’ real crime? He’s the triple threat: he’s black, he’s effective, and he is doing effective work to empower the people in this country who have the least resources.
Make no mistake—the attack on Jones is racism rearing its ugly head. White folks in this country are allowed to carry guns into political meetings and call for the murder of the President on national TV. Black folks who might at some point in their life have expressed dissatisfaction with the going order are always at risk of being targeted.
The racism and the bullying isn’t actually very subtle—but here’s one sort of subtle point: the right wing is constructing a definition of ‘America’ that leaves out the perspective of most people of color, most poor people, most truly progressive people—and then vilifying anyone who disagrees or even questions. Come to think of it, they’ve been doing that for decades.
If we let them target Jones, rest assured all of us who have any sort of progressive perspective whatsoever are on their hit list. If we let them define the terms of the argument, we are lost. If we give in to bullies, they will hit back harder. And if Jones goes down, the vital work he is doing, the attempt to bring together the environmental and social justice movements, will go down as well.
I try to restrain myself from sending out posts asking people to call and write and sign petitions, because otherwise I’d be sending one an hour. But I’m going to ask you to do this now:
Call the White House and urge Obama to stand firm with Van Jones. Write Obama and leave your comments on his page. If you are from the Bay Area, let them know that we are Jones’ homies and we stand with him and with the work he is doing. And that we are proud of the progressive values he represents.
Buy his book and read it, if you haven’t already. Royalties are the best revenge! And it’s a damn good book!
Go to the Color of Change website and sign the petition to urge advertisers to drop Glenn Beck. It’s having an effect (which has riled them up all the more!)
The only way to stop bullies is to stand up to them!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/
White House Phone numbers:
Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD
Comments: 202-456-6213 Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
Color of Change:
http://www.colorofchange.org/
Read this post online at http://www.starhawksblog.org.
Starhawk’s main website: http://www.starhawk.org
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Checked back in after a long day.
Only a couple more posts. Looks like not much of a following here. Not surprising. Not returning.
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Not crying.
BBye!
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Dude.
Dis jus bidness.
Big Business’s Hidden Hand in the Smear Job on Van Jones
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet. Posted September 8, 2009.
http://www.alternet.org/politics/142481/big_business%27s_hidden_hand_in_the_smear_job_on_van_jones/?page=entire
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