Monday, September 07, 2009

White House Throws Van Jones Under the Bus

The Obama Adminstration is cursed with spines of jello. It took years to get war criminal Donald Rumsfeld and torture freak Albert Gonzales to resign, but after 2 weeks of psycho-babble attacks from socialist-obssesed Glenn Beck, the Obama Team surrenders.

Van Jones resigned in the middle of the night, Sunday, as Obama's Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality. Jones was one of the few actual progressives in the Obama Administration.

White House officials offered tepid support Friday for Van Jones, the administration's embattled energy efficiency guru, who has issued two public apologies this week, one for signing a petition that questioned whether Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."

Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck all but declared war on Jones after a group the adviser founded in 2005, ColorofChange.org, led an advertising boycott against Beck's show to protest his claim that Obama is a racist.

But if Obama can't defend single payer or even a public option, how on earth can the Commander-in-Chief be expected to defend one of his own from Fox News? And if all it takes to bring this White House to its knees is 2 weeks of attacks by socialist-obsessed Glenn Beck, what chance does real health care reform have?

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) called for Van Jones to resign last Friday. According to Pence, Jones' "extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate." I think we all know how much Republicans despise "extremist views" and "coarse rhetoric." Like roughly 90% of the people on the planet, Van Jones has a supreme distrust of George W. Bush. Jones even referred to Republicans as a**holes. By Glenn Beck's standards, only Republicans are fit to serve in the White House. Beck has already aimed his sights on his next target.

Jane Hamsher has the scathing must-read post:

So to all you liberal organizations . . If you can't get it together to at least put out a statement of support for Van Jones and condemn the White House for using him as a sacrificial lamb to right wing extremists that will devour us all if left unchecked, it's time to add "proudly liberal only when it doesn't matter" to your logo and be done with it.