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The Real Reason Van Jones was Fired
By David Glenn Cox
I hate those teaser headlines that never actually achieve what they promise so I’ll tell you up front, I don’t know why he was fired. But what I do know tells me it wasn’t for the reasons given to the public. If the White House were to fire all the staffers who had called Republicans assholes, Obama would be working alone in the White House.
Signing a petition calling for a further investigation into 9-11? Lets see, name your three favorite investigations done by the Bush Administration that you felt were done admirably and above reproach. You see, it very quickly becomes the Washington version of Clue.
Ordinarily you ignore the asshole remark and you apologize, saying that you misunderstood the full intent of the petition, and everyone goes back to work. So for Mr. Jones to get fired so quickly and so stealthily it becomes obvious that there is more to the picture than meets the eye.
Mr. Jones's efforts as co-founder of the group ColorofChange.org, which had led to the cancellation of over fifty advertisers on the Glenn Beck program, is definitely fuel for the fire. So was it Mr. Murdoch in the back alley with an innuendo? I know it wasn’t Beck himself, he’s such a spineless jellyfish I bet he walks the other way when he sees Bill O’Reilly in the hall. Weasels don’t fight, they whine to their boss. Beck has been whining about Jones and taking shots at him on his show, shots that mainly go over the heads of the attentive troglodytes in the audience.
Considering that Jones has only been in office as an advisor on “Green Jobs” for a few months you can eliminate malfeasance as he hasn’t been in office long enough to hold cocaine-fueled parties with hookers hired as day workers as was done by the Bush Forest Service employees. Nor has he been in office long enough to pass out no bid multi-million dollar contracts to companies where he has a monetary investment or family members on the payroll, as was done in the Bush administration. So if it’s not professional it must be personal, but remember this is Washington. DUIs? Forget it, too common. If it were something that mundane Jones would just step down to spend more time with his family.
For generations it was common to push people from office by threatening to expose to the public that they were gay. Today in politics that is nonsense, you can only be removed for being gay after running for office as a staunch anti-gay activist, and even then you’d be removed for being a hypocrite and not for being gay.
Skeletons in the closet perhaps? Incriminating photos maybe of Jones holding a bong and partying with Mike Tyson or walking dogs with Michael Vick? Again, this is Washington; substance abuse is as common as cracks in the sidewalk. The numbers there would be like going to a Bush cabinet meeting and asking, "Raise your hand if you dodged the draft with college deferments."
Limbaugh, two felony arrests, Cindy McCain, felony forgery and theft, but this is Washington, debauchery's playground. Any accusations like that would be met with one of ours for one of yours. So it is unlikely to be moral turpitude. Then what does Jones say in his own defense?
“They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.” Thank you, Dr. Obvious. That is the Republican game plan from day one, so the question we need to ask is, why did it work in this case. Jones cited a “vicious smear campaign,” which points back to Fox, and maybe the skeletons are not in Mr. Jones's closet but someone higher up and Mr. Jones is just being a good soldier and falling on the grenade for a superior officer, ala Scooter Libby.
Mr. Jones has already apologized for calling Republicans assholes and regrets signing the petition. No drugs, no breach of fiduciary responsibilities, no ladies or boys accosted or deflowered, and yet Jones is out on his ass without even so much as a ride to the bus station. Considering the weekend termination and Mr. Jones's hostility, it doesn’t sound like the good soldier scenario is very likely, unless he was an unwitting good soldier and was thrown on the grenade
Indiana Representative Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican conference, said Jones’s “extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate. Van Jones should resign his position and if he is unwilling to do so, the president should demand his resignation.”
That’s just plain funny. The previous administration had a vice president that told elected members to “Fuck Off” on the floor of the House, and a President that routinely shot the bird at members of the press. And this guy gets canned for a generic remark?
The White House announced his resignation in an e-mail early yesterday. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” said that Obama thanked Jones for his service.
"Jones understood he was going to get in the way,” Gibbs said. Jones, the author of a 2008 book, “The Green Collar Economy,” decided “that the agenda of this president was bigger than any one individual,” said Gibbs.
This has the appearance of making a deal; the administration gets rid of Jones and his attack dogs who are starting to take chunks of real meat out of Glenn Beck’s backside and the Fox bottom line. Politics is a game but money is serious business. Could this administration have made a deal with the Fox devil? Would they be so naive as to think Fox could be trusted to make a deal where you call off your dogs and we’ll call off ours?
What other reason is left available to us? The president has been accused of palling around with terrorists and of being a communist, Hitler and Stalin, wanting to kill Grandma, and yet they now throw Jones under the bus for “getting in the way?”
It smells to high heaven, because the only real perceivable reason for Mr. Jones's termination was his lawful activity in calling for a boycott against a racist moron who preaches nitwit theories and can’t even spell the word oligarchy.
Yet now the damage is done. Was it Rahm in the Situation Room with a knife in the back? Was it Mr. Murdoch in the Boardroom with promises and candy?
Who now working on the White House staff is comfortable planning to buy a home in Washington when you watch your peers thrown to the wolves for imaginary crimes? Who then will be willing to make principled stands when you witness the nail that stood up and was immediately hammered down? Hammered down either to cover an embarrassment or just cut into chum to feed the Fox sharks.
Was it Barack in the White House with a lack of courage? Can you shake hands with the devil and not get your fingers burned? Can you lie down with dogs and not get fleas? For Jones was fired and left with his nobility intact, while the administration is left looking gamed and without a clue.
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