'High-Tech Lynching' of Van Jones Signals McCarthyism Alive and Well

[Purveyor]

Separate articles appeared in Monday's New York Times and in the Washington Post. Both suggest that the resignation submitted by Van Jones, a special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council for Environmental Quality, were the result of inadequate White House "vetting." Neither newspaper examined the question as to whether the true problem was the inability to withstand a smear campaign led by extreme right-wing whack jobs like Glenn Beck; an inability reflected by the Times' description of a "terse" acceptance of the resignation, with White House spokesman Robert Gibbs taking pains to stress that President Barack Obama "did not endorse" Jones' views.

The three Jones sins were his having uttered an expletive in referring to Republicans, his having "signed a petition in 2004 questioning whether the Bush administration had allowed the terrorist attacks of September 2001 to provide a pretext for war in the Middle East," and his support for Mumia Abu-Jamal ("Mumia")...

I won't dwell on the first except to state that although the use of vulgarity in political discourse is inappropriate, a single utterance, followed by an apology, in no way compels a resignation. The right-wing echo chamber conveniently forgets that their hero, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, told a U.S. Senator "Go fuck yourself" on the floor of the U.S. Senate. And even George W. Bush famously pointed a NY Times reporter out to his then-running mate Dick Cheney, as a "major-league asshole".

Truth be told, you could probably count on one hand the number of Democrats and Independents who have not, at some point, at least thought of Cheney as a lying S.O.B., even if they have refrained from saying it.

While I, for one, do not believe there is sufficient evidence to warrant the conclusion that the Bush regime intentionally permitted 9/11 to occur, it is not all that unreasonable to raise the question, as millions of Americans have, so as to warrant further investigation to either substantiate or refute the "official theory" of that event.

Consider the two things that are clear: (a) in the face of dire warnings, at a minimum, the Bush regime appears to have been asleep at the switch, and (b) the Bush regime seized on the event to target Iraq, with Bush not only refusing to accept Richard Clarke's 9/12/01 assessment that there was no link between Saddam and 9/11, but reportedly instructing Clarke to find one --- at least according to what Clarke wrote in Against All Enemies: Inside the War on Terror.

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http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7397

[Buzz Clik]

1. "Lynching?" Oh, please. This is hyperbole of the worst kind.

The images conjured by the word "lynching" have absolutely NOTHING to do with Van Jones resigning his government post because he called an entire group of people "assholes" at a public forum.

The spin on this story has gone from odd to curious to completely crazy.

[cyberswede]

3. I agree

Remember when Clarence Thomas used that word re: the Anita Hill thing? That was ridiculous.

I do think that Van Jones was targeted by the right - actually in a way that was completely over the top, especially given the relatively small-time position he held.

[ShortnFiery]

2. Yes, but thank Heavens that Clarence Thomas escaped the fray and is now promoting Civil Rights

from his lofty pedestal on SCOTUS. :crazy:

[noiretextatique]

4. obama reminds me a lot of clinton

i hope his caving doesn't continue. van jones should not have resigned, but i am sure he was pressured to do so. the rw hates jones because he is not a mealy-mouthed "centrist." they were gunning for him and they got him.