On Van Jones

Ok. So, now if you are a communist right out of college, 20 years later you are exempt from public life.
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Equating collegiate communism to white supremacist Nazism is extremely offensive as well. Shame on you, ya putz.
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Dick Cheney has hundreds of thousands of bodies on his hands, but people like you just throw your hands up in exasperation. People like David Broder suggest that it would be uncivil to even investigate it.
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But Van Jones is beyond the pale. F U Joe. Seriously, F U.

It’s too bad Jones hadn’t helped lie the country into war, or went around calling liberals nazis, because then Klein would have his back.

“A Van Jones or two will slip through the cracks and be given jobs”.
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Slip through? Apparently you do not do much research on these types of posts, do you Joe?
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(Hopefully the video will be visible to you all of Valerie Jarrett, if not the link above will take you to it)
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But, back to Joe’s “slipping through the cracks” comment.
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This is totally nuts to put it plainly, Joe. To pass this off as some type of low level appointee, who was not even known by Obama until now?
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Please excuse me, but you are either naive as hell, or simply providing cover for Obama. My bet is on the latter.
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Jones was WELL known to Obama and Valarie Jarrett. They simply believed that no one would investigate it.
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But, Jones is gone thankfully. Now the real question is, who else has been appointed to other important positions within this Administration? What are their views and ideals? What plans do they have for us in America, and how will that affect us all?
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Ever think to ask those questions, Joe? Ever think to do any REAL journalism?

TeresaKopec pointed out on Twitter that 42 Bush Admin appointees resigned under a cloud of controversy over 8 years -we can spare one:

http://bit.ly/wpvxU

And, what trifecta said.

In Vallerie’s own words
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“It also means that, even with a Democratic Congress, major policy changes like health care reform have to be implemented carefully–incrementally, if necessary.”

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Translation: They need to implement a health plan that only benefits the private insurance companies and drives their profits up, because trying to provide cost competition is a radical, communist plot.

Congratulations, Joe. You’ve outdone yourself with this sanctimonious, prissy insider-shock! post. Who wrote this shameless pro-bama screed? Gibbs? Is this your bid to become an FOB (Friend of Barack)?

Jones’ firing (and it was a firing) was a totally uncalled-for bow to a racist, right-wing extremist campaign that not only deprives Americans of a fine advocate for the environment, it substantially weakens the President & elevates his lunatic critics. Now the nut jobs know by simply screaming loud enough & long enough (like a whole week or so) about nothing they can get what they want. Firing Jones was a shocking miscalculation, a horrendous over-reaction & a self-inflicted wound to the President.

Joe, if you called for Dubya’s impeachment when he called Adam Clymer “a major-league a55hole,” & if you called for the impeachment of Dick Cheney when he told Patrick Leahy to go F himself, please post a link to those columns. I’d really, really like to see them.

Let’s face it, by your standard, there isn’t a black man alive who can get a job in any presidential administration, because most of them actually use some of Carlin’s words you can’t say on the air (and so do most of the rest of us), & many of them take a turn at radicalism (& so do many of the rest of us).

Please apologize to Van Jones & to your readers. This post is abhorrent to thinking Americans.

The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com

Joe Klein:
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No doubt there is a bright line in American political life fastidiously maintained by the likes of you, Joe Klein –and now by Glenn Beck as well, thanks so much.
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Next up on the chopping block after we’re done purging all those who have ever said anything construed by Glenn Beck to be indicative of Stalinist sympathies…those who sound like communists.
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After that? Those who espouse programs that sound like the people who were purged for sounding like communists.
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I hate communists, Joe Klein. As someone who has had to argue against them in public settings, I can tell you that their philosophy inures many of them against moral weakness. Having fought against them when organizing on the left, I know exactly what kind of duplicity and manipulation comes with Bolshevist and Maoist activism.
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My wife is from Slovakia, Joe Klein, and was raised during the last phase of communist domination of that country. I have more than enough information about what life under communism was really like at my disposal to form an opinion about the acceptability of such a system –or the people who advocate for it.
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Yes, I literally hate communists. But legitimately keeping the Red Menace out of the Obama Administration isn’t what this episode is about at all, Joe Klein, and you would know that if you weren’t so busy protesting your disavowal. It’s about the success you are letting the entertainment-right enjoy right now by lending the campaign to create the appearance of a communist-infiltrated Obama Administration legitimacy by your knee-jerk condemnation.
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You just don’t think these things through anymore, do you, Joe Klein?
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And exactly how does your courageous, inspiring rejection of communists segue into an admonition that “major policy changes like health care reform have to be implemented carefully–incrementally“? Glenn Beck is apparently instructing you on more than the acceptability of political appointees, Joe Klein. I guess it’s giving you too much credit to expect that you wouldn’t take the opportunity to imply that opponents of the health insurance industry bailout are similarly left-wing extremists “to be clearly rejected“. How revolting that you could not restrain yourself in the midst of such righteous chest-beating from sneaking that shot in.
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But let’s clear one thing up, shall we?
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You mention that you have some prescriptions to be taken “If the liberal project is to succeed“.
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Are you saying that you, yourself are a liberal, Joe Klein? Or is it that you support “the liberal project” of some Democrats at the current moment?
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Which is it, Joe Klein? Are you a liberal, or are you a passing sympathizer? Can you be honest about this for once?
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Your readers deserve to know these facts about you, Joe Klein, instead of being treated to oblique references to “the project” by someone who won’t hesitate to call all liberals “left-extremists” when it’s politically expedient to do so –such as when they oppose the Democratic establishment’s consensus on health care reform by calling it what it currently is: an “insurance industry bailout”.

“Ok. So, now if you are a communist right out of college, 20 years later you are exempt from public life.”
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Actually, 10 years ago. He didn’t make his “I am a communist” statement until after he graduated from Yale Law School in 1993. In 1996, he went to work at the Ella Baker Center. Ella Baker a renoun Black Nationalist in the San Francisco Bay area. It wasn’t until 1996 that “Van” took on the philosophy of Communism as his creed and formed his current beliefs.
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Van Jones – Career Milestones:
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1993 – Jones set up the Bay Area PoliceWatch, which included a community hotline that took complaints about police misconduct and a lawyer-referral service for victims of police brutality.
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1996 – Jones founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit “strategy and action” organization that works for “justice, opportunity and peace in urban America.”
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2008 – Jones launches Green For All, a national program that “fights both poverty and pollution” by placing people from impoverished areas in green collar jobs.
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2008 – Jones’ book, “The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems,” was published and became a national bestseller.
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You see, not until 2008 did he take up the “Green” mantel to his identity.
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And actually, Van is not his real name. It is Anthony Jones. He chose “Van”, Van Jones’ parents named him Anthony. He took the name Van during his freshman year of college. He thought Anthony Jones sounded dull, and he decided he needed a new identity.
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Just this year, The New Yorker Magazine questioned him on his name change;
In a 2009 interview with The New Yorker, Jones told writer Elizabeth Kolbert that he chose the name Van because “it has a little touch of nobility, but at the same time it’s not overboard.”

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How “passive” is this, Mr. Klein?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/the-rest-is-silence/

I join the FU chorus. Van Jones is no more a “too-angry blowhard spouting foolish radicalism” than you are a journalist. In both cases, you used to be those things. But Van Jones moved from foolish radicalism to brilliant, inspiring pragmatist, and you moved on to self-absorbed wanker.

I know, I am usually the nice one. But this was really too much. Van Jones was targeted and lynched by a gleeful right-wing mob and Joe Klein thinks it’s a good thing? Please.

And before some bright light from Beckistan says Van Jones brought on his own demise by doing “stupid” things, let me point out the short distance to that argument from to one that blamed Emmit Till for his death because he actually DID whistle at a white girl. Clearly, the things Van Jones did are only “fatal errors” when seen from a certain perspective.

Joe:

You are always pointing out what a great job is done at Time with fact checkers and this site is always calling everyone of a conservative bent a liar. Well Fire your fact checker and you are added to the list of liars.

First,” after 30 years of conservative rule the voters opted for liberals”. Either you have completely lost it or just suck at math. From Kennedy through Ford, the Democrats had complete control of the House and Senate During the Reagan years the demos controlled the House (led by that well known conservative Tip O’Neill) and 2 of the 8 years of the Senate. GHW Bush faced a democratic Senate and House and was Split during the years oif Clinton and Bush.

Second, your comment about doing incremental change is as equally dishonest. The reason, as we have seen from the health care plan, when the public becomes aware of the liberals full plan they revolt. And the reason? The plans run counter to every fiber of being that has made this country over the past 200 years.

Third, Van Jones did not slip through the cracks as you euphemistically say. Valerie Garrett is on tape say the Administration was well aware of him and knew him for years. That is equivalent to Obama sitting in a pew listening to the Rev Wright for years and not knowing he was spouting racist views. A the dirty little secret that is becoming more apparent to the public is that these radical views are closer to Obama than was presented by the media in the campaign. In his book (Dreams from My Father) he talks about how he carefully chose his friends in college: Socialists, Marxists and radicals”. It continued with Rev Wright, Bill Ayers and Van Jones. To conclude that while Obama surrounds himself with these radicals that he remains a moderate is the height of dishonesty.

And your final attempt at spin comes from your discussion of the 9/11 proceedings. Quick to blame Bush and Cheney but nary a mention of Clinton except that Bush ignored the warnings of Berger. The same Berger who stole and destroyed classified documents about terrorists and the 9/11 events? What could possibly be in those papers? And let’s not forget the 9/11 commission contained Richard Ben-Veniste whose sole job was to assure that nothing to implicate the Clinton administration came to light. The committee also had Jamie Gorelick who was the author of the famous memo that eliminated the co-operation between agencies that could have stopped any terroist act.

Is your next article about how the media has been conservative for the past 30 years too?

The work of this presidency is too important to be side-tracked by a too-angry blowhard spouting foolish radicalism.
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Wow. You’ve just bought into everything the Republicans have been saying about this guy. A too-angry blowhard spouting foolish radicalism? If you are going to exempt someone for being angry about the Rodney King riots, then you might as well disqualify every African-American in this country. It’s offensive that you would equate the anger at the Rodney King trials with white supremacy and Nazism. You know which side is right.
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But I get it, Joe. This isn’t about “left wing extremism”. This is about white people being uncomfortable with the fiery rhetoric of a black man. It’s the same reason why the country couldn’t handle Rev. Wright. Van Jones was a tireless crusader for the poor and forgotten in this country, of which too many are minorities. His real passion was elevating the status of the inner city working class, making sure they were not forgotten amidst the green revolution. If it takes a couple inflammatory speeches to make people aware of the horrendous conditions in the cities of this country, then so be it. But I guess looking after poor inner city Americans is just way too far left for the rest of the country.
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And your comments about small-c conservatism being necessary are ridiculous. Roll over why don’t you. Liberalism can stand on it’s own merits and successes. Comments like yours are what’s going to destroy this presidency. You are tucking tail, Joe. Tucking tail.

How “ridiculous” is this question, Mr. Klein?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/movers-and-shakers/

I don’t think “passive” begins to describe President Bush’s behavior at Booker Elementary, do you, Mr. Klein?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/the-protection-racket/

Joe Klein + Michael Scherer + Spooge + Rustytheclown = Swampland really blows these days.

Saul Alinsky, William Ayers, Rev Jeremiah Wright, and now “Van” Jones.
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Who are the rest of “Obama’s Friends”?
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When will you investigate the rest of Obama’s associates, Joe Klein?
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I believe the pattern of radical associates are very clear.
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As stuart attempted to point out solely on “the appearence of Communist infiltration”, when in fact it is a radical, far left liberal / progressive infiltration, but I shall term it INFESTATION into the Obama Administration.
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While Obama is not alone in recent years to “appoint” people to these “Czar” roles, we as American citizens do not know about their backgrounds until it is way too late to stop them, or to discover their identies and agendas.
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Fortunately, Glenn Beck DID investigate, and expose Van Jones and Obama. Now we want to know about all the rest of the rats who have crawled out of the shadows and into the light.
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Valerie Jarrett? George Soros, famed financier and MOVEON.Org major contributor? Phil Angelides (Chairman of Apollo Alliance) Kathleen McGinty, former Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection? Gerald Hudson, International Executive Vice President, John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American ProgressService Employees International? Union? Jim Johnson, former Fannie Mae Exec? Gregory Galluzzo Gamaliel Foundation, community organiser? John L McKinght Gamaliel Foundation, National People’s Action?
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And this is just the “short-list” of Obama’s past and present associates.

Look, spamming the commentary of this blog with links to your own isn’t terribly good sport around here, ok, michaelfury?
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Leave real, substantial commentary that adds to the debate here, if you’re going to comment, and then link to yourself as a signature to your thoughts if you’d like us to read more.
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Otherwise it’s just self-serving, thread-hijacking traffic-harlotry, if you get my meaning.
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Thanks so much in advance for understanding the difference between commentary and spam, michaelfury.

rusty

Careful, after the left throws the race card at you, they will label you a conspiracy theorist like well, a 9/11er.

Rustydog:
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I need to make certain that I’m understanding you correctly…
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Is Glenn Beck saying that…I’m struggling here, hold on…is he really saying that “John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress” is a radical, left-wing, revolutionary extremist?
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Is that common knowledge amongst rightists, Rustydog? …That John Podesta is in the same class as Van Jones, I mean?
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When Joe Klein gets done condemning Van Jones, are you saying that Beck expects establishment pundits to similarly distance themselves from left-wing extremists like John Podesta?
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http://www.americanprogress.org/experts/PodestaJohn.html

Sorry, if someone signs a truther petition, they’re out. Doesn’t matter if I agree with their politics, if they’re on my team, if they say the right things about people I don’t like. It’s embarrassing.

“As stuart attempted to point out solely on “the appearence of Communist infiltration”, when in fact it is a radical, far left liberal / progressive infiltration, but I shall term it INFESTATION into the Obama Administration.”
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What else would an idiot do but name it something that is evil? Insult is the only weapon at the an idiot’s disposal. It is the curtain they use to hide their ignorance.

Oh how about calling them a racist. That seems to work pretty well for the idiots on the left

“Oh how about calling them a racist. That seems to work pretty well for the idiots on the left”.
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Any insult is worth as much as the next as an argument. It has zero value. However, there are cases when calling someone an idiot or a racist can be given the status of a phenomenological description, because of the mountain of empirical evidence idiots often leave in their wake.

Yes it does. And the left as demonstrated here time and time again proves my “insult”

freeinpa I can understand why the right has such a big problem with socialists, given that they were fighting the Nazis so early, they probably prevented them from killing all the Jews. That is something that drives the right crazy.

freeinpa:
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how about calling them a racist. That seems to work pretty well for the idiots on the left
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It seemed to work pretty well for entertainer/rightist Glenn Beck when he stated that “This guy [the President of the United States ] is, I believe, a racist.“, and also revealed that the President is “a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” in late July of this year.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/fox-host-glenn-beck-obama_n_246310.html

I was really disappointed with this column. Instead of treating us like adults, the Obama administration assumes we can’t be reasoned with, and you applaud this!? The word “communist” has been applied to so many different positions that it has no objective meaning anymore, if it ever really did. It’s used purely for shock value. Why should someone be ineligible for public service just because they made some deliberately provocative statements in the past? The only issue should be whether they can contribute: if they can, then they should be allowed to serve. Seriously Joe, this article is downright McCarthy-ist. Suppose you had written it in the 1950′s, saying that it is right to can someone because they were at one time a member of the communist party. I thought we had moved past this crap.

stuartzechman

So is Beck correct? It seems that Trent Lott was labeled a racist when he supported Strom Thurmond. So by liberal logic, it seems not only support for Jones (and others) Beck may be correct. Or does that only work against conservatives as so many liberal tirades do?

And Derek but war didn’t succeed until the capitalists sacrificing here in this country brought the full force of their resources to the war.

Joe, I know you’d never defend McCarthy. I just know that, I think too highly of you to believe otherwise. I know you don’t think that entertainers, lawyers and professors should have been blacklisted during that era of federal paranoia.

But then you really have to rethink your “bright line in American politics.”

I’d have a hard time ever taking an apologist for Stalin seriously. But when a smart guy, after something as traumatic as the LA riots questions the underpinnings of our politics and economy… I can take that guy seriously, especially 16 years later.

And don’t you think that the elected president should be able to choose his advisers without Glenn Beck trying to railroad them out of D.C.?

No stuart, Glenn Beck did not allude to Podesta’s beliefs and values, I myself am questioning those beliefs.
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I will use this 2008 statement as an example:
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“What’s the difference between liberalism and progressivism? According to John Podesta, it is the “fire of social justice” that is often born from faith or a belief in a communitarian approach to the common good—as opposed to an individualistic approach.”
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Communitarian – Central to the communitarian philosophy is the concept of positive rights, which are rights or guarantees to certain things. These may include state subsidized education, state-subsidized housing, a safe and clean environment, universal health care, and even the right to a job with the concomitant obligation of the government or individuals to provide one. To this end, communitarians generally support social security programs, public works programs, and laws limiting such things as pollution.
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In my mind it is simply Communism, but on an individual basis for the benefit of a Socialist Society. IE: It is the marriage of Communism and Socialism, taking parts of which are workable (not as confrontational) from both of these economic/social systems. In general, I like to call it “Progressiveism”, “Neo-Liberal” or simply Neo-Communist/Socialist.
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The liberal ideals, are simply evolving, and ever changing. I wrote a rather lengthly discourse last weekend to Exiled/Neorationalist about Progressives. Perhaps you read it stuart?
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It started out like this: “Oh I do not doubt the liberal philosophy in America is to consolidate the governmental powers under an all powerful and despotic Federal Government, with the current existing States being neutered. But, the new wave of NeoSocialist (Progressives), which both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton adhere to are simply the tactics and teachings of Saul Alinsky. Alinsky an avowed Socialist / Communist. Even today, Hillary Clinton’s Senior thesis from Yale is kept under lock and key, and forbidden from public review. The title: “There Is Only the Fight..: An Analysis of the Alinsky Model.”

[...] (and, no, I don’t blame the netroots or CAP or anyone else for not standing up for him more), this is such unbelievable bullsh*t (from Joe Klein, [...]

Although I’m personally NOT a 9/11 Truther, I will say that there’s far more evidence for that movement than the Birther movement. A view that happens to be completely acceptable to the republican party, and perhaps even subtly encouraged.

And look who we’re talking about here! Glenn Beck’s whole schtick is his paranoia about the secret war on the white man, the Manchurian candidate Obama is now putting communists in the White House. How can this media be liberal when it doesn’t even have the power to take down utter lunacy?

Van Jones is the right man for the job. Someone who proclaimed to be a communist and black nationalist during his formative years, (and yes, those years are still formative) should be more easily forgiven. Now we’re kowtowing as we send him out the door.

You want to hold Jones accountable for what he once believed? I’ll show you a slew of conservatives whose feet need to be held to the fire. Drug addicts, bigots, racists, and even a few murderers.

Your reasoning is most likely the same as Obama’s. But sometimes you gotta bear your teeth and show some backbone.

It wasn’t until 1996 that “Van” took on the philosophy of Communism as his creed and formed his current beliefs.
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And what are his current beliefs, Rusty? What beliefs do you think are communist?

sz, I always thought that was called “blogwhoring”. And yeah, it’s annoying. I’ve started just blowing on past michaelfury entries; sort of like B.O.B. entries over at balloon-juice.

Similar to youtube links, if there’s no information in the offering comment as tow what’s going to be seen, why would anyone waste the time to click on the link ?

So is Beck correct?
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No. Are you supposing he is?

Well for starters, nathan. He does believe that folks like me are A-holes. But, I’m just saying that is just one of his beliefs.

Fortunately, Glenn Beck DID investigate, and expose Van Jones and Obama. Now we want to know about all the rest of the rats who have crawled out of the shadows and into the light.
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Thanks GOD for Glen Beck, because without Glenn Beck, we’d all be stuck with that commie Van Jones running the country. Because, you know, Van Jones was President and all. Obama is just a puppet. Van Jones basically determined every policy position of the Obama Administration, right down to his socialist take-over of health care. Yup. Van Jones wrote those health care bills. Him and all his commie friends.

Because working to make sure the green revolution includes the inner city working class is way out there in left field. It’s so radical it’s disgusting. How can someone truly care about the plight of American cities? That’s so communist.

“And Derek but war didn’t succeed until the capitalists sacrificing here in this country brought the full force of their resources to the war.”

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Forces that included both left-wing liberals and conservatives, who fought along with the socialists, and constitutional monarchists of Europe, to defeat the Fascists. The very same fascists that members of your side, including Klein, have now come to equate with the liberals of this country. Although they keep bouncing back and forth between Hitler and Stalin, so I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to be today, a nazi, or a communist.

Socialism may be the 9th degree of liberalism, but then, fascism is the same for conservatism. I’d rather be on the socialist side, even if I consider myself a liberal, rather than a socialist, or communist. Unlike Klein I can also provide a philosophical argument against Marxism, as opposed to ignorant fear mongering, or believing that simply mentioning the word is some proof of it’s evil. For example, that guy over there is a socialist.

He does believe that folks like me are A-holes.

So anyone that thinks you are an a-hole is automatically a communist? Is that rational?
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Seriously, though. What beliefs of his do you think are communist?

Irving Kristol and his friends were avowed Trotskyites and you’ve been kissing their a$$es for 30 years, Joe. How do you defend that? They were white, so it was okay? Is that it?

What an ugly and ignorant post.

This is why no one can take you seriously, McCarthy. The bright line in American politics is that you, you Joe Klein, call genocidal scum like Kissinger your “high priests” and people who recognize that rich people have been the primary cause of war, poverty, and hate in this country and in our actions around the world aren’t allowed to hold public office. Thanks, Joe, just when I beginning to forget why they call this blog swampland, you pump out the noxious bile.

Well for starters, nathan. He does believe that folks like me are A-holes.
rustyreturns
September 7, 2009
at 1:50 pm

In other words, Van Jones can see the obvious, as can the rest of the decent Americans on here.

The work of this presidency is too important to be side-tracked by a too-angry blowhard spouting foolish radicalism.

Other than “radicalism”, every word of this applies to you, Joe Klein. Have you apologized to Greenwald and Aimai yet? Or are you still sending “private” hatemail to listservs?

See, the thing is, even if he was a Communist, lets not compare this to the second Red Scare, when there were several Communists in the executive branch. Tons of them. Venona Project?

Joke Line
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It has now become apparent to me that your biggest problem is that u are ignorant. Ignorant meaning you generally don’t know the facts about which you speak. But you are also stupid in that you refuse to ever admit you don’t know what the hell you are talking about which makes it worse. Here is an article describinig Van Jones’ flirtation with communism. Communism not at all related to the communism of foreign countries. And it also talks about his transformation away from that culture and all the hell he got from the people he was breaking away from because he saw a better way to effect change.
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http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/the_new_face_of_environmentalism/Content?oid=290098&showFullText=true
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Now you can still be stupid and claim ignorance about Van Jones and pat yourself on the back for coming out strong for the Village against the “scourge of communism”. Or you can actually read the piece, do more research and admit you were all the way wrong about Van Jones in your post. Either way you won’t have ignorance as an excuse anymore for not telling the truth. All you will be left is the stupidity of a small man who can’t admit he was wrong.
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It is what it is.

James, you write–

Irving Kristol and his friends were avowed Trotskyites and you’ve been kissing their a$$es for 30 years, Joe. How do you defend that? They were white, so it was okay? Is that it?

Where on earth have you been, lad? You haven’t noticed that I’ve been, um, slightly critical of neoconservatives, starting well before the war in Iraq–to the point of being accused of being anti-semitic?

Van Jones can say or do whatever he wants–as a private citizen. He can help found STORM, a self-avowed Marxist organization. He can support Mumia, even when the overwhelming evidence clearly indicates that he killed the taxi driver…He is free, in America, to do all those things–but so many of them are abhorrent to the vast majority of Americans that it would be self-immolation for any Administration, much less one that is trying to do difficult progressive things, to keep such a person on board.

And as for communism: 40 million dead in the Soviet Union. 60 million dead in China. A billion people, more or less, living in terror and economic slavery for a good part of the 20th century. That’s what most Americans think about when the anachronistic word “communism” is thrown in their face–and make no mistake, Jones’s intent was to throw that word in people’s faces when he used it. Again, he has a right to his anger. But it disqualifies him for high public office.

I call garbage on the sanctimonious reactions of posters on this blog. Most of you were hopping mad about Todd Palin’s dalliances with the Alaskan Independence Party, even though he had supposedly “repudiated” those views years and years ago and he wasn’t even the candidate in question. Van Jones embracing communism in the mid-90s and then talking about working with the system to effect change and within should therefore spark the same kind of ideological purging, should it not?

There’s also the matter of him being a truther. I dare the posters here to defend the language on the petition he signed. At least, then, I’ll know who’s equal to the birthers.

No kidding. Communism, as understood in the classical definition formulated over the 20th century, seeks to instigate global revolution by the proletariat. Van Jones is surely smart enough to know this – and he still bought into it. Great.

Joe Klein:
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Thank you so much for responding to commentary; it is greatly appreciated and serves well to clarify the thought that goes into your writing.

This means that the Obama administration were either incompetents, fools or communist sympathizers.for hiring Van Jones.
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Firing him is an admission of that.

And to my wondering eyes, John Podesta of CAP did stand up for Van Jones, the only big shot insider politico who has done so, as far as I know.

The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com

Joe,

I give you props for answering the comments here.

But when have you *ever* suggested that various neocons’ flirtation with communism disqualified them serving in the government???

It pains me to say this, but I really do think you have this extreme McCarthyite reaction here in part because Jones is black, visions of Black Panthers dancing through your head.

It makes me throw up in mouth a little that you dropped that ridiculous Dylan quote on us yesterday, when, frankly, your own worldview, whether you admit it or not, is an only mildly reconstructed version of William Zantzinger’s.

Why don’t you stick to telling us all how Newt Gingrich is intellectually honest and spare us the sanctimony?

Spare us, Yoshi. Your more-bipartisan-than-thou shtick is wearing thin.

Yep. It would have been even worse if they kept him around. A Truther czar is beyond parody.

They knew all his political highlights before appointing him IMO, and figured the media wouldn’t pick up on it (which is largely true).

Spare us, Yoshi. Your more-bipartisan-than-thou shtick is wearing thin.

What you see my angle as is irrelevant.

So let me get this straight, Joe. Someone who founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, co-founded Color of Change (the real reason Beck hates the guy), founded Green for All, wrote “The Green Collar Economy” (which hit 12 on the NY Times bestseller list, so much for the majority of America hating him), was named an “Environmental Hero” by your magazine, was named one of the “12 Most Creative Minds of 2008″ by Fast Company, has worked tirelessly to secure jobs that will create wealth for the urban poor (hardly communist), served on the boards of numerous environmental and urban advocacy groups including 1Sky and the Apollo Alliance, is now barred from “high” public office because he participated in a communist organization during a tumultuous time of race relations in this country? Are you serious?
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How does his involvement with STORM what-so-ever influence his work on the environment and green jobs? Show me just one statement from him where he throws around the word communism to shock people. Describe just one belief of his that is actually communist! You can’t!
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Van Jones’ job as a Special Advisor on Green Jobs was just that, an advisor. He didn’t create policy, he didn’t write legislation, he didn’t direct any administration officials. He was supposed to advise the President and his administration on issues related to green jobs and the environment, which happens to be his passion and his work for the past several decades.
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I could not disagree with you more on this issue, Joe. This was a hit job by the Republican right, plain and simple. If anyone was tossing around the word “communism” to scare people, it wasn’t Van Jones.

Joe,
I acknowledge that you have recently been engaged in verbal fisticuffs with the ex-Trotskyites. Good for you. That wasn’t always the case, in fact, it is rather recent, and only after their radical policies had been completely discredited by their time actually MAKING POLICIY in the Executive Branch during Bush II. It wasn’t exactly “self-immolation” when Bush brought these ex-commies in, was it?
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What you are suggesting is that there should NEVER be any kind of redemption for someone’s past mistakes as a youth. Is that what you are saying?
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I know little about this fellow, and have no reason to defend or not to defend him. I’m indifferent. I’d just observe that it is perfectly legal to flirt with an economic system different from capitalism in these our United States of America. That’s what Marxism and communism is: a different economic system.
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I just wonder why neo-conservatives who were American Trotskyites — communists — in their youth get a pass and climbed to some of the highest policy-making positions in the US Government, the World Bank, the UN, but this guy can’t redeem himself. I asked if it was because the neocons are white, or not? What is that all about? It’s a question, not rhetorical.
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Thanks for responding.

How are his 9/11 conspiracy theories what-so-ever related to his work on Green Jobs and the environment? I’d be more concerned if he signed a letter asking the government to investigate the global warming hoax or something.
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Also, I never had a problem with Tod Palin being a member of the AIP. I couldn’t care less.

Socialism, communism, capitalism and conscience; journalism, intellectualism and judgment. “He [Van Jones] had to go” but he has nowhere to go. I stick with him. What’s wrong with America, us and you Joe?

“I disagree with what you say but I shall fight to the last for your right to say it”. Voltaire

Yeah, ok, I happen to agree with you as far as Van Jones’ flirtations with the 9/11 truthers goes. But as to the rest — total crap. Maybe Ronnie Ray-Gun never did say he was a Nazi. He did say “We begin bombing in five minutes.” Isn’t yucking it up about mass murder just a teense “odious and foolish,” beyond what any “reasonable person” would find funny?

How are his 9/11 conspiracy theories what-so-ever related to his work on Green Jobs and the environment?

Installing him in a position of power at least suggests that those beliefs are tolerable. It also gives him a soapbox and the truther movement a great poster boy.

Same thing goes for birthers in any Republican administration down the road.
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I must admit that this wouldn’t be as much of a problem if this was decades into the future and Van Jones had long renounced such beliefs. Problem is, there isn’t a large time gap – and he hasn’t shown any indication of withdrawing from the conspiracy circle until it became politically expedient to do so.

It also gives him a soapbox and the truther movement a great poster boy.
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Except for the fact that he has repudiated and renounced those views saying that he has never subscribed to those beliefs.
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Your complaints would make sense if he was running for President or VP, but he wasn’t. He was a Special Advisor in a very limited role outside of the public view. He never had a soapbox and never would have.
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Same thing goes for birthers in any Republican administration down the road.
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There are birthers in Congress. Do you think every one of them should resign?
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Installing him in a position of power at least suggests that those beliefs are tolerable.
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Suggests to who? No one knew a thing about it until Glenn Beck crusaded against it. Who’s to say that the administration didn’t ask him whether he still believed in those views and he offered a perfectly fine explanation? Should something so silly disqualify an obviously qualified man from serving his country? I think not.
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How do you not recognize the conservative right hit job here?

It seems that Joe’s problem is all political, all image, all about “what most Americans think about“, all about short term defense.
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I wonder if, when after this health insurance industry bailout passes, and then the GOP takes the House back next year and brings a resolution to the floor prohibiting any ex-communists from working in the government anywhere –and an investigatory body to examine the records of all Obama Administration officials for socialist sympathies, will Joe Klein urge Dems to support it?
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I suppose he’ll have to then, since he won’t do the work now to change the political framework so as to prevent such a thing.

nathan7777

That may be an open question. The left refuses to address it honestly and the right gets cowered as it has been demonstrated here. When anyone disagrees with an Obama policy the race card flies out.

If someone looks at some of the friends Obama has established they can be charitably described as race rabble rousers. You have the Rev Wright. You also have his reaction to the incident with Prof. Gates. You also have his AG dismissing counts against a Black Panther despite evidence to the contrary and recommendation by career DOJ lawyers. At the same time his AG is hiring 50 lawyers to target his perceived violations of civil rights. Now you have Van Jones. Maybe all just a misunderstanding. History would tell us that similar actions by a conservative would have the liberals here with exploding heads. There has been no honest debate or inquiry as to what this President is or believes.

stuartzechman

While I agree with your assessment of the Obama adminstration I disagree that firing Van Jones proves it (There is other proof).
It was simple political expediency. Repubs and Demos are equally guilty of it.

I do agree that he had to go BUT it was too sudden and appeared to be reactive and unplanned.

The speed of the resignation following Beck’s remarks and the media just makes the administration look disorganized and susceptible to these types of “wolf crying” and distraction mongering from the Right.

The speed with which Jones was thrown under the bus appeared to be devoid of any carefully planned reaction. At least, that is the way I read it.

And Klein is right, there will be more of these types of issues. Some of them will look shocking and will appear not to have been reasonably foreseen by the administration–however, it is my hope that the response of the Obama team in the future would be to use a more “Clintonite” tack—allow the orchestrated bacchanalia to subside and then respond– Presidentially to same.

Beck and his cohorts can make “revelations” and release their list of “Communists” in the Obama Administration (I am expecting this to happen soon considering his penchant for making such claims and unending fascination with Communists)…however, the Obama administration cannot “Jump” in this manner to quell such confusion.
Beck does not get to tell anyone in power when or how to jump. This hurried resignation seems to indicate that he can do so.

The Obama administration should be careful not to set such a precedent. I suggest they
rethink their response and posturing to such political distractions– and urge they forcefully rebut attempts to reduce the credibility of this regime by appearing thoughtful and calm in effecting their responses to political “blow outs” like this and others in the future.

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Yes he can say it and the American public has their right to disagree. And they have!

It was hardly too soon or unplanned. While the MSM media did not pick up the story (not unexpected either), it was well known.

The timing at midnight of a long holiday weekend is when most Fed government news is dumped. Given every other issue this incompetent WH is dealing with they certainly did not need one more distraction.

FuidPA:

“The Obama administration should be careful not to set such a precedent. I suggest they
rethink their response and posturing to such political distractions– and urge they forcefully rebut attempts to reduce the credibility of this regime by appearing thoughtful and calm in effecting their responses to political “blow outs” like this and others in the future.”

In my view it was too soon. More time should have been allowed to pass and emotions should have been allowed to cool.
I have pasted from my initial post the reason why my position on that issue will not change. It was too soon and appeared not to be thoughtfully and calmly executed.

LM

My blog is listed below: >>>http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Whether you change your opinion or not is irrevelant. You are seeing first hand an administration that suffers from arrogance and being tone deaf while it is overwhelmed for the tasks at hand. This is a result of electing someone who doesn’t possess the experience of as much as a lemonade stand.

Except for the fact that he has repudiated and renounced those views saying that he has never subscribed to those beliefs.

There’s a key phrase to this that you left out…when it was politically expedient.

There are birthers in Congress. Do you think every one of them should resign?

Yes. Of course, that’s not going to happen – in fact, it would be preferable if they were thrown out by the voters. Unless they firmly and sincerely reject these beliefs now, either of those courses of action would be fine for me. (it would take a lot to qualify as firm and sincere in my eyes…)

Suggests to who? No one knew a thing about it until Glenn Beck crusaded against it.

The blogosphere was on fire about it. They’ve uncovered more details faster than Beck (this isn’t to put down his research on Van Jones, but just to point out a simple fact). In short, the cat was already out of the bag.
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I thank them for it. Besides his conspiracy theories, I wonder exactly what kind of radical schemes an extremist, Mumia-supporting, recently-communist leftist would have cooked up with $30 billion of money.
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http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/mothers-milk/2009/04/19/van-jones-face-green-jobs
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he $787 billion stimulus Congress authorized in February had at least $30 billion of green-jobs funding attached to it. It’s Jones’ responsibility to work within all the government agencies to make sure it gets doled out appropriately.

“PAfreefuin”:

Hmm…. your views on our ABLE President are very coarse, coarse but strong.
My views as well as yours are relevant but your opinions appear quite bitter. I get the feeling you know you can never be President.

Well, on a more serious note, whether you think he has the qualifications of a lemonade stand is immaterial. The majority of Americans elected him because he was evidently the better man of the two available for the position.

LM

This is my blog>>>http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Oh my freaking god: “Communism is too odious and foolish a philosophy for anyone reasonable to believe in”

The number of artists, writers and intellectuals over the last century who were communists/sympathized with communism are too numerous to count. Making such humanists (Doris Lessing, George Orwell etc.) the equivalents of Nazis might be your worst moment, JK. My many professors, colleagues and friends, in the US and here in Japan (where there is a communist party, as in much of the world unafraid of bogey “isms”) are, yes, I suppose, upon reflection, fools, unreasonable rubes without your level of experience and accrued wisdom. What a fascist little puke.

E.g. betraying pure echoes of Joe McCarthy: “and make no mistake, Jones’s intent was to throw that word in people’s faces when he used it. Again, he has a right to his anger. But it disqualifies him for high public office.”

I mean, had you focused on the truther sh!t, I’d have understood, and personally I can’t quite get that worked up over Jones’ departure in general, but this post OTOH…

“And as for communism: 40 million dead in the Soviet Union. 60 million dead in China. A billion people, more or less, living in terror and economic slavery for a good part of the 20th century.”

OK, this is indeed horrible history, which I’ve spent a lifetime studying (Mandarin, Chinese history as an undergrad). Ask me about the Cultural Revolution–you’ll get an earful. But there is practice and theory. What of the Spanish Inquistion–did it negate Christianity as a viable religion or philosophy? What of America’s tortured history–the extermination of Native Americans, the slave trade–does this record invalidate America’s moral standing in the world? The millions dead and butchered in Vietnam (against your evil bogeyman), Iraq, Afghanistan (no, we’re not bombing civilians from 35,000′ anymore!), or the countless dictators we propped up in Latin America during the cold war–does this reflect in some way on America or it’s fundamentalist capitalism? Capitalism too sounds grand in theory, but in practice…

Terry Eagleton, Distinguished Professor of English Literature at the University of Lancaster (I know it’s not TIme’s god of CW) famously said:

“what perished in the Soviet Union was Marxist only in the sense that the Inquisition was Christian. For another thing, Marxist ideas have stubbornly outlived Marxist political practice. It would be odd to think that the insights of Brecht, Lukacs, Adorno and Raymond WIlliams are no longer valid because China is turning capitalist or the Berlin Wall has crumbled. Ironically, this would reflect just the kind of mechanistic view of the relations between culture and politics of which ‘vulgar’ Marxism itself has so often been guilty.

One has only to look at how remarkably prophetic The Communist Manifesto has turned out to be. Marx and Engels envisaged a world in which globalized market forces reigned supreme, careless of the human damage they inflicted, and in which the gap between rich and poor had widened intolerably. Amidst widespread political instability, the impoverished masses would confront a small international elite of the wealthy and powerful. It hardly needs to be pointed out that this is not just the world of the mid-Victorian era, but an alarminly accurate portrayal of our own global condition”

In the end, I’d add that it’s testament to a particularly narrow vision of the world, that an ‘ism’ as influential, rich and lasting as communism must be rejected out of hand. But, hey, that’s inherent in American and surely MSM anti-intellectualism. Until we have an honest discourse able to mediate between competing ‘isms’ we’re going nowhere. America is indeed exceptional–it’s hostility to leftism like Klein’s that can destroy a guy like Jones, while the corporate whores in the WH and congress are worshipped.

I wonder exactly what kind of radical schemes an extremist, Mumia-supporting, recently-communist leftist would have cooked up with $30 billion of money.
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Oh, I don’t know, perhaps Green Jobs for All?
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You’re so fixated on the “extremist, Mumia-supporting, recently-communist leftist” motif that you are completely ignoring everything the man has done in counterpoint to that image.
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I point you to my reply to Joe Klein’s comment:
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So let me get this straight, Joe. Someone who founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, co-founded Color of Change (the real reason Beck hates the guy), founded Green for All, wrote “The Green Collar Economy” (which hit 12 on the NY Times bestseller list, so much for the majority of America hating him), was named an “Environmental Hero” by your magazine, was named one of the “12 Most Creative Minds of 2008″ by Fast Company, has worked tirelessly to secure jobs that will create wealth for the urban poor (hardly communist), served on the boards of numerous environmental and urban advocacy groups including 1Sky and the Apollo Alliance, is now barred from “high” public office because he participated in a communist organization during a tumultuous time of race relations in this country? Are you serious?

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I ask the same question of you. Are you serious?

“He can support Mumia, even when the overwhelming evidence clearly indicates that he killed the taxi driver…”

Mumia is on death row for killing a policeman. The taxi driver was Mumia. If you’re going to pile onto Van Jones, at least get your inuendo straight.

PAfreefuin”:

Hmm…. your views on our ABLE President are very coarse, coarse but strong.
My views as well as yours are relevant but your opinions appear quite bitter. I get the feeling you know you can never be President.

Well, on a more serious note, whether you think he has the qualifications of a lemonade stand is immaterial. The majority of Americans elected him because he was evidently the better man of the two available for the position.

LM

This is my blog>>>http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

There’s a key phrase to this that you left out…when it was politically expedient.
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And when else was he going to do it, yoshi? The day he got appointed? The day after he signed it? Should he just wear a badge around professing that it was stupid to sign that thing?
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You sound like a vigilante lynch mob. Whatever his views about 9/11, or his past involvement in STORM, or his beliefs about a death row inmate, they don’t invalidate his decades long experience working with the urban poor to elevate them out of poverty. Every man has a blight on his record. Instead of scouring their mistakes, look to their accomplishments.

I remember another radical loonie from recent times. Monica Goodling. Not as flashy as the Van, but oh so much more corrosive. You were way out front on that one weren’t you Joe? Sleep well tonight knowing that our windmills are now safe for democracy.

PS: Speaking of Mumia he always seems to come up in discussions regarding conspiracies. He was no Civil Rights Leader and his crime is not related per se to same, yet there was a deafening clarion call to release him as part of a “Civil Rights drive”.

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly Americans forget. Apparently we’ve already forgotten the media mantra of, “No drama Obama.” Despite the campaign’s and the administration’s consistent policy of immediately divesting itself of anyone engaged in a distraction, whether it’s Samantha Powers or Tom Daschle — we are now going to view the departure of Van Jones as reactive or worst caving to the right or the mark of a disorganized administration? While I’m often Obama’s biggest defender, I shouldn’t have to defend him on this. Everyone who goes to work for the administration, knows the deal about employment going in. And while you have 48 hours to handle your business, failing that you are expected to solve the problem the only way you can. IT seems lately in the tone of the critiques there’s a lot about our President that we’ve forgotten.
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I still remember that glorious communion that took place in Grant Park on Nov 4th, 2008. In that moment I knew we could accomplish anything because we had accomplished the impossible. Then our new President-elect took the stage to speak and he reminded us that this task was not going to be easy, there would be no instantaneous gratification. He warned us that the process would be slow and incremental and no matter how difficult the task, he was confident that there were no limits on what we could accomplish, provided we continued to put one foot in front of another. If we stayed strong and prepared ourselves to deal with the ebb and flow of politics we’d eventually achieve all of our goals. He also made another promise, one that seems particularly relevant but seems to have become completely obscure. He promised to be the president of all of America. As tempting as it might be to lord our victory over the heads of the vanquished — we must not! That while it may have been the practice of our opponents to engage is this kind of behavior — we will not! He promised to be the President to all of America and while he intends to keep the promises he made to those who cast their vote for him he also intends to work everyday to earn the trust of those who didn’t.
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I spent the past few days reflecting on this and I’ve come to the conclusion, that as much as I would like for him to defend our honor. As much as it would make me feel good to see him knock these Republican bullies on their a$$, that’s the job of partisans not Presidents. Yes candidate Obama could take sides during the campaign, and it might be great to have that guy lead the charge today, but the guy we’ve got is their president too. And frankly, if he would do the emotionally preferable thing he would be giving credence to those Republican critics that want to marginalize him as being the Democratic President rather than the President of the United States.
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I know this doesn’t bring much comfort to my progressive friends, who’ve been marginalized too many times by their own party, whose voices have been censored by our media and whose wishes eventually prove to be right in the end. What you want is a gladiator to defend your honor and what we have is a statesman doing battle for our time. Yes, I know this is indeed how Republicans do business and that’s probably why they run such great campaigns. However, it is also probably why their governance is so catastrophic and their leadership has repeatedly and consistently ended in such spectacular failure.
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What we seem to be forgetting is our greatest lesson from history. And no, I don’t mean the Clinton failure on health reform that proceeded the Republican renaissance in 1994. Rather the lesson from FDR that showed by taking less on Social Security, he laid a foundation that people came to love so fervently that they made Roosevelt president for life and the GOP a Congressional minority until Clinton. With the permanent Democratic majority they were able to go back and perfect Social Security and now it is a program that the GOP hates but they dare not dismantle.
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This could also be the fate of health care reform. It’s the reason that the GOP is using everything and anything no matter how immoral or reprehensible to stop it. They know if Democrats successfully lay the foundation for health care reform, it will be a repeat of the Roosevelt scenario of creating a popular national program for the middle class immediately after a financial crisis that will give rise to a permanent Democratic majority — where could bring about even further perfections.
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I hope in our emotional outbursts that we don’t continue to forget who are President really is or the big picture at stake. The media has always been angered by his failure to play by the rules of the 24 hour news cycle, so it’s not surprising that the GOP has one day. But remember John McCain also won the daily cycle but ultimate victory was not their fate.

Joe, the numbers you cited are impressive, very impressive, indeed. As you know, we, capitalists, are sanctified. We do no count deaths and people living in free market terror or economic slavery. Or had we stopped counting? Or is a vaccine against heavy conscience available?

Gee Dee I almost got a tear in my eye!

“I know this doesn’t bring much comfort to my progressive friends, who’ve been marginalized too many times by their own party,”

Do I understand you correctly, that “progressives” are not even liked by your own party? That seems to be a majority of America then doesn’t it.

“Then our new President-elect took the stage to speak and he reminded us that this task was not going to be easy, there would be no instantaneous gratification. He warned us that the process would be slow and incremental and no matter how difficult the task, he was confident that there were no limits on what we could accomplish, provided we continued to put one foot in front of another.”

Now you have a majority in both houses of Congress, the White House and (so you claim) a mandate from the voters. How does that translate to a long slow process unless of course the mandate and majorities were based on a mis-represented agenda that was ill-covered at best by the media. Now once again when the true nature of this misguided agenda comes to light, the revolt is on.

You can continue to lie to yourself but the public is not buying it.

“Deeincolumbiapas”

You are absolutely wrong in stating the GOP has won one day. Fact is that the Obama Administration moved too fast in response to the usual Republican attack machine and in so doing has provided arsenal and a path for the “Attack pack” to continue with their “Acts”. Acts and efforts to derail and distract this administration which we know will not abate anytime soon.

Contrary to what you wrote above, It is grossly insufficient to analyze and identify what the anti-Obama folks are doing to thwart the success of this Administration. Infact, he, Obama, will be more successful if he neutralizes their modus operandii and not provide them foundational success in their fear mongering and baiting.

You are wrong again in stating they have one news day– they have more than one day in the news.
For them, the fall of Van Jones is a long term success because the persistence and wild remarks of Glenn Beck triggered a silence and then a knee jerk response– in form of the resignation of Van Jones–from the Obama Administration. Further it has now provided and a successful, effective and successful way of discombobulating and distracting the administration, media and the people.

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Oh, I don’t know, perhaps Green Jobs for All?

Well, obviously he was going to try to do something about that.

You sound like a vigilante lynch mob. Whatever his views about 9/11, or his past involvement in STORM, or his beliefs about a death row inmate, they don’t invalidate his decades long experience working with the urban poor to elevate them out of poverty. Every man has a blight on his record. Instead of scouring their mistakes, look to their accomplishments.

Inflated rhetoric about “lynch mobs” aside, there is no evidence Jones considered the petition an actual mistake as opposed to a political inconvenience.
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If somebody admits their wrong, it’s important for society to move on. Unfortunately, many public figures have a tendency to cover up, excuse, or otherwise dodge responsibility.

Mommy dearest:

The bitter one seems to be you. Once the election was over liberals thought every hair-brained wish would now come true. Well Dorothy you are not in Kansas anymore.

As time now goes on and the electorate is now doing an “oh S_ _ T moment when the true agenda is now coming to light.

Keep in mind that the American public at one time thought Jimmy Carter was the best man for the job as well.

Todd Palin’s membership in AIP would not have gotten the attention it did, save for His wifes constant hectoring of her opposition as unamerican or at least not as American as her campaign. She questions the patriotism and loyalty of the Dems as a centerpiece of her campaign. With Todd P as her chief advisor.. I didn’t see Van Jones using such rhetoric in his daily duties overseeing green jobs.

Mommy dearest:

The bitter one seems to be you. Once the election was over liberals thought every hair-brained wish would now come true. Well Dorothy you are not in Kansas anymore.

As time now goes on and the electorate is now doing an “oh S_ _ T moment when the true agenda is now coming to light.

Keep in mind that the American public at one time thought Jimmy Carter was the best man for the job as well.
freeinpa
September 7, 2009
____________________________________

“FreeidfuinPA”

Hmmm…. Well, donkey you are not in the shed anymore. Dorothy, I liked her shoes but from your comments it appears you watch a little too much “makebelieve” movies like the “Wizard of Oz” and somewhere there you lost your rudder.

Constantly attacking the President and me with inane comparisons as you do– like “he has never run a lemonade stand” is bitter and quite silly. I am willing to wager you have run nothing successful. Successful people do not make such glib and asinine remarks, repeatedly.
Evidently, you know can never be President.

Liberals? I know very little about them but bottom line is that Obama took over in January 2009, this is September 2009, if there is anyone who has dreams of immediate delivery and miracles it would seem to be the donkeys in the Shed who have never seen the light and do not understand the novel concept of rational expectations.
You know, what would the “Average reasonable man” who knows the state of the country expect from the President who has spent a few months in office.

so PAfreeddas, it will take time and skill for the issues which are askew to be rectified. It is trite but I have to remind you nonetheless that the circumstance in which our country finds herself did not occur overnight. There will be no overnight miracles.

Obama is doing his job and I think you are doing yours as well. Near illiterate and infantile retorts without basis in fact is the driving force behind a lot of actions from the Party of No. What a yawn.

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Is there any truth to the rumor that Glen Beck is a child molester? I’ve been reading it all over the Web. I don’t know if it is true or not. I certainly hope he isn’t a child molester, for the sake of his neighbors.

In reading the comment by “Derek” about Predators and child molesters, I provide information on my blog about the FCC, Predators, Pedophiles and the little known dangers faced daily by children and adults alike from such horrible fiends.

These criminals use phones, the Internet and other technology to violently and repeatedly track, assault, violate and brutalize law abiding adults (and children), daily!

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Black nationalism is not equivalent to white supremacist ideology.

If you think otherwise, read some basic history and find out more instead of pretending you know what you’re talking about.

jcapan, thanks for pointing out the differences between Soviet and Chinese policies and the communist ideology people like Lessing have advocated. BTW, I’m strongly opposed to communism – But I am secure enough in my own political convictions to not feel the need to distort the beliefs of everyone who disagrees with me.

In reading the comment by “Derek” about Predators and child molesters, I provide information on my blog about Online Predators, Pedophiles and the little known dangers faced daily by children and adults alike from such horrible fiends.

These criminals use phones, the Internet and other technology to violently and repeatedly track, assault, violate and brutalize law abiding adults (and children), daily!

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Mommydearest

No runs no hits just errors.

“constantly attacking the President and you is silly”

Not any sillier than the attacks from the left fo rthe past 8 years. Oh but I forget liberals are supremely intelligent beings that us poor humans could never comprehend. Picking on you is just a bonus!

“so PAfreeddas, it will take time and skill for the issues which are askew to be rectified. It is trite but I have to remind you nonetheless that the circumstance in which our country finds herself did not occur overnight. There will be no overnight miracles.”

Yes it will and the empty suit in the WH and his adoring followers can’t even begin to comprehend what needs to be done. Example: Campaign rhetoric from the Messiah, “We are in the worst economy ever” One month ago “We underestimated how bad it was”. How can you underestimate the worst ever? The answer is they didn’t understand it then and they don’t understand it now.

“I am willing to wager you have run nothing successful. Successful people do not make such glib and asinine remarks, repeatedly.”

Obviously you never heard a fellow liberal airhead named Ted Turner. And you lose athe bet, I have built and sold 2 businesses and have a third. I and several fellow employees did what liberals hate: put our own money at risk and profited from it.

Sucks to be you.

Good to hear from you Rose.
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And, yes, as you recall, one of Lessing’s primary themes was how betrayed they felt by what took place under Stalin (how shocked they were, how incompatible “actually existing communism” was with their theoretical notions of the system, and how, in the end, they all fell away from the movement). However, to put utopian dreamers committed to fundamental social change, to put some of the great minds and humanists in world history, to put Marx or Engels themselves on the same plane as butchers like Stalin or Mao is a disingenous and indecent act.
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And mind you, I’m hardless the Nepalese Maoist. I have volunteered with the JCP here, mainly b/c they are the lone entity in Japan concerned about a burgeoning underclass, many of whom are immigrants from the developing world. Their name is the only thing truly communist about them that remains–they’ve transitioned to a socialist-democratic model (a la the German tradition).
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But, thanks, it’s good to hear from a progressive “secure enough in [her] own political convictions to not feel the need to distort the beliefs of everyone who disagrees with me.” I know academic or intellectual discourse (the ‘radical’ left) is often incompatible with politics. Joe Klein and co. get paid to simplify the worlds complexities down to two remarkably similar streams of thought.
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It’s two things I take issue with in his representative discourse–first, that the failure of communism is practice is used as prop for what I feel is another failing system … advanced capitalism. That the left is banished from the discussion altogether and that ailing capitalism (Moore’s “Love Story”) can only see the mildest of palliatives in lieu of any (FEAR CHANGE) more fundamental corrections. Second, as I say above, that somehow b/c communism failed so horribly in Russia & China that anything Marx & co. might have said is rejected in its entirety, as if there’s no remaining substance to the trenchant criticisms they offered. And the notion that a person who describes him/herself as a communist or is even a fellow traveler, that’s just reeking McCarthyism.
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And a final pt–Joe Klein and co. always treat communism in a historical vacuum. Neglecting to illustrate what it was in its host-countries that made for such fertile ground. Not to mention, judging from South America today, that there is still a great deal of currency in the movement. It may be a borderline fundamentalist movement, but from the middle east to Caracas, the forces people are up against, the global network of capitalist parasites, it’s fundamentalism or violence or the status quo.
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After all, how’s democracy working out for Americans so far? 1% of the population holding 95% of the wealth. As if they’re ever going to give it up. As if anything our “progressive” president has offered up thus far even marginally addresses the disparities.

Also, “Mommy” could you spare us the double posting, please? I’ve noticed it a number of times in recent days. I know you have mulitiple personalities, but perhaps leave a post-it on the computer each time one of you leaves a comment here–that way when your doppelganger materializes, it’ll be up to speed.

Thanks!

Freeinpa said 4 minutes ago:
“Blah blah Blah”

I just read your last response above. You are Successful?? That is a lie, I am sure. Actually, you write in a way that is well, common (crass, crude–c-o-m-m-o-n). You know like in old Britain… Seriously, it is highly unlikely that you are a success–despite your colorful claim in your post above– but hey, this is the Internet so you can claim to be Paris Hilton if the “spirits” bid you.

PS: Your wealth and stature seep through your
bitter scurrilous remarks. You constantly personalize matters and end up showing yourself– so Common!

Hmmm “Picking on”.. what a strange remark for a commenter to make.
You always end up sounding a tad delusional *sigh* (too much “Wizard of Oz and too few library books or tangible “works”).
Well, “Free in Pa”, this is not your donkey shed or Elementary School and your repeated asinine and predictable comebacks if anything sound like a Prison Bully’s preferred cellmate (you know the name given to such emm folks—those who meet the Bully’s needs in jail, I mean).

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

I guess Van Jones is no JPod.

jcapan said 15 minutes ago:
Also, “Mommy” could you spare us the double posting, please? I’ve noticed it a number of times in recent days. I know you have mulitiple personalities, but perhaps leave a post-it on the computer each time one of you leaves a comment here–that way when your doppelganger materializes, it’ll be up to speed.
Thanks!
______________________
The repeated posts I noticed them myself. I have had a load of family laundry to do and do it sometimes in front of the computer before I rush off to work on other things.
I have noted your complaint and will be more aware.

Thanks.

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

You didn’t answer my question, Yoshi. Go back up a post or two.

[...] Even Joe Klein says "good riddance." [...]

When was he supposed to repudiate his views? Eh, sometime in the record the blogosphere has dug up of his prolific public appearances?
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I forgot to mention, he denies he ever held those views. That’s rich. Exactly the kind of person Obama wants in charge of $30 billion, eh?

It’s good to read your thoughts, Rose.

Your responses are neither a surprise nor vastlt different from most liberals.

Everybody lies – but you. Whether you know or not. And why is it highly unlikely? Because you say so? Or because it is hard for you to believe someone with diferent values than you could possibly have the intellect to succeed.

And as typical when soemone responds at a personal level as most liberals do here with name calling and baseless insinuations, you cry foul. Re-read what you just wrote above and note the personal attacks. I guess that makes you common as well.

You possess the same know it all arrogant self impressed phony intellect as liberals tend to have. We are so much better and have far superior intellect than the common folks.

The only ones who don’t know that is a myth are the liberals– they just keep lying to themselves. It makes them feel superior.

Supposing that Obama is a racist, or even hinting at the possibility that he is a racist, is doing exactly what you are accusing the left of doing: playing the race card.
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Racism is ugly. By definition it is believing that a certain race is inherently superior or inferior to others. Too often people conflate a prejudiced thought with a racist thought. If you can’t see the distinction between the two, you have no business using either of them.
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And spare me your “Obama is an other and should be feared” crap. It gets old.

Joe Klein on the neocons:

I’ve disagreed, vehemently, with Podhoretz and the neocons at Commentary in the past, but I will say this: they come to their beliefs honestly. They think hard about the positions they take, deal in some version of the facts–although I find their conclusions dangerous and wrong–and therefore live on the same planet I do.

I don’t know why he bothers writing this stuff if he expects people to immediately forget it.

On Joe Klein’s planet, the neocons are serious thinkers but Van Jones is a “a too-angry blowhard spouting foolish radicalism.”

I do believe this deserves a Wanker of the the Month award.

Oregon JC:
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You make for very interesting reading.
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“To each according to his need; from each according to his ability.” is a really soul-crushing way to structure society, I must say.
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What ruins Marxism in practice seems to be an error common to its implementation: the hubris necessary to believe in a unifying theory of history, and an end to human social development having been imagined, let alone achieved in the present.
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The critique of capitalism still remains the apex of Marixism’s value, and even still, the blocky, chunky, crude structures it posits as its materialist version of Aristotle’s endless categories re-emerging as Hegel’s historical forces aren’t adequate in the slightest to truly describe or predict the vast complexity of humanity and its history.
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Classes of people are human constructions, fabricated entirely out of our imaginations, as are triangles and cake recipes. As Marx’s materialism instructs, ideas such as “justice” or “liberty” don’t exist objectively outside of their application to specific times, places, people and modes of production. It’s interesting that Marx in his obvious brilliance could not manage to discern that the “proletariat” and the “bourgeoisie” were nothing but ideas, too, since only people exist at times, and in places with certain modes of production as individuals –never duplicated, never designed.
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My accountant is a Marxist, but more so because of his interest in economics. I was concerned many years ago with the humanist Marx, the early Marx, but now I’m finding his economics much more attention-getting at this particular moment in history…but then again, I’m suddenly struck by this overwhelming desire to revisit the film “Escape From New York”, too.
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Feel absolutely free to take issue with any and all of what I’ve written here, Oregon JC, I’ll be better off for having read it, I’m certain.

This is trivial stuff and you know it. There are too many important problems to solve and Van Jones had the perfect skill mix to facilitate the green jobs revolution. It’s a shame that the right had to fixate on crap that has nothing to do with the environment and green jobs. Did you even read the link you posted for me about the $30 billion? It was a glowing review.
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And I wasn’t talking about that question. The one I’m talking about is one post above that one.

I second that motion. I can’t believe Joe Klein actually bothered to write this stuff down. All he knows about Van Jones is the stuff the Right wants him to know.

Actually, here is the reason that this deserves Wanker of the Year award:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1894289_1894360,00.html
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The 2009 Time 100
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Heroes & Icons
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Van Jones
By Leonardo DiCaprio
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When Van Jones was tapped to serve as special adviser on green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality earlier this year, the appointment was heralded as a significant development for the green movement. And for good reason. A pioneer in fusing economic opportunity and social justice with environmentalism, Jones, 40, represents an important progression in our country’s perception and thus our approach to combatting global warming.
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At the center of Jones’ vision for socially uplifting environmentalism is the creation of “green collar” jobs, a phrase he helped extend beyond advocacy and policy circles into mainstream conversation. Jones insists that these jobs not only contribute directly to preserving and enhancing environmental quality but also provide either family-supporting wages or a career ladder to move low-income workers into higher-skilled occupations.
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In less than two years, Jones has risen from local grass-roots organizer to shepherd of a national movement to build an inclusive green economy — one that connects the people who most need work to the work that most needs to be done. His organization, Green for All, has helped deliver on the promise and potential of his vision with real jobs for real people, especially those who need new avenues of economic advancement during these challenging times. Steadily — by redefining green — Jones is making sure that our planet and our people will not just survive but also thrive in a clean-energy economy.
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DiCaprio is an Academy Award-nominated actor and a committed environmentalist
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Fast Fact: At 25, Jones started a lawyer-referral service for victims of police abuse in San Francisco

It’s so interesting to read Joe Klein tell the world that “Self-proclaimed “communists” need not apply.“, even if they are listed in Time Magazine’s 100 “Heroes and Icons” of 2009. Obviously the “odious and foolish” objects of performers’ admiration did apply, was hired enthusiastically by the Obama Administration, and was the subject of hard-hitting journalism by Time Magazine…right up until he resigned, at which point he again became the subject of hard-hitting journalism by Time Magazine, this time in the form of Joe Klein’s punditry, as opposed to Leo DiCaprio’s biography.
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Fast Fact: You can look things up on the Google, like who your magazine lovingly profiled earlier this year.
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Do these people really not understand that the internet exists, and what they say will be recorded somewhere to read again? What world do they live in?
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Wanker of the Month?

SZ, I’ve read your response and will mull it over. Sadly, at the moment I’m forced to resume the ‘sale of my labor power’! Someone has to feed the young red en route.
~
Will try to get back to you later, likely while you’re cutting z’s. The good thing about commenters like us, reappearing like bad pennies, is there’s always an opportunity to revisit these discussions (debate seems all committed individuals have given the nature of the machine poised against us).

Just so it’s clear, my reminder that the ousting of Jones was less about caving to the right and more about the SOP of the Obama juggernaut is in no way a defense of Joe Klein.

Clearly, in all of this flame throwing Joe Klein forgets that just the other day he was railing against the right wing for fomenting insurrection but now it seems yesterdays wingnut blowhard is a public servant. I can’t even begin to convey how offensive I find your comparison of Jones political exploration to nazism and white supremacy. But since you think that’s the worst you can be, here’s my challenge to the great balanced reporter: make sure you shun the nazis and supremacists on the right, since that’s who makes up the underbelly of the GOP. Since the campaign I have listened to blowhards on the right I didn’t hear you call for Gingrich or even Limbaugh to be denounced. Where is your column saying there is no place in public discourse for the far right, that these days is all the GOP has left. I’m watching elected officials embracing birthers and self proclaimed terrorists but I don’t see a campaign for these individuals to resign.
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But at least your consistent, we can always count on you to jump to the wrong conclusion and post from your gut without any in depth analysis. The problem here is you are reacting to the instigation of a media echo chamber that doesn’t have the basic filter that comes with paying attention to scale. The activities of a few dozen wingnuts seems to carry more weight or is equal to the peaceful support of thousands on the other side.

Perhaps you should read my comments again because I think your confused.

I understand that in Joe’s social circles, it is de rigeur to talismanically denounce the commies citing the standard number of millions MILLIONS who lived under “economic slavery” and died under Stalinism 60 and 70 years ago. McCarthyism did not end 60 years ago but is with us still, it haunts American liberals to this very day. Liberals were not communists nor were they Stalinists then, nor are they today.

None of the talismanic knee-reflexive denouncing of those who collaborated with the Nazis, though, here in these United States, such as Prescott Bush and Henry Ford. And it is fine for conservatives to have been communists — Trotskyites — in their youth, for the reason that Irving Kristol et al were born into privilege, and wore suits, and were of the same race and social class as Joe Klein and his kinsmen. So they don’t pay the price of mistakes of an unwise youth. And the conservatives have always painted liberals with the scourge of their “premature anti-fascism.”

Thankfully, it is the old guard who clings to this particular vicious slur — few people under age 40 even understand that socialism and communism are economic systems different from capitalism. They just know they are dirty words, like n****r. And as Lee Atwater said, the right can’t use the word n****r any longer, so they go with busing and states rights, and get more abstract and more abstract, and then those choruses lost their punch and now they try out the even more abstract “socialist.” But it is pure and simple racist Atwater Southern Strategy at work here.

And so beltway Democrats cling to their status with white knuckles mouthing the talismanic anti-Stalinist and anti-union rosary with all their heart and soul. But the world moves on. There is nobody in America who is a Stalinist, and hasn’t been for 60 years or more.

China is a communist country who also “enslaves” a billion of her people in “terror and economic slavery” and yet there is no talismanic denunciation in lieu of our expansive diplomatic dealings and trade with China. In fact, the Joe Kleins celebrate it. They haven’t dealt with the hypocritical disconnect even yet. I have hopes that the younger American generation can do better than this. We need to move beyond McCarthyism and the Atwater Southern Strategy politics. It has poisoned an entire generation.

jcapan and stuart, It’s nice to know you two are continuing to eloquently counter Joe’s trashing of the left. (I was genuinely shocked and angered by his Greenwald post.)
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I haven’t been posting much – although I have been reading – because I’m starting a new academic program this fall. And living in a new time zone.

Oh please, it was completely factual, except for the part about incremental health care reform. It has to be be done holistically in order for it to work, including a public option.

My guess is that if your post had any validity, you would have rebutted Klein’s. But you didn’t, probably because you can’t.

The vetting process failed. End of story.

” The work of this presidency is too important to be side-tracked by a too-angry blowhard…” Me thinks doth protest to much and would be wise to invest in a mirror.

Your serious conventional wisdom delivered from that 30,000 foot forest to the sea of trees that are your readers is largely accurate. From a practical standpoint, Van Jones absolutely had to be cut loose. No question. But just think about how you’ve written about this process.

I know that you see the big picture that none of us do, and that you’ve been there and done that. You’ll get a gold watch, I’m sure. But there is a bankruptcy and cynicism to this post that you’ll never have the courage to understand, or even want to understand. Perhaps it’s just better off that way, with you being comfortable in your superiority.

The story that the life of Joe Klein has made the world a better place than that of Van Jones is very easy to fall asleep to. After all, there were many “Joe Kleins” writing the exact same thing about the “Van Joneses” of the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, etc. The former are comfortable during their lives but are relegated to dustbin of history upon their deaths. The latter are *always* “too-angry blowhard(s) spouting foolish radicalism” during their lives but are subject to a slow, methodical redemption by history’s final verdict. They are then sanitized and then spoken of with reverence by the next generation’s Joe Klein, who really sees the big picture and understands how this all really works.

One of the most important figures in the entire 20th century was Bayard Rustin, the civil rights organizer (March on Washington) who had less mainstream views in the 1960s than Van Jones has in 2009. Were Joe Klein to write a retrospective about Rustin today, he would pay homage to his bravery and genius, and lament the fact that most people lacked the courage to recognize his enormous contributions to our country. He would then likely ruminate on how Rustin would be much more accepted in today’s society – showing how far we’ve come – but would be subject to relentless abuse from the hate-mongers of the far right – showing how far we’ve got to go.

But I wonder, Mr. Klein, what your article about Rustin would have looked like in 1962? We obviously both know the answer. You’re able to sleep at night with that answer because if you’ve somehow read this (.1% chance) you will dismiss my opinion as unserious and will ascribe an adjective to me that you find discrediting. Given your recent posts, my guess would be “Un-American” given my obvious lack of acceptable patriotism. This is understandable, as you are someone who matters whereas I am merely a reader of yours somewhere on the internet.

But the fact is that both my and my future children’s lives are better off for the fact that Rustin and Jones graced this planet. You’ve given me a few hours to spend with John Travolta and Emma Thompson (who is fantastic). And, given the examples I’ve used, I know what you’re thinking right now. Unfortunately this writer is a white middle-left Democrat brought up in about as middle class a setting as you might imagine. So you’ll have to choose a different reason to convince yourself that I would actually understand if I knew all that you know. I’m grateful that I don’t.

- A Former Reader

An short addendum (I thought I had posted this but had erred). I want to specifically cite the following passage as the reason you’ve lost me forever as a reader. I know this doesn’t matter an iota to you, but it’s only fair:

“There will be missteps along the way; there are in any Administration. A Van Jones or two will slip through the cracks and be given jobs. But if the President can keep his eyes on the prize… ”

Your first two sentences here were dated the moment just prior to clicking the submit button. I promise that they will not hold up well. But their true genius is that they offer a perfect metaphor for the mainstream media in 2009. A few Van Jones of media have already snuck through the cracks, with two obvious examples being an actual Republican in Andrew Sullivan and an actual Democrat in Glenn Greenwald (your nemesis when you feel it necessary to condescend and take out your fly swatter). I tend agree with the arguments of each about 50%, but these two Van Joneses improve my ability to engage in effective citizenship. They lob grenades and probably wince at their archives on occasion, but they own up to them. If this makes me an “acolyte” of either, then so be it. Your industry’s demise is obviously due to the internet rendering a business model obsolete, not the fact that it offers an opportunity for people to speak up who don’t give a crap about a dinner invitation.

Finally, I simply don’t have the words to address the metaphor that you decided to use in that third sentence. I think that every civil rights leader in the history of our country would rather you personally turn a fire hose on them than to hijack their “eyes on the prize” metaphor to describe the first African-American president accepting the resignation of someone like Van Jones. They, like I, certainly wouldn’t attribute this to racism in any way – that would be beyond absurd. It’s more reflective of the stunning lack of self-awareness that comes from being superior to most everyone else, and from the belief that calling out the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck takes one iota of courage.

Rose,
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Best of luck with the studies and the new time zone. I’ve lived in all 4 (continental at least). In any event, ride that wave of scholarship as far as it’ll take you. The working world is always waiting for you, like a stalker with body odor.
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OK, SZ!
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Agreed about the failure of communism in practice, and I’d never want to see such experiments repeated. That said, it isn’t going anywhere as theory or a guiding revolutionary principle. But for every Che in Cuba there’s the Che in the Congo or Bolivia. For every 1917 in Russia there’s 1950 in the USSR. For every Mao in 1949, there’s the man who unleashed the Red Guards. So, on the one hand, I don’t see many nations seeking to embrace communism in the purer sense of doctrine or practice, and certainly not the developed world. That is indeed a blessing. However, like nationalism, these more radical movements (left, right, fundamentalist) are often necessary in parts of the world where people are literally being treated like chattel.
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But anyway, no, I’m not interested in an end to private property or mass communes. I don’t long to be an apparatchik. Like elections, I don’t think revolutions succeed for long in improving the lives of the people concerned (the victors, the formerly oppressed, almost instantly become oppressors—this is the core and tragic truth of human history). And god knows I’ve spent enough time in seminars and faculty meetings to know how destructive and toxic leftists can be. That said, if there is hope for humanity, it’s my contention that the answer lies in deconstruction—a hybrid of democracy, capitalism and socialism. God, is that centrist?
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As a related thought, you know, I’m about as hostile to Catholicism as they come, but I have to admit that the Pope has had a lot to say over the last year about the rampant materialism defining our (western) lives, the utter spiritual rot afoot in the world. While I reject that only religion can counter such potent forces, that doesn’t invalidate his critique by any means. It’s not merely that our political system is failing and rotten, it’s that it has despoiled the hearts and minds of so many people. In such soil, it’s hard to imagine an organic movement towards a more just society. This is where the shift should be to Thoreau, another utopist who rules my world. But we’ll set aside discussions of culture for today.
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In any event, yes, communism’s primary value for me is the lasting currency of it’s critique of capitalism. And while the former has failed in practice that doesn’t mean all of its tenets are without value. And though the latter has succeeded (in theory, well, it’s at least proved triumphant), the mistake in our shallow public discourse is to ignore its core failings. The Obama correction is, as I said earlier, palliative at best. The fundamental adjustments necessary in every sphere, these remain heresy, as Joe McCarthy, I mean Klein, proves above. Such thought, trashing socialist alternatives out of hand, is both counterproductive and intellectually facile.
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And I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never seen Escape from NY. What the hell I was doing in 1988, the year I graduated high school, that could have been more important… But I reckon I’d dig it. My cynicism leads me to believe we’ll all be slaughtering each other over water and crops someday, if I’m lucky enough to become the lecherous old man I long to be. McCarthy’s Road hopefully doesn’t reach Nippon.

“7. How could Flight 77, which reportedly hit the Pentagon, have flown back towards Washington D.C. for 40 minutes without being detected by the FAA’s radar or the even superior radar possessed by the US military?”

Does Norman Mineta’s testimony make Cheney sound “passive”, Mr. Klein?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/clock-stoppers/

“5. Why haven’t authorities in the U.S. and abroad published the results of multiple investigations into trading that strongly suggested foreknowledge of specific details of the 9/11 attacks, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of traceable gains?”

And why isn’t this $100 million traceable, Mr. Klein?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/the-ghost-in-the-machines-the-mystery-of-the-wtc-hard-drive-recoveries/

I was disappointed in Van Jones, not b/c of his resignation but because he should have known better.
When it comes to community, it’s always about the greater good and what would have been greater than employing the disenfranchised? I was somewhat confident that Van would have made those employment opportunities available. Let’s hope Halliburton contractors don’t end up with the projects.

Politics being generally messy business means tempering ones personal opinions to appeal to the broader audience. Name callin’ was inappropriate. Some R’s pride themselves in being A’s, but not all R’s are A’s. Mr. Jones, that’s logic 054.

A better term for those that use fear/hate to build consensus would be ‘cheek(booty) clappers’. Skillful clappers can be enteraining for some to watch and they can generate a following w/out offering much value…they get a lot of hits on youtube.

I was hoping Van would stand by his position on the petition. Being called a “truther” is a nice label by comparison to the other word he’s being called.
I wanted Van to stand on the issue at least long enough for someone to explain the squibs and thermite that highlighted on those 911 youtube videos.

The biggest disappointment in regards to Van’s audacity is he should have known better. I’m sure his grandmother must have told him the number one rule. If he didn’t get it from family, then surely he must have learned it from the movie, Blazin Saddles…that being, “don’t scare the white folks”.

Them same old folks used to say, whatever you do impacts the entire group. Does that mean it will be harder for African Americans to now get positions in the new administration? God knows, it was hard enough to get a paid position on the Obama campaign.

Colorofchange.org should have also known better. Beck was not going to suffer a lost of advertiser without trying to force someone to ‘head for the hills’ even if it meant burning down the whole town…Remember Rosewood?

i don’t believe that Van Jones was a foolish radical, maybe foolhardy, but not foolish. I do believe Jones was a truther. Jones should have had the foresight to know, some Americans weren’t ready for his version of truth.

You started with the name calling and I responded in the milder manner to your aggression.
My response to the sort of invective which you spewed on me in your initial posts, will not change.

Cheers!

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

After reading so many postings by radicals, I was happy to read yours. You are correct in your analysis of the events around Van Jones and your comments about Joe Klein. Joe is totally in the tank for President Obama and slants his writings to promote Obama’s agenda.
Anyone who thinks Van Jones should have continued as an Advisor to the President doesn’t understand the word democracy.
Thanks for your posting

“The vetting process failed. End of story”. It sounds pretty arrogant and absolute. Un-American for sure.

What’s about: balanced vetting process. Pro and con. Past vs present. Present wins. Jones is hired.

[...] how many of you knew who he was prior to this August?), Jones has resigned. Time’s Joe Klein says good riddance: “The work of this presidency is too important to be side-tracked by a too-angry blowhard [...]

I don’t believe that Joe himself was drumming all current and former Communists out of public life. I believe that he was making the practical point that in American politics, whether appropriately or not, Communism (now socialism?) raised a red flag that certain groups can’t see past. He was making the point that Jones “had to go” because he was yet another diversion that threatened the administration’s efforts. We do have to recognize our surroundings, yes?

Hey Joe…your a sissy for deleting my post…lol

I guess Time and Joe Klien “can’t handle the truth.”

Oh yeah..one more thing…I’ll never buy a Time magazine or come to this site …

ever again for the rest of my life

(ok…I might accidentally slip back in here…but only by accident…I swear lol)

[...] riddance” to the “too-angry blowhard” Van Jones, comparing him to a “white supremacist” and a “Nazi”: Anyway, Jones: He has, in recent years, done some valuable work [...]

“The work of this presidency is too important to be side-tracked by a too-angry blowhard spouting foolish radicalism”
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You mean like laisse-fair capitalism? Let’s fact it, you’ve got all of the Republican Party, most of the Democratic Party in Congress, and most of the “centrist” punditocracy in the national press spouting the foolish radicalism (a ridiculous and continuously disproved dogma really) of anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-government, pro-war capitalism that has done more harm to this country in the past thirty years than any idea known to man (and I’m leaving out all of the Teabaggers, Birthers, Deathers, Birchers and other manifestly crazy congresscritters and media types who make Johnson look like a sage). How does “communism” affect us at all except as a bogeyman used by those very same capitalists to expand their all-encompassing power to manipulate and profit from us?
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The fact that all these self-professed “conservatives” are bitterly opposed to a public insurance option in health care reform, the feature most likely to be cost-effective and increase market competition, should tell you that if they aren’t crazy enough to believe their “free-market” rhetoric, they’re just manipulative, hypocritical liars that will happily sell-out the public interest for the profits of their corporate owners.
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But the environmental adviser had to go. What a tool you are.

I have been following Van Jones’ work for over two years now. I started reading his interviews before Obama rose to prominence as a viable candidate.

To say that Mr. Jones is a left-wing extremist who must be rejected by this administration in order to “win the trust” of the right is faux liberal concern trolling.

While Mr. Jones has radical roots, his current ideas are anything but.

When you allow Glenn Beck and his fellow frothers to delineate the bounds of acceptable discourse and to determine who may or may not enter public service, you are, in fact, doing what you’ve shown to be your function: protect the vested interests in Washington from anything with the faintest whiff of radical change about it.

Tell me, Joe Klein: what kind of communist promotes small-scale entrepreneurship, capital investment in green technologies, and jobs training as solutions to seemingly intractable problems such as poverty and pollution?

Oh right: communists don’t do that. Green capitalists do, which is really what Van Jones is now, but never mind all that truth and factualness–we’ve got a “liberal project” to “defend,” by which Joe Klein means that we’ve got a liberal project with lots of supporters who have ideas that are threatening to the beltway status quo whose stenographer he is, and these supporters must be made to understand that they have no place–none–in our political discourse.

Duly noted, Joe. We’ll just pack up and go back to work on that whole “working for change OUTSIDE the system” thing. Unless you have a better idea? Violent overthrow of our capitalist oppressors perhaps?…

Only a very confused man would make the comparisons you draw. How do you get paid to do what you do when you are clearly unqualified to do it?