Black Environmental Czar Done After Beck Boycott, "A-hole" Uproar
Van Jones, a newly minted policy adviser who specialized in "green jobs", has called it quits after a crescendo of criticism over his previous affiliation with a September 11 conspiracy group. But was that the real reason the brotha was "swiftboated"? Well, calling Republicans "assholes" didn't help.
After weeks of being embroiled in what Jones himself termed a "vicious smear campaign," concerning past inflammatory statements, the San Francisco based author and lecturer relinquished the desirable DC gig just as President Obama fights to regain his campaign swagger on the contentious health care debate that has even Democrats failing to get in lock step.
Jones, appointed as special adviser at the White House Council on Environmental Quality in March of this year, apologized earlier after digital content of him "keeping it real" in describing Republicans went viral. Marry to a Caucasian woman, Jones has been very outspoken nevertheless on environmental race issues that many believe have caused urban areas with a large concentration of Blacks and Latinos to suffer at the hands of eco-friendly Whites.
Adding gasoline to the blazing controversy were subsequent revelations that Jones had the audacity to signed a petition suggesting that the U.S. government was involved in the 2001 attacks in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington.
"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in his resignation letter. "I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future," he wrote.
But did this character assassination of Jones, 40, really have more to do with the pounding Fox cable talk show host Glenn Beck has been receiving from the Color of Change organization concerning statements that Obama was racist?
In all likelihood, yes, especially since Color of Change was co-founded by Jones and to date, they have successfully convinced 57 companies to not advertise on Beck's show. Not that the polarizing media figure's ratings have suffered because of the issue. In fact, their soaring!
And now that Beck has one scalp that he can put on his mantle, things are just starting to heat up.
Source
Van Jones, a newly minted policy adviser who specialized in "green jobs", has called it quits after a crescendo of criticism over his previous affiliation with a September 11 conspiracy group. But was that the real reason the brotha was "swiftboated"? Well, calling Republicans "assholes" didn't help.
After weeks of being embroiled in what Jones himself termed a "vicious smear campaign," concerning past inflammatory statements, the San Francisco based author and lecturer relinquished the desirable DC gig just as President Obama fights to regain his campaign swagger on the contentious health care debate that has even Democrats failing to get in lock step.
Jones, appointed as special adviser at the White House Council on Environmental Quality in March of this year, apologized earlier after digital content of him "keeping it real" in describing Republicans went viral. Marry to a Caucasian woman, Jones has been very outspoken nevertheless on environmental race issues that many believe have caused urban areas with a large concentration of Blacks and Latinos to suffer at the hands of eco-friendly Whites.
Adding gasoline to the blazing controversy were subsequent revelations that Jones had the audacity to signed a petition suggesting that the U.S. government was involved in the 2001 attacks in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington.
"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in his resignation letter. "I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future," he wrote.
But did this character assassination of Jones, 40, really have more to do with the pounding Fox cable talk show host Glenn Beck has been receiving from the Color of Change organization concerning statements that Obama was racist?
In all likelihood, yes, especially since Color of Change was co-founded by Jones and to date, they have successfully convinced 57 companies to not advertise on Beck's show. Not that the polarizing media figure's ratings have suffered because of the issue. In fact, their soaring!And now that Beck has one scalp that he can put on his mantle, things are just starting to heat up.
Source