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The problem with Van Jones’ resignation isn’t that it’s a major loss to the Obama administration. Jones wasn’t a particularly important player in the big scheme of things, and he’s by no means irreplaceable.
No, the real problem is that it gives these sentiments legitimacy.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) called on Jones to resign Friday, saying in a statement, "His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate."
Senator Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) urged Congress to investigate Jones’s "fitness" for the position, writing in an open letter, "Can the American people trust a senior White House official that is so cavalier in his association with such radical and repugnant sentiments?" On Saturday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote on his Twitter account, "Van Jones has to go."
Now this is a party whose elected officials regularly peddle completely unhinged conspiracies and have introduced legislation implying the President of the United States isn’t an American citizen. It’s a party whose members have made a habit of accusing the President of being a fascist akin to Adolf Hitler. It’s a party whose leaders have endorsed outright treason and whose last candidate for Vice President was married to a secessionist. It’s a party whose activists and media figures engage in the vilest political hate speech on a daily basis.
And these are the people who get to determine what constitutes appropriate speech and acceptable views in the political arena?
With Jones’ resignation, apparently so.
The White House should’ve brushed this off. Gibbs should’ve said something like, "When Jim DeMint, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Bill Posey and Paul Broun step down for their extremist views and coarse rhetoric, we’ll gladly ask Van Jones to step down as well. Until then, that’s the last question I’ll take on Mr. Jones."
Period.
By sacrificing Jones, the Obama administration is essentially agreeing with Mike Pence. And that’s unfortunate, for a lot of reasons.
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Whackos rule the GOP!!!
Whackos are the GOP!!!
Thanks, BT. That’s precisely the point I’ve been dwelling on today.
PS. Headline and third from last paragraph need “course” changed to “coarse”.
Trying to be a nice guy these days can get you kicked in the shins often .
Now that the wingers and their overlords have been served up Von Jones, I’m sure that’ll be the last head they scream for. Surely now we’ll see a return to civil discourse with this sacrifice. Surely now we’ll have a reasoned debate on the major topics of our time, health care and climate.
/snark, in case that wasn’t abundantly clear
Jones was right, they are assholes.
Yes. Republicans speaking about fiscal conservatism.
Orahma caved, and the country was saved – everybody go shopping!
;>)
right. If we’ve learned anything this year its been that the gop knows when to draw the line on crass rehetoric, and that the WH is willing to stand up to them..
“The White House should’ve brushed this off. Gibbs should’ve said something like, “When Jim DeMint, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Bill Posey and Paul Broun step down for their extremist views and coarse rhetoric, we’ll gladly ask Van Jones to step down as well. Until then, that’s the last question I’ll take on Mr. Jones.”
I can almost hear Gibbs saying this. So why didn’t he? It’s time we face up to the fact that BO and his crew are a bunch of sold out pussies.
PS: Suck it, Rahm.
“The White House should’ve brushed this off. Gibbs should’ve said something like, “When Jim DeMint, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Bill Posey and Paul Broun step down for their extremist views and coarse rhetoric, we’ll gladly ask Van Jones to step down as well. Until then, that’s the last question I’ll take on Mr. Jones.”" —–EXACTLY !!!
And the ‘pointing of the finger’ at Republican’s may feel good, the REAL responsibility for Van Jones being pushed asides is OBAMA’S !!!!
Keith Olberman has a request at Kos for people to send him everything they have on Glenn Beck.
I don’t know why I’ve got this phrasing in my head, but: Find everything you can about Glenn Beck, Stu Burguiere, and Roger Ailes.
Is there nothing the Republicans can say that won’t scare Obama’s people?
WH caved.No surprise just take a look at the insults Repuke Senator Grassley has hurled at the Prez,yet still the Prez is championing Grassley as “reasonable”.It’s no longer shocking to see the Prez fall on his knees to appease Republicans,the only game now is how long it takes the Prez to get on his knees & beg Repukes for their blessing of Republican like policies.Shameful & insulting to democratic voters.
Well, maybe a few other names before the PERIOD. I can think of many. LOL
NO
I hear Glenn Beck doesn’t change his magic underpants very frequently.
;>)
I’m no Republican but Van Jones should never have been appointed for anything. Another Obama goof.
GAAAH! I need a drink.
Van Jones was the WH liaison to the Republic Party?
So is KO doing a regular gig on Kos, or is this a one-shot deal? His two-night takedown of Beck was something to behold. Watching Beck drift a little closer to insanity each day is quite entertaining, actually.
How can the White House not see that the more they roll over to the whims of the wingnuts, the harder it’s going to be to reverse that trend? It’s really getting pathetic…
I’m gratified to supply such a ready-made excuse for a pal. Have two.
;>)
Van Jones was a bone that O threw to progressives. I’d guess O was pretty happy to get rid of him this way.
oooh. We can haz bones?
Not any more, apparently.
This just chums the water and encourages the wingnuts into a full fledged feeding frenzy. Jones is not significant in himself, but now they will believe that they can take down anyone.
I’m still waiting for O to ditch Dawn Johnson. I think she’s the remaining bone, unless I forgot someone.
Only if they are feeling nice that day. More often (as in on a daily basis) it will get you kicked in the ‘nads and stomped on. The right have transformed into a howling, homicidal mob.
Actually, he was being polite. They are fucking gaping, shitty assholes.
No.
This has been another edition….
Caught him on one of his good days, did you?
must…resist…agreeing…too heartily…can’t…stop…I agree!
The Obama administration fights about as well as Harry Reidless: not at all, except with its own loyal progressives, who won’t stay loyal much longer.
Dang! That was some serious photo enhancement but you really captured him!
He shows up there every once in awhile.
They always believed that, viz. the pursuit of Clinton over vast space and time. This is merely further validation for their perception, and conversely the deconstruction of the multidimensional chess game player myth built by some types around Orahma. You don’t get Grandmaster status through needless sacrifice of pawns.
;>)
Democrats have a history of booting black appointees as soon as Republicans complain.
We need Dems that can fight for people. Sadly, these dont.
You just have to pick your moment.
;>)
darkblack – You just need him eating it!
Is There Anything More Ridiculous Than Republicans Complaining about “Extremist Views and Coarse Rhetoric”?
Considering they are batshit insane enough to bring guns to a healthcare rally, how fucking much more extreme can you get than that?
Wouldn’t that get Keith Olbermann all a-Twitter.
;>)
Yup! Glenn Beck – Booger Eater!
Obama made similar comments about Rev. Wright during the primairies and speaks warmly about Ronnie Reagan, the very individual who brought right-wing lunacy into the mainstream. He is a right-of-center politician and has never portrayed himself otherwise.
It’s actually dangerous not to stand up to this crazy shit.
This whole mess is getting really demoralizing.
Thanks, BT. You are 110% right.
You can never tell what will tickle the fancy of the public.
;>)
I didn’t know Rush was that flexible.
I think of it more as being really kinky rather than flexible.
He’s quite good at grabbing the ankles, I’m told.
;>)
The worst thing to do when being bullied is to prove you are scared.
Once again we find ourselves watching the President representing the Democratic party throwing their team under the bus, one member at a time. First we had Clinton who never had a sherd of loyalty towards the people he worked with and now we get to watch the same sad spectacle again. Somehow we get stuck with these jellyfish, who keep wanting to be loved by Republicans, never seem to understand that the act of caving is what most conservatives really hate. They’re not smart enough to understand very act of wimping out is what generates most of the hostility.
Three and a half more years of spineless, self-doubters who stand for nothing, really wish that the Republicans would just like them for themselves and invite them on dates to exotic places. This is going to be painful.
The Obama administration’s waffling and capitulation to the Republican Party sends the following message:
1) We’re going to let the Republicans set the rules for us to play by and behave by.
2) We’re going to be held accountable to the Republicans’ rules.
3) We want to be judged by the Republicans’ rules.
These foretell the defeat of Obama and the Democrats in the next election, because:
A) The Republicans rules for themselves do not include the rules of play and behavior applied to the Democrats.
B) The Republicans will not be held accountable to the rules applied to Democrats.
C) The Republicans will not be judged nor will they judge themselves based on the rules they’ve laid down for the Democrats.
Witness the following Republican duplicities:
1. Anyone who questions the Republican President is a traitor. But for a Democratic President, prohibit children from listening to his start of school address.
2. Bipartisanship is an un-holy practice for Republicans when in power. If Democrats do not practice bipartisanship, they are ‘tearing the country apart’.
3. Republicans use economic pressures in addition to political pressures – e.g. boycott the Dixie Chicks for saying their ashamed Geo Bush is from Texas, but, when liberals boycott those who supported anti-gay legislation in CA or boycott Whole Foods for peddling Ayn Rand baloney about health care reform – they are accused of ‘being un-fair’.
4. When Republicans sponsor end of life counseling they’re ‘compassionate’, when Democrats do it, it’s death panels.
Shall we go on……
When Obama lets the Republicans impose the rules, whether about ‘repugnant’ and ‘radical’ speech or ‘bipartisanship’, Obama will be seen as ‘weak’, ’someone who cant fight’ or a fool who will always takes th sucker punch. These perceptions will help defeat Obama in the next election. Please, stop with this.
Is There Anything More Ridiculous Than Republicans Complaining about “Extremist Views and Coarse Rhetoric”?
Arguably, yes: when they complain about either (a) irresponsible behavior; or (b) situation ethics.
This kind of thing was classic Clinton stuff. Bill Clinton would regularly dump anyone who came under harsh criticism from the right; for example, when Lani Guinier was falsely attacked for being a “quota queen” which was exactly the opposite of her position, Clinton refused to defend her and just dumped her. Not only that, but she was hanging out there in limbo for a while and, if I recall correctly, not allowed to make statements defending herself.
Unfortunately Obama staffed his administration almost entirely from those people and he’s just the same way. To both the Clintons and to Obama, progressives are an inconvenient annoyance, getting in the way of their plans to build consensus deals between all the “stakeholders” (all the big-money players, that is).
While I agree with the sentiment, the overwrought anger being directed at the white house is dumb. Other than a spike in Beck’s ratings, is anyone naive enough to believe that any defense of Jones would have any effect whatsoever on these clowns?
You can’t shame the shameless and you can’t threaten the irrational.
But in all our self generated rage at one of our own, we our forgetting who it is the GOP is really trying to lynch. Let’s not give them any help.
So it’s blind support? Follow the party doctrine? Love it or leave it? I didn’t read much desire to shame the shameless or threaten the irrational in the comments critical of this latest White House ejection. What I read was criticism for not standing firm on something worth defending against laughably insufficient grounds for dismissal. A desire to see some backbone does not translate as self-generated rage and as for it being directed at one of our own, I guess that depends on how you define yourself and how this White House is defining itself.