LAS VEGAS -- Van Jones, the former Obama "green jobs czar" who
was forced to resign after it was revealed that he signed a
petition calling for an investigation into whether the Bush
administration deliberately allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to
happen, was given a standing ovation by liberal activists here at
the Netroots Nation conference.
In a video introduction, former DNC chairman Howard Dean called
Jones a "hero."
During his speech, Jones said that he threw himself a long "pity
party" after his exit from the administration, but compared his
own struggle to the larger state of the nation. He made the case
for investing in new energy technologies, and dismissed concerns
about the deficit.
"There's plenty of money out there, the only question is how to
spend it," Jones said.
In an onstage Q&A following the speech the Nation's
Ari Melber said that the only reason Jones was targeted was that
he was black and progressive.
Melber also told Jones, "You're popular here because you get
stuff done, but also because you're cool."
UPDATE: Ari Melber emails to say that:
I gave several reasons for why Van was targeted - he was black,
progressive, and he lived a life with work that had the kind of
creativity and experimentation that made it easy to smear and
lie about him. I stated all these points together in my opening
question.
Your post incorrectly suggests that I only gave the reasons of
black and progressive.
I checked the video, and indeed he did also mention the third
reason for why Jones was targeted. You can watch Jones's speech
and the Q&A here, and the
part Melber is referring to kicks in around the 35 minute mark.
If Republicans cheer for a "Birther", the Democratic media make
it front page news. Yet they'll ignore this 9/11 conspiracy
stuff.
However, I also blame Republican politicians for not equating the
two, when they are on defense. It is the old, bad Republican idea
that we don't have to play politics.
Crooz8er| 7.23.10 @ 6:38PM
Oh! Did Obama produce his original birth certificate and I missed
it on the news? You know, the one I had to produce to get a
drivers license or enroll my kids in school?
Nate| 7.23.10 @ 9:24PM
Crooz --
You're not the stupidest person to post here regularly, but you
rival the stupidest with valiant and almost heroic efforts like
the above post.
Crooz8er| 7.23.10 @ 11:20PM
Na,
You're not the faggiest libtard troll to post here regularly--oh
wait a minute, yes you are! Haha!
(Being called stupid by a libtard who comes here every day just
looking for a post from me---priceless!)
Oh, and did moveon.org ever give you an answer to my question on
the James Byrd ad?
REMEMBER NOVEMBER!!| 7.23.10 @ 4:21PM
More lies from the loony left.
Van Jones is an avowed communist--like many in Obama's
administration--and he DID sign the 9/11 Truther petition.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:19AM
"Avowed communist."
Where have I heard that phrase before?
O that's right. From the same people who falsely accused Sherrod
of being a "black racist."
Well .... we certainly won't be turning to them (or you) for
information any time soon, will we?
REMEMBER NOVEMBER| 7.24.10 @ 12:32AM
Sherrod is a racist, and her skin color is irrelevant and means
nothing to me. Too bad you fixate on it. Bigot.
Van Jones admitted in a 2006 interview that, "His environmental
activism was a means to fight for racial and class justice and
that he was a 'rowdy black nationalist' and a communist."
I thought you were proud of your Marxist identity, troll--why try
to deny Van Jones'?
Lis| 7.23.10 @ 6:45PM
I would like to add that if you are not being useful then you are
just in the way.
Who wants to read someone who does not respect his or her own
argument enough to do the research and develop a case for it?
Integrity practiced is integrity earned.
Kangalanatolian| 7.23.10 @ 7:06PM
The truth is treason in the Empire of Lies.
Wally| 7.23.10 @ 11:41PM
In Obama's case it's the Regime of Lies. Democrats are
pathological liars.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:19AM
Prove it.
REMEMBER NOVEMBER| 7.24.10 @ 12:33AM
You do every damn day, troll. All you do is lie.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 11:42AM
When have I lied? Give an example. Prove I'm a "pathological
liar."
To condemn without investigation is the height of ignorance. The
investigation is here: http://911review.com/
Communism and the 911 truth movement have absolutely NO
overlapping talking points. You may just as well have said that
he was also a vegetarian.
Wally| 7.23.10 @ 11:40PM
Communists and Truthers like Van Jones hate Capitalism. I'm not
sure if the stupid clown's a vegetarian.
Nate| 7.23.10 @ 9:21PM
"Truthers," like their spiritual cousins, the "Birthers," are a
particularly ridiculous and pathetic symptom of a larger and more
widespread and potentially dangerous pathology: the fact-free
public discourse that flows from talk radio and cable t.v. and
overwhelms nearly all political debate in this country.
As far as I know, Van Jones has denied any sympathy with the
"Truthers"; I've seen no evidence that connects him to the
Truthers, and you'll forgive me if I don't take Glenn Beck's word
for it. Beck is not a reporter and doesn't hold himself to any
standards whatsoever; he's a self-admitted "rodeo-clown," not a
journalist. He's also a louse and a racist.
At any rate, I would look at the Sherrod story this week as the
final proof of deliberate manipulation of information by Fox News
to race-bait and pit Americans against one another for political
reasons. Beck, Palin, Bachmann, and the rest of them are
complicit as well, and THIS I challenge any of you to refudiate!
Crooz8er| 7.23.10 @ 11:22PM
You're stupid. And gay.
Missy| 7.23.10 @ 11:34PM
Nice Shakespeare!!
Dumb troll. Fox had nothing to do with Sherrod's
termination--Obama fired Sherrod's racist butt before Fox even
aired the tape. Lazy effort even for a moron like you, libtard.
Democrats are the party of race baiters and race hustlers--it's
the only way you losers can win elections. Your ideas stink so
you have to pit Americans against one another to prevail. If that
doesn't work you just steal elections a la ACORN.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:16AM
This is an example of what psychoanalysts call "projection," a
neurotic response to anxiety that attributes to others the faults
one recognizes in oneself.
Now -- you say that Obama "fired Sherrod's racist butt."
You must think, then, that Obama did the right thing (firing a
"racist").
Whatever activity is going on in your brain, it seems undaunted
by and untouched by and not remotely concerned with the actual
FACTS of Ms Sherrod's story, which have been broadcasted and
printed in every legitimate news outlet in the country for three
days. Apparently, you haven't gotten this information, so I take
it you're a Fox viewer.
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 12:54AM
Since you claim to be so well acquainted with Ms. Sherrod's
trials and tribulations at the hands of Obama and the NAACP--why
don't YOU give me the time-line of her firing in relation to
Fox's airing of the Drama Queen's little racial dust-up?
According to big-time Liberal, WaPo's Howard Kurtz, "But for all
of the chatter-- some of it from Sherrod herself-- that she was
done in by Fox News, the network didn't touch the story until her
firing was made public on Monday evening with the exception of
brief comments by O'Reilly." Fox VP Clemente cautioned news
analysts in an e-mail, "Let's take our time and get the facts
straight on this story. Can we get comments and confirmation from
Sherrod before going on air? Let's make sure we do this right!"
"Apparently" you're a lying sack of crap, Nate--like all you
garbage-monger Democrats seeking to divide our country.
Crawl back under your rock, creep.
Crooz8er| 7.24.10 @ 8:50AM
Na,
The stupid neurotic gay troll who calls others names DARES talk
about "projection?" Hardee har har.
Na na, you made the claim that Beck is a racist. To borrow your
line:
Prove it.
And while you're at it, you can prove you're not stupid. And gay.
And a racist. And a truther. Until you prove all those things,
you'll be them. And if/when you ever prove them not to be true,
why, I'll just call you other stuff and then say "prove it."
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 11:40AM
Clearly you're an educated man, but you've forgotten that logic
forbids requiring someone to prove a negative. The attempt is
repugnant to reason. Work it out.
Ryan| 7.23.10 @ 9:46PM
You dont find calling white ppl "the other kind" isn't overtly
racist? What if I called black folk "the blacks"?
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:16AM
You just DID you insufferable dipshit.
Crooz8er| 7.24.10 @ 8:44AM
You're stupid. And gay. Prove you're not.
Zombee| 7.23.10 @ 10:11PM
Van Jones is a filthy communist, racist bigot, pile of excrement.
The State Run Media Journo-list scumbags completely ignored the
pile of filth and never challenged Obama to answer for him
.
This choice spoke volumes about the impostor that sits in the
White House today.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:17AM
Thanks Adolph.
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 12:56AM
You're welcome Joe (Goebbels).
Crooz8er| 7.24.10 @ 8:45AM
Na,
You're stupid. And gay. Prove you're not.
David| 7.24.10 @ 11:13AM
Wow...you are all pretty pathetic.
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 1:26PM
Pathetic? That would be nutroot Nate.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:24PM
The latest meme in reactionary outlets will seem to have been
presenting an excerpt of a speech in which the audience reaction
"proves" some scandalous point about the left.
This is scurrilous hackery, debased and unworthy of the name
"journalism," but then again, not much in "conservative" outlets
could pass muster under even the most generous and flexible
review.
Reactionary propaganda works very hard to disguise itself as
journalism these days -- a tribute, to the beleaguered, of the
power of journalism to afflict the comfortable, and comfort the
afflicted -- but it is curiously, marvelously, bafflingly,
obviously, transparently, incredibly unsuccessful, so much so
that we have to wonder not about the motives for the distortions,
deceptions, and treachery (those are plain enough) but at how
gullible the so-called "liberal" media is to give it any
traction, attention, or deference. The proper response to Fox
News and right wing radio and to treat it the way the larger
society treats white supremacist and fascist websites and
magazines: some unfortunate committee of experts in such filth is
assigned to monitor it, no action is taken to prevent it (since
to do so would only aggrandize and enhance the fantasies of
persecution it endlessly spins with itself as the heroically
persecuted victim), and life goes on, sometimes tediously and
plodding, sometimes exuberantly, our spirits high and proud, but
always with the knowledge that those who seek to exploit us will
pit us against one another with whatever means they are allowed
-- by us.
Siegfried X| 7.23.10 @ 2:25PM
If Republicans cheer for a "Birther", the Democratic media make it front page news. Yet they'll ignore this 9/11 conspiracy stuff.
However, I also blame Republican politicians for not equating the two, when they are on defense. It is the old, bad Republican idea that we don't have to play politics.
Crooz8er| 7.23.10 @ 6:38PM
Oh! Did Obama produce his original birth certificate and I missed it on the news? You know, the one I had to produce to get a drivers license or enroll my kids in school?
Nate| 7.23.10 @ 9:24PM
Crooz --
You're not the stupidest person to post here regularly, but you rival the stupidest with valiant and almost heroic efforts like the above post.
Crooz8er| 7.23.10 @ 11:20PM
Na,
You're not the faggiest libtard troll to post here regularly--oh wait a minute, yes you are! Haha!
(Being called stupid by a libtard who comes here every day just looking for a post from me---priceless!)
Oh, and did moveon.org ever give you an answer to my question on the James Byrd ad?
REMEMBER NOVEMBER!!| 7.23.10 @ 4:21PM
More lies from the loony left.
Van Jones is an avowed communist--like many in Obama's administration--and he DID sign the 9/11 Truther petition.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:19AM
"Avowed communist."
Where have I heard that phrase before?
O that's right. From the same people who falsely accused Sherrod of being a "black racist."
Well .... we certainly won't be turning to them (or you) for information any time soon, will we?
REMEMBER NOVEMBER| 7.24.10 @ 12:32AM
Sherrod is a racist, and her skin color is irrelevant and means nothing to me. Too bad you fixate on it. Bigot.
Van Jones admitted in a 2006 interview that, "His environmental activism was a means to fight for racial and class justice and that he was a 'rowdy black nationalist' and a communist."
I thought you were proud of your Marxist identity, troll--why try to deny Van Jones'?
Lis| 7.23.10 @ 6:45PM
I would like to add that if you are not being useful then you are just in the way.
Who wants to read someone who does not respect his or her own argument enough to do the research and develop a case for it? Integrity practiced is integrity earned.
Kangalanatolian| 7.23.10 @ 7:06PM
The truth is treason in the Empire of Lies.
Wally| 7.23.10 @ 11:41PM
In Obama's case it's the Regime of Lies. Democrats are pathological liars.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:19AM
Prove it.
REMEMBER NOVEMBER| 7.24.10 @ 12:33AM
You do every damn day, troll. All you do is lie.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 11:42AM
When have I lied? Give an example. Prove I'm a "pathological liar."
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 1:23PM
My 12:54 post proves you're a liar.
Kangalanatolian| 7.23.10 @ 6:58PM
You would like to OUT 911 truthers?
Here are some for you:
http://patriotsquestion911.com.....html#Knesl
To condemn without investigation is the height of ignorance. The investigation is here:
http://911review.com/
Communism and the 911 truth movement have absolutely NO overlapping talking points. You may just as well have said that he was also a vegetarian.
Wally| 7.23.10 @ 11:40PM
Communists and Truthers like Van Jones hate Capitalism. I'm not sure if the stupid clown's a vegetarian.
Nate| 7.23.10 @ 9:21PM
"Truthers," like their spiritual cousins, the "Birthers," are a particularly ridiculous and pathetic symptom of a larger and more widespread and potentially dangerous pathology: the fact-free public discourse that flows from talk radio and cable t.v. and overwhelms nearly all political debate in this country.
As far as I know, Van Jones has denied any sympathy with the "Truthers"; I've seen no evidence that connects him to the Truthers, and you'll forgive me if I don't take Glenn Beck's word for it. Beck is not a reporter and doesn't hold himself to any standards whatsoever; he's a self-admitted "rodeo-clown," not a journalist. He's also a louse and a racist.
At any rate, I would look at the Sherrod story this week as the final proof of deliberate manipulation of information by Fox News to race-bait and pit Americans against one another for political reasons. Beck, Palin, Bachmann, and the rest of them are complicit as well, and THIS I challenge any of you to refudiate!
Crooz8er| 7.23.10 @ 11:22PM
You're stupid. And gay.
Missy| 7.23.10 @ 11:34PM
Nice Shakespeare!!
Dumb troll. Fox had nothing to do with Sherrod's termination--Obama fired Sherrod's racist butt before Fox even aired the tape. Lazy effort even for a moron like you, libtard.
Democrats are the party of race baiters and race hustlers--it's the only way you losers can win elections. Your ideas stink so you have to pit Americans against one another to prevail. If that doesn't work you just steal elections a la ACORN.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:16AM
This is an example of what psychoanalysts call "projection," a neurotic response to anxiety that attributes to others the faults one recognizes in oneself.
Now -- you say that Obama "fired Sherrod's racist butt."
You must think, then, that Obama did the right thing (firing a "racist").
Whatever activity is going on in your brain, it seems undaunted by and untouched by and not remotely concerned with the actual FACTS of Ms Sherrod's story, which have been broadcasted and printed in every legitimate news outlet in the country for three days. Apparently, you haven't gotten this information, so I take it you're a Fox viewer.
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 12:54AM
Since you claim to be so well acquainted with Ms. Sherrod's trials and tribulations at the hands of Obama and the NAACP--why don't YOU give me the time-line of her firing in relation to Fox's airing of the Drama Queen's little racial dust-up?
According to big-time Liberal, WaPo's Howard Kurtz, "But for all of the chatter-- some of it from Sherrod herself-- that she was done in by Fox News, the network didn't touch the story until her firing was made public on Monday evening with the exception of brief comments by O'Reilly." Fox VP Clemente cautioned news analysts in an e-mail, "Let's take our time and get the facts straight on this story. Can we get comments and confirmation from Sherrod before going on air? Let's make sure we do this right!"
"Apparently" you're a lying sack of crap, Nate--like all you garbage-monger Democrats seeking to divide our country.
Crawl back under your rock, creep.
Crooz8er| 7.24.10 @ 8:50AM
Na,
The stupid neurotic gay troll who calls others names DARES talk about "projection?" Hardee har har.
Na na, you made the claim that Beck is a racist. To borrow your line:
Prove it.
And while you're at it, you can prove you're not stupid. And gay. And a racist. And a truther. Until you prove all those things, you'll be them. And if/when you ever prove them not to be true, why, I'll just call you other stuff and then say "prove it."
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 11:40AM
Clearly you're an educated man, but you've forgotten that logic forbids requiring someone to prove a negative. The attempt is repugnant to reason. Work it out.
Ryan| 7.23.10 @ 9:46PM
You dont find calling white ppl "the other kind" isn't overtly racist? What if I called black folk "the blacks"?
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:16AM
You just DID you insufferable dipshit.
Crooz8er| 7.24.10 @ 8:44AM
You're stupid. And gay. Prove you're not.
Zombee| 7.23.10 @ 10:11PM
Van Jones is a filthy communist, racist bigot, pile of excrement. The State Run Media Journo-list scumbags completely ignored the pile of filth and never challenged Obama to answer for him .
This choice spoke volumes about the impostor that sits in the White House today.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:17AM
Thanks Adolph.
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 12:56AM
You're welcome Joe (Goebbels).
Crooz8er| 7.24.10 @ 8:45AM
Na,
You're stupid. And gay. Prove you're not.
David| 7.24.10 @ 11:13AM
Wow...you are all pretty pathetic.
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 1:26PM
Pathetic? That would be nutroot Nate.
Nate| 7.24.10 @ 12:24PM
The latest meme in reactionary outlets will seem to have been presenting an excerpt of a speech in which the audience reaction "proves" some scandalous point about the left.
This is scurrilous hackery, debased and unworthy of the name "journalism," but then again, not much in "conservative" outlets could pass muster under even the most generous and flexible review.
Reactionary propaganda works very hard to disguise itself as journalism these days -- a tribute, to the beleaguered, of the power of journalism to afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted -- but it is curiously, marvelously, bafflingly, obviously, transparently, incredibly unsuccessful, so much so that we have to wonder not about the motives for the distortions, deceptions, and treachery (those are plain enough) but at how gullible the so-called "liberal" media is to give it any traction, attention, or deference. The proper response to Fox News and right wing radio and to treat it the way the larger society treats white supremacist and fascist websites and magazines: some unfortunate committee of experts in such filth is assigned to monitor it, no action is taken to prevent it (since to do so would only aggrandize and enhance the fantasies of persecution it endlessly spins with itself as the heroically persecuted victim), and life goes on, sometimes tediously and plodding, sometimes exuberantly, our spirits high and proud, but always with the knowledge that those who seek to exploit us will pit us against one another with whatever means they are allowed -- by us.
Missy| 7.24.10 @ 1:21PM
Liar. My 12:54 post proves you're a liar.
You make your hero, Goebbels, proud.