Of all of the possible responses from liberals in the wake of the Van Jones resignation, about the oddest is the impulse among some to actually excuse the 9/11 truther position, harkening back to a time when the far left was viewed by the general public as completely radicalized and out of the mainstream. Earlier this afternoon, I debated FireDogLake’s Jane Hamsher on the Van Jones fiasco on MSNBC. Before we were cut off for a Reid/Pelosi health care press conference, she argued that he shouldn’t have been forced to resign, dismissing his support for an investigation into whether the government had prior knowledge of 9/11 as not a big deal. Over the weekend, Hamsher blasted the White House for letting Jones hang out to dry, arguing:
Now he’s been thrown under the bus by the White House for signing his name to a petition expressing something that 35% of all Democrats believed as of 2007 — that George Bush knew in advance about the attacks of 9/11.
