Friday, September 4, 2009

Van Jones thrown under Obama's bus?

Twittered by Ed Morrissey comes this report from Slate's Mickey Kaus:
[T]oday is the day the MSM (not just Tapper) officially turns on Van Jones, the White House "green jobs" adviser who signed a 2004 Truther petition. 'Gone by midnight' is the prediction. . . . Soon he'll meet with his death panel and be under the bus! . . . Obama presumably doesn't want the controversy to bleed into post-Labor Day Speech Week.
If true, Michelle Malkin and especially Glenn Beck can hang this scalp on their belts. Accusations of raaaaacism in 3, 2, 1 . . .

UPDATE: Pat Austin notes that Van Jones was a HuffPo contributor, brooding over "dreams . . . eaten away by the AIDS virus, laid off by down-sizers, locked out by smiling bigots, shot up by gang-bangers and buried in a corporate-run prison yard."

Think about this. Van Jones is a Yale Law School graduate (just like Glenn Reynolds) who according to a 2005 interview, had already landed a D.C. job after graduation but instead decided to move to the San Francisco area to become involved in a radical protest movement. He subsequently received a Rockfeller Foundation fellowship and, eventually, landed a "czar" job at the White House.

And yet, somehow, despite all his success, this Ivy League-educated Fortunate Son sees nothing but misery and oppression everywhere. Am I the only one who finds this bizarre?

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers! The Professor loves that Yalie stuff, eh? Anyway, just in case you hadn't noticed, FHA delinquency rates are now over 14%, which means it's time for . . . The Mother Of All Bailouts! (The Professor loves the gloom-and-doom, too.)

22 comments:

  1. That's just it. How can the administration be seen caving to Beck and Malkin? VJ is likely to stay as a reminder "He won".

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  2. I'm skeptical of this - we'll see...

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  3. Smitty has a point: V-J's being a flake and a Marxist vac-job isn't unique. If V-J goes, the basis for that decision applies to the whole "special" cluster, and more than Beck will be after the next, probably Sunstein. What a toxic environment, eh?

    Is there a "win" scenario for Obama?

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  4. I, too, was skeptical until I got my hands on this transcript of a conversation that took place in the Oval Office this afternoon from a source in The White House:
    http://www.thecampofthesaints.com/2009.08.30_arch.html#1252104930601

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  5. What is it with privileged blacks lamenting the woes of their race? Guilty much? Or opportunistic? Just stop blaming 'whitey' already.

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  6. Bizarre? Perhaps. Uncommon? Unfortunately, problematically not.

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  7. Did Van Jones ever pass any bar exam?

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  8. Stacy

    RE:Misey and Oppression

    No kidding. Check out this speech he gave.


    http://tinyurl.com/nm83kr

    paragraph 3 page 3

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  9. "What is it with privileged blacks lamenting the woes of their race? Guilty much? Or opportunistic? Just stop blaming 'whitey' already."

    3,2,1...RACIST!
    hmmm? what is it with wealthy blacks...? You know, at the turn of the century, wealthy Jewish businessmen also lamented the plight of their people. In fact, many of todays labor laws are a direct result of those lamentations.
    People like Red just don't get it. Guilt? No, my friend. You see, unlike conservatives, there are people who seek to help those less fortunate. It's an all too human characteristic that halfwits like yourself could never possess.
    Be that as it may, maybe this could be the very minor victory Beck is looking for. Some may say Beck got V-J's scalp, although in private I am sure they prefer to think of it as the proverbial noose-notch on his belt. I know, I know, this is a tit for tat thing seeing as how Color-of Change humiliates Beck and then Beck gets even with Color of Chage founder on the false premise of speaking a basic truth: Republicans ARE assholes.
    Why not wear it as a badge of honor? Why such thin skin?
    The sad thing, for you guys I mean, is that this means nothing.
    Beck still exposed himself as a nutjob wacko who went so far off the fringe that corporate America is rejecting his nonsense,despite the legions of idiots that trust him.
    The Left still keeps piling on the wins. You can keep the consolation prizes....

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  10. Why?
    Perhaps he figured he could harness and ride the wave of victimhood to a position of real power, rather than be just another well-paid D.C. lawyer.

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  11. Yeah sure, Young 4-Eyes, now tell me somebody that this guy ever actually helped. I know lawyers who take on pro bono cases. I know capitalists who provide jobs. I know cops and prosecutors who clean up gang-infested neighborhoods and public defenders who make sure they don't go too far. I know a pizza chain that's blown a million dollars running a moneylosing franchise in a rough neighborhood so it can give innercity kids their first job. But this guy took all his advantages and went out and became... an agitator. A self-dramatizing whiner. At least that's how it looks to me. So tell me something he accomplished. Tell me something Obama's community organizing accomplished-- besides advancing themselves to the next step. I'm okay with ambition but can the self-righteousness as if it's the only path that ever helped anybody. At least till you can show one other person it actually helped.

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  12. Oh Mike, but didn't you know that community organizing is THE sure-fire step to advancing your own career?
    It's obvious that when you come from a well to do background that taking on a low-pay low-profile job is the obvious way to get to that hallowed "next step"...
    Advocacy is one of those abstract notions that conservatives can't wrap their heads around. It's been happening for a long time now.
    You see,Mike, once upon a time people like Susan B. Anthony and the Suffragettes, people like Nelson Mandela and a host of others were also called "agitators" by the likes of small minded people like you. In fact, Dick Cheney referred to Nelson Mandela as a terrorist.Ol' Nelson it appears was also something of a self-dramatizing whiner. Go figure.
    Early Christians were called agitators when Christians were persecuted during the Roman Empire.Jews unhappy with the Roman occupation too were called agitators if they made mention of their dismay at said occupation.
    So "agitators" ,to people like you, are really advocates for people who are not like you.
    I can appreciate your pedestrian need for instant results. But empowerment is a subtle thing, something above your pay grade, if you will.
    Where your shortsightedness sees "agitators", others see someone fighting the good fight.
    Something I'm afraid you could never comprehend...

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  13. Some people see "agitators". They hear frightful sounds. Their whole world is shaking, quaking. They wonder if the end is near.

    To those hidebound souls I say, "Get up, leave your safty zone."
    "Go out and talk to people who can set you straight."
    "Don't be afraid, there are whole new generations coming, right now"

    So please, for the sake of your wife and children, do it.

    Just break down and get that front loader.

    Oh, and 4 eyes so sorry to hear about how your eye wear doesn't work well. Perhaps with a new and better prescription you might be able to finally see the real world instead of that cloudy cartoon that you have been squinting at for all of your meager years. Good luck to you.

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  14. Since when is communism or trutherism the "good fight"?

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  15. So in other words, Young 4 Eyes, you can't name one thing Van Jones has ever done for anybody, so you give him credit for... Nelson Mandela and Susan B. Anthony!

    By the same logic every corporate lawyer gets credit for what (railroad lawyer) Abraham Lincoln accomplished.

    But let's try again. Van Jones had lots of opportunities in life. What has he made of them that allows him and you to get so self-righteous about what anyone else has done with their lives? To me, becoming an agitator looks about on a par with becoming a punk rocker-- a basically useless choice that, however, lets you tell yourself you're keepin' it real and everybody else is a sellout, man.

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  16. "By the same logic every corporate lawyer gets credit for what (railroad lawyer) Abraham Lincoln accomplished."

    Uh, what?
    Listen, explain to me how having opportunities in life disqualifies anyone from wanting to help others.
    You maintain that V-J hasn't helped anybody, and you want names to prove you otherwise.
    It would be like me asking you to tell me who has Rush Limbaugh helped? But it would be an apt comparison.
    Again, advocacy is abstract.
    You just don't get it.

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  17. "It would be like me asking you to tell me who has Rush Limbaugh helped?"

    Anyone who has made their life better in America via the free enterprise system, I would say. He's surely been an advocate for that as much as Van Jones has been an advocate for... what? Batshit craziness about 9/11 and race, apparently.

    The difference, of course, is that one is just a radio guy and he's paid for by his advertisers, so if he proves to be stupid it's not really my problem, while we're all paying Van Jones to be stupid at the highest levels of government.

    "Advocacy is abstract." And abstract is apparently a synonym for "unprovable and unaccountable."

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  18. Yeah, Limbaugh is helping all right, helping himself via the stupidity of his audience.
    And he too is an advocate, for Birthers and legions of moonbats that faithfully follow his line of self-serving bullshit.
    So what's the difference here? Who's paying?
    Hmmm, now were getting somewhere....

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  19. Young 4-eyes, Rush Limbaugh is a red herring and you know it. His job is not a community organizer. Obama and Jones were both community organizers. Their job was to organize the community and supposely help others. Mike G. has asked you several times how Obama and Jones have helped their respective communities, and you have not answered. You comment above about how getting a low income, low profile job does not help you later, well it seemed to have helped both of them. For Obama's first run for elected office, his main points seem to be his experience as a community organizer and the contacts he made while in school and as an organizer. So at least in Obama's case, his job as an organizer seemed to help him.

    Also, your 12:07 comment ,unlike conservatives, there are people who believe in helping those less fortunate than themselves, there are several studies out there that show that conservatives donate more to charities than liberals. As I recall, the difference is that conservatives donate directly to charities, liberals want government to provide the service.

    And your comment that advocacy is concept that is beyond the understanding of conservatives. What about the pro-life movement and 2nd Amendment groups? Do they not count.

    Lastly, your posts have been responded to politely, and the responders (mostly Mike G.)have asked you to support your comments. You have responded with ad hominem attacks and changing the subject. If your position is so obviously defensible, then defend and support it. If not, realize that the other side has won.

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  20. "Rush Limbaugh is a red herring and you know it"
    And Van Jones isn't? What a joke! You losers wouldn't have your panties up in a bunch if he hadn't called you assholes, and accurately so, I might add...
    I fail to see your obsession with community organizing, seeing as it is a concept beyond the reach of your talk-show wired brains. If you don't get it, go to your local Church and ask about community organizing. You might learn something of value...
    You keep asking how BO and VJ have respectively helped their communities? Perhaps you want names or something. But it is self explanatory to organize your community, to get a community actively inolved in the election process, form neighborhood watch-dog groups, empowerment through advocacy, neighborhood clean-up groups, community gardens etc,etc. Oh I know this isn't enough for you.But it is hard to walk in another mans shoes when you never bother walking beyond the safe confines of your limited existence.
    "And your comment that advocacy is concept that is beyond the understanding of conservatives. What about the pro-life movement and 2nd Amendment groups? Do they not count."
    Of course they do!!! Thanx for making my point!!! Geez....
    Seems like this side has won again.
    what am I to do when my defense of my positions fall on ignorant ears?
    In light of all this, it is all somewhat pointless seeing as VJ has resigned.
    Like I said before, you can keep your consolation prizes.
    Now VJ can concentrate his full time on destroying what is left of Beck.
    Go get him VJ!!!

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  21. Glenn will not fall: Glenn has a lot to say and it's for the good of Freedom. We are a free nation and anyone who is trying to turn us into a communist country...I do not stand for-Sorry.

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  22. Lucy:
    Glenn will fail, he IS a failure and has nothing to say that is not self-serving.
    Yeah, we are a free nation. Ironically, this allows Beck to turn folks like you into mindless dolts.
    Sorry, "Communism", to Conservatives, means anything that is NOT part of the Conservative agenda.
    It's like saying that if it's not an apple, it must be an orange.
    Geniuses you are not...

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