van jones – Moe Lane

#rsrh Yet another attempt to brew a Lefty pot of tea.

Via Instapundit: Van Jones is trying to create a genuine imitation artificial left-populist movement again.

[Van] Jones is now attempting to lead a social movement. The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reports today that Jones is launching “an Egypt-styled ‘Arab Spring,'” designed to rally “the 99 percent.”

Hopefully, this time without the rapes and violence*. Seriously, though: how many of these initiatives by Jones have we seen by now? There has to be at least a half-dozen of these schemes of his: at what point will Jones confront the possibility that maybe the reason that he and his can’t replicate the Tea Party is because that he and his, well, suck?

Moe Lane

*Well, I hope. I can’t speak for the people who would be planning to attend said “Egypt-styled ‘Arab Spring.'”

#rsrh Van Jones demonstrates why he is in his current position.

Interesting statement from Van Jones, here.

“I think if President Obama came out as gay, he wouldn’t lose the black vote,” a cheerful Van Jones told MSNBC this afternoon.

“President Obama is not going to lose the black vote no matter what he does,” he added.

Ann Althouse devoted a post dedicated to dissecting what’s wrong with the first portion of that quote (and there is a lot that is wrong with that first portion): so let me let her get on with that so that I can point out the major problem with the second portion. Continue reading #rsrh Van Jones demonstrates why he is in his current position.

Cargo Cult Watch: Van Jones’ ‘American Dream Movement.’

Imitation is, as always, the sincerest form of flattery… but I must ask: is it really too much to require that the flatterer at least try to understand what he or she is attempting to imitate? Even if it’s just a little?

Case in point. 9/11 Troofer and general Leftist Van Jones would like to start his own version of the Tea Party – and there’s three things wrong with that plan from the start:

Van Jones would like to start his own version of the Tea Party. The Left still doesn’t get that you can’t get a general populist movement started by a generalissimo. Take it over? Sure. Start it? Nope.
Van Jones would like to start his own version of the Tea Party. The Left still also doesn’t get that there’s absolutely nothing stopping them from going to existing Tea Party groups and making their case that those groups should adopt the causes that the Left likes. There’s quite a bit stopping the Left from succeeding, mind you – but that’s a different issue; the point is that as long as the Left keeps telling themselves that the other guys are somehow not authentic, the Left is going to keep messing up their imitations*.
Van Jones would like to start his own version of the Tea Party. With a media roll-out and focus groups drawing from economists (who are representatives of one quarter of the people who got us into this mess in the first place) and activists (the second quarter) to try to turn the whole thing into a set of requirements for Democratic politicians (the third) to ignore**. Trust a Leftist to put the cart before the horse: you don’t start with media attention, you make them give it to you. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win?” – Geez, did I really have to write out that quote?

Continue reading Cargo Cult Watch: Van Jones’ ‘American Dream Movement.’

Olbermann spanked for making faces at Beck?

Just in case: that’s RedState dot COM, Keith. Have you noticed that nobody in the media ever updates their links?

Here’s the (very entertaining) timeline:

Thursday, September 3rd, 11:18 PM: Glenn Beck calls for his Twitter followers to send him information on “CASS SUNSTEIN, MARK LLOYD AND CAROL BROWNER” (all caps in the original, which is honestly a bit much).
Friday, September 4th, 3:36 PM: Dave Weigel reports on all of this.
Sunday, September 6th, 12:05 AM: It becoming clear that Van Jones is a crazy 9/11 Troofer and a generally not-particularly-mainstream fellow, he resigns as Green Jobs Czar (via AoSHQ).
Sunday, September 6th, 10:14 AM: Keith Olbermann declares a Crusade against Glenn Beck (via Verum Serum). This is to be an epic war of battle between Olbermann and Beck, yadda yadda.
Tuesday, September 8th, 8:21 AM: Media Decoder hesitantly points out that media-on-media wars may not be the smartest things in the world; and is treated to a righteous, stylized response from Olbermann himself.
Tuesday, September 8th, 8:22 AM to 9:46 AM (time indeterminate): Somebody in either MSNBC or GE notices that Olbermann is calling for a Crusade.
Tuesday, September 8th, 9:47 AM: Olbermann calls off the Crusade (via Newsbusters & Instapundit).

There is, of course, no evidence whatsoever that GE sent Olbermann was off to bed without his binky. Personally, I’d have enforced a timeout and Olbermann being made to write out ten things that he liked about Glenn Beck, but that’s just because I’m a dad now.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

White House: It was all Valerie Jarrett’s fault!

More accurately, it was a source from the White House Counsel’s office:

The counsel’s office places part of the blame on the Office for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, which is overseen by Obama Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President Valerie Jarrett. Jones’s “czar” job was created by the OIAPE, and Jarrett interviewed Jones for the position. In speeches before far-left groups over the past five months, Jarrett touted Jones’s hiring, in part, because the groups, many of which count 9/11 truthers and radical environmentalists and anti-capitalists as members, were familiar with Jones’s brand of anti-Americanism and economic radicalism.

(via Jim Treacher) Well, most accurately of all this was an anonymous shot from one faction of the White House against another faction of the White House. Welcome to Washington, DC. Continue reading White House: It was all Valerie Jarrett’s fault!

OK, now I want to know who suggested Van Jones for his job.

Because he or she has to go, too.

Unless it is the official stance of the current administration that the previous President of the United States of America was a ‘crackhead,’ of course. In that case, I would like to see a White House spokesperson state that formally for the record.

Via Hot Air Pundit, via @seanhackbarth.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Another apology coming, Van Jones?

Why is it that none of this came out at Jones’ confirmation hearing… right. The administration didn’t think that its executive appointee ‘czars’ [needed] to go through that silly little confirmation process. We just needed to not worry ourselves and trust them. Which is really ironic, considering that Van Jones’ name keeps coming up associated with groups and statements that pretty explicitly don’t trust the government. Case in point:

[Van Jones’] name is posted online in support of an October 2006 petition to stop police brutality posted by the Revolution newspaper, which describes itself as the “Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA.” The petition was created by a group called the October 22nd Coalition that seeks to “meet the intensifying nationwide epidemic of police brutality with resistance on the national level” and says it works with the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal.

[snip]

That petition discusses the effect 9/11 has had on law enforcement and the creation of a “police state,” saying: “Since September 11, 2001, law enforcement agents (including border patrols) have been given greater license to increase and broaden repression. Steps were even taken to grant more worth to a police officer’s life, with the ‘heroes law’ enacted in New York State, for which the governor originally called for a death sentence for anyone who shoots a cop.”

“We resist so that we will not be crushed,” it says.

But look on the bright side, Mr. Jones. You’ve got a nice long Labor Day weekend with which to start off spending more time with your family properly.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.