Van Jones, 'Charismatic Advocate' and 'American Treasure'
New York Times reporter John Broder buttered up left-wing extremist Van Jones in a blog post on The Caucus on Thursday. It began: "Van Jones, the charismatic advocate for environmental jobs who resigned from a White House post last September over a number of controversial past statements, has found a new job with the Center for American Progress in Washington."
Broder downplayed the extremism of Jones even when it came to his signing of a 2004 9-11 "truther" petition that demanded an investigation into charges the Bush administration "deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur." Broder watered this down:
Mr. Jones became a focus of criticism for conservative politicians and media figures over his signing of a petition in 2004 questioning if the Bush administration had allowed the terrorist attacks of September 2001 to provide a pretext for the war in Iraq.
Broder also failed to find anything worth defining as less than moderate or charismatic in calling Republicans "a-holes" or advocating for a far-left cop killer:
He also used a vulgarity to refer to Republicans just before being appointed to his White House job last year and had been an outspoken supporter of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death row for the killing of a police officer in Philadelphia.
Instead, Broder dedicated the end of the article to how the NAACP declared him an "American treasure," and there's no liberal label for them, either:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will honor Mr. Jones with its President's Award at its annual Image Awards ceremony on Friday, the group said.
Benjamin Jealous, the N.A.A.C.P. president, called Mr. Jones "an American treasure."
"He is quite simply one of the few Americans in recent years to have generated powerful new ideas that are creating more jobs here," Mr. Jealous wrote in a column published on CNN.com.
He added that Mr. Jones might be "the most misunderstood man in America."
"He resigned from the White House last year after some sought to discredit him for missteps, such as political statements made years ago," Mr. Jealous wrote. "However, we can never afford to forget that a defining trait of our country is our collective capacity to practice forgiveness and celebrate redemption. This is a nation built on second chances."
For more, see the Van Jones section of the MRC's Special Report "Omitting for Obama."
