While discussing the purported “Climategate” emails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, Steve Doocy claimed that Jon Stewart “really took a shot at Al Gore,” then aired a clip of Stewart stating, “Poor Al Gore. Global warming completely debunked via the very Internet you invented.” But Doocy — in a possible violation of a recent Fox News memo on “Quality Control” — did not air Stewart’s subsequent statement in which he said the emails don’t “disprove global warming,” but do offer ammunition to global warming deniers.
Since the reported theft of emails from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, conservative media figures have aggressively claimed that those emails undermine the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activities are causing climate change, dubbing the supposed scandal “Climategate.” But these critics have largely rested their claims on outlandish distortions and misrepresentations of the contents of the stolen emails, greatly undermining their dubious smears.
On yesterday’s television program, Glenn Beck lamented the fact that Fox News is the only news outlet covering the ‘climategate scandal.’ He then mentioned that the New York Times and Washington Post had covered the story, in order to give it legitimacy. He then went back to lamenting the mainstream media blackout of the story. You can’t have it both ways, Glenn.
On the surface, their complaint centers around Jones’ background and statements he previously made as an activist. Specifically, conservative blogs and media outlets have seized on a harshly-worded petition Jones signed in 2004 demanding further investigations into the 9/11 attacks. Jones has clarified since then, saying of the petition that “it certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever.” But this is little more than the right-wing manufactured faux-outrage du jour. Beck began aggressively going after Jones in the wake of a campaign targeting Beck’s advertisers — organized by Color of Change — an advocacy organization Jones founded prior to taking a position in the administration.
Sadly, the Obama administration appears to be wavering in its support of Jones. This is not acceptable. A decision to throw one of their most charismatic communicators under the bus in a vein attempt to placate a racist witch-hunt would be both foolish and ineffective. Van Jones is exactly the type of principled and effective leader we need more of in government — not less. President Obama should make a strong public statement as soon as possible, reiterating his full support for green jobs advisor Van Jones.
Fight Back
1. Show your support for Van Jones by using the #supportvan hashtag on Twitter. Your tweet will be displayed in the grid below.
White House green jobs advisor Van Jones is under attack from Fox News as an “avowed radical revolutionary communist” and from ABC News as a “truther” with a “history of incendiary and provocative remarks.” In an attempt to assassinate the character of Van Jones, the right-wing media are distorting his past political activism and cherry-picking Jones’s critiques of the pollution and injustice that still haunt this nation. However, Jones’s true record is one of turning away from anger and finding hope, abandoning division and seeking consensus.
This is all about bitch-slap politics. If Jones drops out, think Beck or the right-wing slime industry will stop? Think they won’t keep going after Carol Browner, John Holdren, and the rest—twisting and attacking every word and gesture from the Obama administration? “Uncovering” people as wildly caricatured leftists? Faux-populist fear merchants are like sharks; they have to keep moving, keep eating. There’s no sating them. Letting Beck bag Jones would be like chum in the water.
Fox’s Beck has turned his attention from President Barack Obama to increasingly vitriolic and deceptive attacks on a White House staff member, Van Jones, who has responsibilities related to Green Jobs. Beck’s attacks are deceptive and despicable, on multiple levels, and demean not just Jones, but American democracy and the very concept of moving forward toward a more prosperous America, for both the nation and its citizens.
But we know this for sure: If Beck succeeds in damaging Jones and Color of Change — a decision that’s largely in the hands President Obama — you can count on this being the start of a fast and furious conservative witch hunt aimed at picking off every other progressive leader. What they’ll learn is that this kind of minor smear is all it takes to turn liberals against each other — and we’ll effectively be in the position of letting the craziest people on the right wing decide for us who our leaders will be.
A Spanish paper that claimed support for green jobs “may destroy two jobs for every one created” has been debunked by an official publication of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The paper’s conclusions — led by Exxon-funded libertarian Gabriel Calzada — have been cited by GOP leaders, Fox News, right-wing columnists, conservative think tanks, and Big Oil front groups to attack President Obama’s green economic agenda. However, the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) finds that the Spanish authors’ claim that renewable support kills jobs “is not supported by their work.“
Glenn Beck used his popular Fox News show this afternoon to attack the background of Van Jones, a White House environmental advisor who co-founded an African American political advocacy group that organized an advertising boycott of his program.
During his 2 p.m. PDT show, Beck did not address the boycott spearheaded by Color of Change to protest the talk show host’s remark last month that he believes President Obama is “a racist.”
Instead, he spent a large share of his program suggesting that Jones, who co-founded Color of Change in 2005, is a radical. Jones now serves as a special advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
