Posted on 09/06/2009 11:04:13 AM PDT by pissant
The resignation of Van Jones is about more than Van Jones, more than Glenn Beck. It is part of a concerted effort to neutralize progressive champions who are trying to fix the problems that are ripping this country apart.
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me. -Martin Neimoeller
McCarthyism is the politically motivated practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence…The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries. -from that communist source, Wikipedia
The resignation of Van Jones last night is the culmination of a deeply disturbing pattern from the last several months. The spokespeople for the right have made it acceptable to spout hate-filled speech and unfounded accusations to the American public. This must stop.
* The recent wave began with the Teabaggers. At first the media left pounced on the anti-tax tea parties with mockery and scorn. Part of the strategy was to ignore their efforts and let the absurdity of these demonstrations undermine their own credibility. Isn’t it funny that they didn’t realize they were calling themselves the perpetrators of lude and offensive acts? Funny, when it got to the point where “Teabagging the White House” was a rallying cry. Funny.
* Next came the Birthers, the group of “fringe” right-wing activists who refuse to accept President Obama’s birth certificate and legitimacy as President of the United States. Those wingnuts, including prominent Members of Congress.
* Next came the Deathers, the flank of the right claiming that health care reform will “kill granny.” The leading Republican working on healthcare, my own Senator Grassley of Iowa, told seniors in Winterset that they had much to fear from coming healthcare reform.
* Then came the healthcare town halls, which frankly disgust me. Individuals around the country were encouraged to use intimidation and scare tactics to shut down discussion of reform. To prevent any amount of dialogue to happen, which threatening physical violence at our elected officials.
* Finally, after a week of taunting the left with racially provocative statements, Glenn Beck began attacking Van Jones. Beck lead the media in an assault on his integrity, history and ability to serve in the White House.
And the Obama administration allowed Jones to become the first casualty of 21st century McCarthyism. This is a pattern designed to take down progressive champions one by one. And it must be stopped.
Although there is a concerted right-wing effort to prevent the left from passing much needed reform, one thing is for sure: Glenn Beck has become one of the loudest and most toxic spokespeople for 21st century McCarthyism. And Fox News and his sponsors are profiting from his hate-mongering. We need to hit them where it hurts: corporate profits. Beck has already become toxic to over 50 sponsors through work of the Color of Change. (This kind of campaign was pioneered by a blogger named Spocko and was highly effective in removing hate-talkers from the air in California two years ago. This works.)
We must stand up for the vision Van championed, of a clean energy future that lifts all boats and we must stop companies from profiting from and legitimizing Glenn Beck’s poison.
* Sign the Color of Change petition calling for sponsors to withdraw advertising from the Glenn Beck Show.
* Visit GlennMcCarthyBeck.com for more action.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
* Van Jones Pumps Up the Crowd
* Van Jones on Colbert
* Nothing stops a bullet like a job
* Glenn Beck – Van Jones in his own words – FOXNews.com
I AM SERIOUSLY SICK OF THESE HYPOCRITES ON THE LEFT!
They use these same tactics all the time! and to them it is acceptable. They have no problem with the toxic that is spewed on their stations.
Heck this article is making false accusations against what he rudely calls “Teabaggers” They are NOT trying to shut down debate, they are trying to actually DEBATE!
We saw the same reaction with Joe the Plumber:
Show people a video of Obama or his administration - a real video of what these guys say -
And poof!!! We are all bad.
No wonder they could not get their minds around 9-11, for pete’s sake.
>The resignation of Van Jones is about more than Van Jones, more than Glenn Beck. It is part of a concerted effort to neutralize progressive champions who are trying to fix the problems that are ripping this country apart.<
Fix problems?? Oh, please. Mr Jones was for destroying the country’s energy policies and replacing them with a Luddite’s wet dream.
The libs are finding out that life ain't so grand when their own Alinsky tatics are used against them.
Damn right, Johnson....
Fixed.
Wow. Just wow.
Van Jones IS a Communist
“I consider ourselves at war with international Communism which is committed to the destruction of our government, our right of property, and our freedom; that it is treason as defined by the Constitution to give aid and comfort to this implacable enemy.” - Ezra Taft Benson (As Secretary of Agriculture)
It may not be a shooting war, but a war non-the-less, and currently the US is losing, but we now fighting back.
Thank you Glenn Beck, Rush, Hannity, Levin, and everyone else that hammered on Jones till he turned tail and ran.
Tailgunner Joe was right about every person he named as a Commie and so far so is Glenn Beck. I’m tired of Lefty’s lying about Senator McCarthy and I’m proud to be from his state.
Misinformed woman. Glenn Beck didn’t “come for” anyone. He simply told the truth about Van Jones. obama could have kept the communist in the WH - he chose not to, apparently. So Juliana’s anger is misdirected. Of course it’s so much easier to create a straw man enemy. Then Juliana and her friends can “come for” him.
RE-AMP Member Profile: Juliana Williams
Obamah - Van Jones type organizer it seems.
He wasn't Swift-Boated. Van Jones was "Self-Boated."
McCarthy had plenty of evidence and HE WAS CORRECT! There were communists in the government, some advising the POTUS. How, HOW can we be here AGAIN 60 years later?! Did we learn NOTHING?!
“Juliana Williams grew up in Washington state and graduated from Whitman College in 2007. Juliana began organizing in 2004, working to get her campus to purchase renewable energy. She volunteered with the Sierra Student Coalition and help found the Cascade Climate Network.”
She is a nobody. If it weren’t for the internet, nobody would have been able to read her tripe.
She is a nobody, but with the advent of the internet, she can post her lame, insignificant opinion and eventually it will get posted someplace like here, seeming to give it legitimacy. She is nobody. Just a freak of the left who has the internet now, instead of babbling to herself in the corner pre-internet days.
Sounds like a good idea to me. Who should our next target be? Should we continue working the Van Jones cell by investigating his associates, or choose another high value target for complementary effect? Oh, heck, let's do both. The RWC is vast, and has more than enough operatives.
Among a host of other things.
RE: “We spoke up partly because Van Jone IS a communist. This may come as a surprise to some folks in California and New York, but most Americans don’t like communists. I know, we’re unwashed...”
***************
There are a few of us on the coasts who despise communists. I’m in L.A. and am one of them. We’re just way outnumbered but we are here on both coasts.
Yesterday I went to the UCLA/San Diego State football game at Rose Bowl. On the way to parking area, among vehicles bearing their old Obama stickers, I saw one BMW driven by a young kid — he and friend looked about 19.
On his bumper was that Obama/Socialism sticker showing Zero in white face — you all know the one. I got so excited I demanded my companion pull up next to him — I gave him the thumbs up re his sticker and he grinned. Now that kid has GUTS driving around UCLA havens with that sticker on his car. Hard to tell which school he was supporting but I’m guessing it was more likely to have been San Diego, though West L.A. is where those stickers sprung from, I believe.
It made my day..............
Dear Liberal Author,
Van Jones WAS a Communist.Love,
So this was a righteous nab.
Laz.
We've been hearing for well-nigh a year that the right is dead, that Barack Obama & congress have the electoral mandate to institute their leftist agenda. Why in heaven's name is their leader, the most powerful officeholder in the land, buckling to the will of "radical extreme racist rightwing minority" by their logic, then? Why is the President of the United States taking his marching orders about who fills his Czar slots if the accusations against Jones were nothing more than blatant falsehoods concoted by racist neanderthal wingnuts, as is their contention today?
Do the libs & their press flunkies not get it that the very defense of Jones they're peddling today makes Barack Obama nothing more than a pliant Step'nfetchit tool of the radical right? LOL! This is too much fun.
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