The Company They Keep: What Are House Dems Hoping to Learn from Van Jones?

• Fresh off the July 4 weekend and a recent campaign to rehabilitate her image, the “new” Nancy Pelosi will lead her Democrat caucus to meet with former Obama “Green Jobs” Czar Van Jones, a man known for his hateful and offensive comments on race and politics and with no record job creation.

• Among his greatest hits, Jones argued that school shootings are “always” committed by “suburban white kids,” that whites are “steering poison” into minority communities and that George W. Bush held a “deep contempt for poor African-Americans.” Jones also openly and variously identified himself as a “communist” and an “anarchist.”

• By meeting with Jones, are House Democrats endorsing his beliefs as the platform they’ll run on in 2012? The American people deserve an answer.

BACKGROUND:

Fresh off the July 4th weekend and a recent weeks-long campaign to rehabilitate her image as a party leader, Nancy Pelosi will lead her Democrat caucus to meet Tuesday with former Obama “Green Jobs” Czar Van Jones, a man with his own image problems who was forced to resign due to his extensive record of hateful and offensive comments:

HOUSE DEMS “PAGING VAN JONES”: “PAGING VAN JONES: HOUSE DEMOCRATS — Van Jones, who was forced to quit his post as the green jobs chief the Obama administration over past activism and associations, is the special guest at a House Democratic Caucus meeting next Tuesday.” (Jonathan Allen, Politico’s “The Huddle,” 6/30/2010)

DISGRACED JONES RESIGNED FROM WHITE HOUSE: “White House environmental adviser Van Jones resigned late Saturday after a simmering controversy over his past statements and activism erupted into calls for his ouster from Republican leaders on Friday.” (Scott Wilson and Garance Franke-Ruta, “White House Advisor Van Jones Resigns Amid Controversy Over Past Activism,” The Washington Post, 9/6/2009)

Among his most offensive statements, Jones argued that school shootings are “always” committed by “suburban white kids,” that whites are “steering poison” into minority communities, and that George W. Bush held a “deep contempt for poor African-Americans”:

JONES SAYS COLUMBINE-TYPE SHOOTINGS ARE “ALWAYS” COMMITTED BY “SUBURBAN WHITE KIDS”: You’ve never seen a Columbine done by a black child. Never. They always say ‘We can’t believe it happened here. We can’t believe it was these suburban white kids. It’s always them. Now a black kid may shoot another black kid. He’s not going to shoot up the whole school.”(Remarks from Van Jones, Fox News, 9/05/2009)

CLAIMS WHITES ARE “STEERING POISON” [INTO] BLACK COMMUNTIES:“The white polluters and the white environmentalists are essentially steering poison into the people of color communities.” (Remarks from Van Jones, Fox News, 9/01/2009)

ACCUSED GEORGE W. BUSH OF A “DEEP CONTEMPT FOR POOR AFRICAN AMERICANS” AND “DELIBERATELY” TARGETING THEM DURING KATRINA: “It was a ‘perfect storm’ of a different kind that put that great city underwater: Bush-era neglect of our national infrastructure, combined with runaway global warming and a deep contempt for poor African-Americans. … The truth is that the poor people of Louisiana were deliberately left behind — and not just over the weekend. Our political leaders as a class — and George W. Bush, in particular — left them behind a long time ago.” (Van Jones, “Bush’s Role in the Drowning of New Orleans,” The Huffington Post, 9/01/2005)

It’s safe to say he’s not a big fan of Republicans:

REPUBLICANS “ARE A**HOLES”: “Female Audience Member: How are the Republicans able to push things through when they had less than 60 senators and somehow we can’t?
Van Jones: Well, the answer to that is, they’re a**holes.” (Remarks from Van Jones, YouTube, 9/01/2009)

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Jones also suggested that the U.S. deserved the 9/11 attacks and aligned himself with the 9/11 conspiracy “truther” movement:

VAN JONES SUGGESTED U.S. DESERVED 9/11: “It’s the bombs that the government has been dropping around the world that are now blowing up inside the U.S. border.” (Remarks from Van Jones at about 4:35, Big Government, 6/21/2011)

JONES SIGNED 9/11 “TRUTHER” PETITION IN 2004: “Mr. Jones signed a statement for 911Truth.org in 2004 demanding an investigation into what the Bush Administration may have done that ‘deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.'” (Amanda Carpenter, “Green Jobs Czar Signed ‘Truther’ Statement in 2004,” The Washington Times, 9/3/2009)

There’s more: Jones openly admitted his affiliation with “really radical, communists and anarchists,” identified as an “angry, black separatist,” and called for “radical ends.” By inviting Jones to speak to their caucus, are House Democrats endorsing his beliefs as the platform they’ll run on in 2012?:

HE WANTED TO BE “A PART OF” MOVEMENT OF “REALLY RADICAL, COMMUNISTS AND ANARCHISTS”: “In the same interview, Jones described his brief incarceration following his arrest during rally in protest of the ‘not guilty’ verdicts in the case of the Rodney King beating. Jones said while in jail, ‘met all of these young, radical people of color. I mean, really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of.’ ‘” (Eliza Strickland, “The New Face of Environmentalism,” East Bay Express, 11/2/2005)

AN “ANGRY, BLACK SEPARATIST” WHO FELT DRAWN TO “UNDERGROUND GUERILLA SECT[S]”: “He arrived at Yale Law School wearing combat boots and carrying a Black Panther bookbag, an angry black separatist among a sea of clean-cut students dreaming of Supreme Court clerkships. … ‘If I’d been in another country, I probably would have joined some underground guerrilla sect,’ he said. ‘But as it was, I went on to an Ivy League law school.'” (Eliza Strickland, “The New Face of Environmentalism,” East Bay Express, 11/2/2005)

JONES CALLED FOR “RADICAL ENDS” OVER “RADICAL POSE”: “I’m willing to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends.” (Remarks from Van Jones, Fox News, 6/11/2010)

JONES A “COMMUNIST” AFTER VERDICT IN THE RODNEY KING TRIAL: “By August, I was a communist.” (Eliza Strickland, “The New Face of Environmentalism,”East Bay Express, 11/2/2005)