Coming out of the long Labor Day weekend, the big story this week figures to be Saturday's midnight resignation by a fairly obscure member of the Obama administration, Van Jones, the Special Adviser on Green Jobs. What makes this a big story is that Jones was essentially forced out by unhinged Fox News host Glenn Beck. The spelling-challenged pundit has waged a weeks-long campaign to oust Jones, citing his signature's appearance on a 9/11 "Truther" petition. Jones claims the signature was acquired under false pretenses. Now, Beck is promising to target other Obama administration officials.
Here at Asylum, we're not satisfied with just catching you up. Check out what you've missed, and what you'll be seeing this week.
What You Missed:
Van Jones started out his political life as a self-described radical activist against police brutality and for the environment who turned away from radicalism, decided to work within the system, founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in 1996, founded Color of Change right after Hurricane Katrina and was appointed as Special Adviser on Green Jobs on March 10, 2009. Jones's Color of Change waged a successful campaign to drive advertisers away from Glenn Beck after Beck called the president a racist, and Beck got Jones to resign by pointing out that he'd been finagled into signing a "Truther" petition and had once called Republicans "a--holes."
What You'll See This Week:
TV News Catches Up
While the Van Jones story has been all over the Internet, it's gotten very little coverage from the TV news media. With Jones's resignation, expect all that to change. This will be cheap, easy money for the news nets, as all they have to do is watch the blogs and play whatever grainy YouTubes turn up. Expect to see a bleeped version of this clip over and over:
You can also expect the requisite "Van Jones was mean to my labradoodle" old-acquaintance interviews, along with thin Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon "revelations."
Glenn Beck Is the Center of the Universe
Expect the media to be simultaneously enthralled and appalled by the power that Beck wields, and watch them try to wrap their heads around his shrinking slate of advertisers versus his huge ratings.
Keith Olbermann has already promised to broadcast his call to out-Beck Beck on tonight's "Countdown," but there's already a cellar full of vintage Beck crazy to pad those cable news segments.
Who's Next?
Blog and Twitter readers already know who Beck's next victim is, as he issued a call to his "watchdogs" to dig up dirt on three other Obama administration figures. Cass Sunstein, the nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, seems to be the first on the tee. The tactic here is to take scholarly writings out of context and apply a bizarre interpretation, which is the same approach the right has tried on the "death panel" issue and on Obama's tech czar.
Ironically, the Jones resignation will turn the media into Beck watchdogs, as they all dig around to be the first to get dirt on Sunstein.
Van Jones Gets His Own Show
If Jones plays his cards right, he could easily land his own show, probably on MSNBC. Mediaite is already calling him the "Czar of Hotness," and the fiery talk that landed Jones in hot water as a government official would fit right in on the punditry circuit. Look for Jones to be all over the teevee, with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.


























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Comments:
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Tuesday 08 September
By Matt
You know I hate Glen Beck... but I hate people who are 9/11 truthers and "radical communist" I think people who repesent these ideals are weak intellectually. I also hate partisan hacks that blame Van Jones resignation on anyone but him, because he signed the petiton. Get over it.
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Tuesday 08 September
By Kyle
The Beck vs Jones fight was mutual, as it was it Color of Change that sought to boycott advertisers of Beck's over the Obama racism comment. Beck just won.
I don't find any fault that "advisers" of the president should be vetted for their political and personal history. Radicalism and anti-American sentiment are excellent reasons to be scrutinized by the press, much less ousted from a high ranking position.
I read Asylum for the entertainment. When I'm looking for political opinion, there are plenty of more reputable sources on both sides of the fence to fetch my commentary from, and perhaps even that don't just tow either party line. Thanks for making it easy to unsubscribe.
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Monday 14 September
By CBAS
The biggest issue in this is that Van was in a position of power within the government and he was encouraging censorship of Beck.
Your article is extremely slanted to the left. I will look elsewhere for objective commentary.
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Wednesday 09 September
By brewers_rule
Always good to see Asylum promote the cause of wealth distribution by this Admin by totally missing the boat on WHY this Van Jones was dangerous. The A-hole comment is one of the most insignificant factors in his firing. The fact that his organization helped design the stimulus (which STILL hasn't done SQUAT to fix the economy) and his numerous clips supporting total wealth redistribution via a green jobs scheme is slightly more important but I wouldn't expect anything else from Asylum at this point to leave those tiny details out. Good job trying to cover up for Obama, though, while attacking those that are actually bringing up the disaster that is becoming this sham of a presidency in FoxNews all the time.
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