Van Jones: Truther nut

By Rick Moran

It seems incredible that Barack Obama would appoint someone to manage $30 billion in government money who actually believes the government of George Bush stood by and allowed 9/11 to happen as a "pretext for war."

Incredible - but true. Green Czar Van Jones signed a petition in 2005 demanding another investigation into 9/11 by the New York Attorney General, concentrating on the lunatic notion that President Bush, at the very least, knew about the attacks of September 11 in advance and did nothing to stop them so he could take the country to war.

Update from Thomas Lifson:

Jones has denied (hat tip: Grant) that he believes or ever believed the statement he signed:

"In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration - some of which were made years ago. If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize. As for the petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever.

"My work at the Council on Environmental Quality is entirely focused on one goal: building clean energy incentives which create 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and use renewable resources."

The "former" communist, black racist, hip-hop nincompoop, who is now so "mainstream" that even some Republicans thinks he's the cat's meow, says he didn't know what he was signing, didn't read it carefully, and wouldn't sign it today.

Well of course he wouldn't sign it today - Obama wouldn't have given him a job if he'd known about it, right?

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

What did the White House know about Van Jones' Trutherism and when did they know it? Charles Krauthammer asks this question and calls the revelation about the Green Jobs Czar "devastating," much more so than an epithet directed at Republicans that most of us have used at a wide range of people. Does Barack Obama believe that it's acceptable to have paranoid conspiracists in high-level appointments, or was the White House simply too incompetent to properly research Jones in the vetting process? Because it comes down to those two options, and regardless of what we think of Jones, the blame for him being in the White House falls squarely on Obama (via RedState)

Meanwhile, Jim Hoft, who broke the story originally, finds evidence that this was not just a mistake in not reading the petition, as Jones tried to spin it yesterday. Jones also took part in a rally in 2002 that included some of the Truther conspiracy theories. He's got screen caps of the rally information and Jones' endorsement.

Ed Lasky:

Why are we so surprised that a conspiracy theorist would get control of huge wads of taxpayer money? After all, Pastor Jeremiah Wright espoused similar conspiracy theories (including whites coming up with AIDS to kill black people) for years while Obama said Wright kept his "moral compass calibrated", was his "confidant" and "sounding board" and a man he chose to serve as the minister to his own young daughters?

Jones has been presenting himself as some kind of reformed radical, mainstreamed by the left because of his emphasis on "Green Collar Jobs." But as many have pointed out, Jones has a childish understanding of the free market. By emphasizing green at the expense of coal, oil, and gas, the number of jobs lost in those sectors will dwarf any gains made in solar, wind, or other industries. Instead of a "green revolution," will will have depression era unemployment.

But that's what happens when you put communists - er, excuse me, former communists - in charge of a huge sector of the economy.

Let's get a pool going to see how long Obama hangs on to Jones. I say he's gone by Monday at the latest. What's your guess?