Video: Gibbs declines to issue statement of confidence in Van Jones
posted at 12:58 pm on September 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Jake Tapper and Major Garret now report that the White House has signaled, at least subtly, that they may be preparing to toss Van Jones under the bus. Robert Gibbs did not offer the customary statement of support of the Green Jobs Czar after multiple occasions of Jones’ support of paranoid-conspiracy theories about 9/11 have come to light over the last two days. Instead, Gibbs made it sound as though another shoe could drop soon (via The College Politico):
Asked if controversial White House official Van Jones continues to enjoy the confidence of President Obama given recent revelations about his involvement with those who suggest the Bush administration knew about the 9/11 attacks and allowed them to happen in order to justify a war for oil, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs Friday morning would only say “he continues to work in this administration.” …
Asked how the Obama administration could rail against fringe conspiracy theorists who falsely allege, despite evidence to the contrary, that President Obama was not born in the U.S., Gibbs said that that the “9/11 Truther” sentiments are “not something that the president agrees with.”
I said yesterday in our State Fair show that the Obama administration would find a way to dump Jones over the holiday weekend when media attention would remain low, possibly as soon as this afternoon. Others have suggested that they may wait until just before the 9/11 anniversary next Friday, or try to just wait out the uproar. As long as Jones remains, though, attempts to rebuild Obama’s standing as a post-partisan moderate will take body shots.
Let’s take a poll. When do Hot Air readers believe Obama will give Jones the heave-ho, if at all?
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Under the bus with the typical white grandma. I wonder how they will get along.
Kalapana on September 4, 2009 at 1:01 PM
Under the bus at around 4:45 PM today, right before the holiday weekend.
On Monday, Gibbs will say “Jones who? We don’t have a jones here.”
portlandon on September 4, 2009 at 1:02 PM
I find it surreal that being a truther trumps being a self-professed communist and black nationalist in terms of being unacceptable in the white house.
Monica on September 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM
“He’s not the commie I knew.”
Mr. Bingley on September 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM
It took weeks to throw Wright under the bus, and that was only because Wright decided to go out spewing more of his vile cr*p to the press. The Precedent will stick with Jones as long as he can, because once Jones goes, there are at least 10 others that have to go – not least of which is Holder.
progressoverpeace on September 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Awesome…Jones is only apologizing to the bigoted right wingers among the “if-you-were-offended” crowd.
To those who are NOT offended by a highly placed WH staffer openly stating his belief in 9/11 Trutherspeak, well….
Mike D. on September 4, 2009 at 1:04 PM
I think Obama needs a Vetting Czar.
Exurban Jon on September 4, 2009 at 1:04 PM
He won’t dump Jones, because Jones has no place to hide like all the others.
faraway on September 4, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Stay or go, it doesn’t matter. This Marxist President has revealed himself to Mrs. Middle Class American. I’m going to go ahead now and declare him the earliest Lame Duck evah. He has put Mrs. Middle Class America on high alert. Going for her kids at the same time this revolutionary was being outed was the last straw.
shaken on September 4, 2009 at 1:05 PM
My thoughts exactly.
kc8ukw on September 4, 2009 at 1:05 PM
I’ll repeat what I said in the Headlines post:
I hate to break up the popular convention of Jones getting tossed under the bus by 5 pm, but those who follow sports teams will know what I’m talking about. It is when an explicit vote of confidence is issued, not when a mere statement of “he continues to work (here)”, that the axe is being sharpened for a quick chop.
steveegg on September 4, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Thats why msm tries to protect him .
the_nile on September 4, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Got to have a Jones for this, a Jones for that. But this runnin’ with the Joneses boy, just ain’t where it’s at.
He’ll be jettisoned today.
Mr. D on September 4, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Being outed as a Troofer is going to get Jones fired. Being a racist Commie is what got him hired.
Kalapana on September 4, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Why is it that being a communist is not a big deal anymore? The issue is over him being a Truther? WTF is that all about. Of course a communist would say that it 9/11 is a conspiracy. DUH
Sanmon on September 4, 2009 at 1:06 PM
What’s ludicrous is that the comment that sank him was his support for 9/11 trutherdom, even though a surprising number of liberals had at least some sympathy for truthers back in 2002-04 when Van Jones was making all those remarks. The White House kept supporting Van Jones through his communist ties and other extremely radical views…
Outlander on September 4, 2009 at 1:06 PM
i hear ya Monica… sickning…
stlpatriot on September 4, 2009 at 1:06 PM
I think he needs a new job.
the_nile on September 4, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Bingo!!
progressoverpeace on September 4, 2009 at 1:07 PM
You took the words right out of my fingers.
teffertoes on September 4, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Obama does not want to vindicate Glenn Beck so he’ll keep this jerk in his czar position.
Sarah Palin already made a fool out of Obama by exposing the “death panels.”
Glenn is already making a fool out of Obama’s administration.
Obama is an egotistical fool. The MSM is already covering for him, so he doesn’t think this movement to oust Jones has clout. Boy is he wrong.
Wait until 9/12.
cubachi on September 4, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Even Bob Beckel is miffed by this guy’s vetting (or so he claims anyway). People in Cali have known about Van Jones for years. He never should have been in consideration for anything other than ridicule.
Now, let’s make noise about Holdren.
tuffy on September 4, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Buh-Bye Jonesy
the door will be hitting him from behind at COB today
cmsinaz on September 4, 2009 at 1:08 PM
I have never been more proud of our Commies.
faraway on September 4, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Another one bites the bus!
xler8bmw on September 4, 2009 at 1:09 PM
They’ve got to find him another job first. Eventually, one of these guys will go under the bus screaming about being sold down the river.
When you surround yourself with community organizers, do not be surprised when one tries to organize a community to stop the bus from running him over. In the end, they are nothing but shakedown artists, so they are just haggling over the price right now.
rw on September 4, 2009 at 1:09 PM
The real question to ask Gibbs is:
“Is Van Jones working with Eric Holder to open an investigation of the 9/11 attacks?”
Watching Gibbs face change colors would be a new experience in color tv.
Freddy on September 4, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Monica on September 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Yup.
theotherone on September 4, 2009 at 1:10 PM
He can no more disavow Van Jones than he can the Rev. Wright. He’d sooner toss grandma under the bus than his commie buddy.
kens on September 4, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Lets commemorate this with Beck’s Obama Anthem.
portlandon on September 4, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Trust me even if “O” throws him out he won’t be gone! “O” will get advice from in the back door. If he gets the boot it will only be for show to the public!
xler8bmw on September 4, 2009 at 1:10 PM
He will resign tonight, sometime around 9pm EST with a statement to the effect of ‘I don’t want to be a distraction to the President’…
It will get no play in the MSM and most people will not even realize who this guy is or was…..
tatersalad on September 4, 2009 at 1:10 PM
For the prescooers:
The driver of Obama’s bus says throw him out!
out! out! out!
so
The wheels of Obama’s bus go bump bump bump
bump bump bump
All through the town.
conservativegrandma on September 4, 2009 at 1:11 PM
I used to be able to keep track of all the people Obama has had to disassociate himself with in my head. Just can’t do it anymore!
Can anyone present a list?
redshirt on September 4, 2009 at 1:11 PM
Does anyone have a running list of the Obama White House appointees that have quit or have been canned?
Cody Baker on September 4, 2009 at 1:11 PM
ditto
cmsinaz on September 4, 2009 at 1:11 PM
I see him getting a promotion. Van Jones supports Obama’s anti cop rhetoric that was applied to Cambridge Police.
seven on September 4, 2009 at 1:11 PM
Great minds…
Cody Baker on September 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM
I’m torn…Van Jones is bad for the country but so is Obama…Van Jones is also bad for Obama. I think Obama tries to keep him though…because I think there are a lot more Van Jones’s in this administration and if this one goes, we can target the next wacky lefty nutjob he’s appointed (like his Science Czar) and a domino effect ensues. Plus, the MSM still isn’t even touching this story…only GB viewers and the blogosphere even knows about the story at this point.
AUINSC on September 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Why not a poll on when the MSM will run a story on this?
d1carter on September 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM
They certainly won’t do it before Beck’s TV show today. They won’t want to give him a gloating moment.
TXUS on September 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM
I guess I have faster fingers!
redshirt on September 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Hmmmm, I dunno, might be hard for him to toss that watermelon.
itsacookbook on September 4, 2009 at 1:13 PM
hate to say this, but some of MSM are probably of the same mind so they don’t want to pounce on him
cmsinaz on September 4, 2009 at 1:14 PM
I don’t know……seeing how she’s dumping poison into minority communities and all.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on September 4, 2009 at 1:15 PM
+1. Completely surreal, like melting clock surreal.
Ted Torgerson on September 4, 2009 at 1:15 PM
God love Fox News for running this story every hour on the hour.
I wonder whether Obama & Co. are going to see how badly Gibbs gets grilled this afternoon at the daily p.m. presser. If only Garrett or Tapper, or both, ask about him, maybe they’ll stick with him. If a third member of the yawning MSM chimes in–and esp if all hell breaks loose–I bet Jones is gone via a press release that’s issued as the last Obama administration official is leaving the parking lot for the weekend.
One thing they can’t afford is an uproar from the press about the overall vetting process for these czars. Don’t forget, that first car czar has already left under a cloud of suspicion.
BuckeyeSam on September 4, 2009 at 1:16 PM
When they get their streamlined press release from the whitehouse.
the_nile on September 4, 2009 at 1:16 PM
uh oh. If DC Bob won’t defend you, you are in trouble.
ThackerAgency on September 4, 2009 at 1:16 PM
I should clarify by saying more sympathetic towards him, so they don’t want to throw him under the bus yet
cmsinaz on September 4, 2009 at 1:17 PM
Keeping him on is nothing but lunacy. He should have been gone yesterday. He is going to get hammered every day he stays on, better do get it done today.
clement on September 4, 2009 at 1:17 PM
I just did a search on CNN and MSNBC. There is absolutely no mention on their sites of Van Jones and this truther thing at all.
Monica on September 4, 2009 at 1:17 PM
ooowhh, ouch! that’d leave a mark wouldn’t it!?
ted c on September 4, 2009 at 1:17 PM
I’ll believe it when I see it. Obama has shown that he’s so amazingly arrogant that he doesn’t have to respond to ANYTHING. He’ll most likely simply ignore this.
However, how sweet would it be if the man who tried to get Beck fired, gets himself fired instead?
That should be a lesson for all of us. Glenn Beck knows how to win the war. You fight back, and HARD. You don’t act like a little sissy, curl up in a ball, and tell everyone how much better you are than those mean lefties.
Gregor on September 4, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Monica, not just the white house.
Somehow the brilliant intellectuals at nextright and newmajority feel the same way.
/
faraway on September 4, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Amen. What really has me scratching my head is it was the MEDIA that latched on to the Truther thing and thus forced the Administration’s hand in making a statement. It was already clear that Mr. Jones is racist and a Communist but apparently that isn’t enough to raise questions?
Like Beck said last night, if these people think we need to move to a communist model then make the damn case…don’t try and sneak it in incrementally ’cause that dog don’t hunt.
Pilgrim on September 4, 2009 at 1:18 PM
No sh!t. He already looks like a bloated pink piggie on camera as it is.
Monica on September 4, 2009 at 1:19 PM
Da Jews are to blame!!!!!
Just ask Obama’s spiritual mentor.
Hening on September 4, 2009 at 1:20 PM
would this equate to “social justice?”
ted c on September 4, 2009 at 1:20 PM
The country is getting what it deserves.You blindlessly voted for hope and change all the while knowing who Obama surrounded himself with.Just now your opening your eyes,it is sickening.(for all you independents out there)
LennyV on September 4, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Make them live up to THEIR morals.
HondaV65 on September 4, 2009 at 1:21 PM
That’s the definition of elitism , they know whats good for you , they don’t want you in their way..
the_nile on September 4, 2009 at 1:21 PM
It would be sweet if they hammer Gibbs on it today. Then, it will also be sweet to seen CNN and MSNBC try to play catch-up and spin the story.
kingsjester on September 4, 2009 at 1:21 PM
OOOooo..how about a POOL! exact date for when alphabet soup breaks this with timestamp of report being the tie breaker.
I’m in!
Pilgrim on September 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Exactly. And I’m equally disgusted that Sunstein, Lloyd, Holdren, Zeke Emanuel, and the countless others, are still in there.
yogi41 on September 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Boy, that bus can’t go too far with all the speed bumps it’s hitting…Grandma, Rev. Wright, now Jones…who’s next?
PointMan37 on September 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM
My vote:
The mainstream media ignores this story, as HotAir has posted. This means the only people that know about the Van Jones saga are people like us. That’s not enough.
toliver on September 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM
“Let me be clear, I’ll not ask Van Jones to step down, nor will I ask for his resignation. To do so would lend credibility to Glenn Beck and Fox news, and I just can’t let that happen”
Knucklehead on September 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Man, that bus is going to get high-centered before too long. B.O.’s gonna have to buy a monster truck soon in order to sufficiently clear that pile of human debris that keeps growing.
JoeinTX on September 4, 2009 at 1:24 PM
I don’t see this guy going anywhere.
We will see though.
upinak on September 4, 2009 at 1:25 PM
No puttin’ the genie back in the bottle now! It’s up at ABC & CBS. Buried down the page of course, but it is there. As Monica mentioned, still nuthin’ at NBC or CNN. It’s out. They will be covering this even though they don’t want to.
JAM on September 4, 2009 at 1:25 PM
“Ohhh, Mrs. Jooonnnnnesssss…there’s somethin’ goin’ onnnn”
I song I remembered from years ago.
At least Jones will be able to use the long weekend to load his U-Haul and start back to Oakland. Count the silver before he leaves, and check the light bulbs, toilet paper and carpeting…
bradley11 on September 4, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Beckel is hiding the fact that BO recruited him into his administration. The vetting question is a smoke screen. He is trying to protect Dear Leader.
I do agree we move on to the next thug.
d1carter on September 4, 2009 at 1:27 PM
No mention of him and this imbroglio in NYT, WaPo, CBS, ABC, or NBC either. Imagine that…
TXUS on September 4, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Have you seen anything on air yet?
d1carter on September 4, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Bama is in a tight spot. He needs a minister to help keep his faith in Marxism, and Wright cannot fill the post, so Jones stepped in…and now Jones is up to his neck in bald-faced lies of a sort even Bama would have a hard time getting him covered for. Geithner was easy.
Bama is “inept” only as long as you assume he has “good” intentions. When you start looking at the pattern of behavior at home and abroad and his close associates, those two tie out pretty well. The man is either massively inept, or he doesn’t have what I would consider good intentions for this country and its citizens.
The longer he runs to his current pattern, actions on the economy, toward Iran, Israel, Honduras and other allies/enemies, the consistency becomes what his intentions really are, not what anyone thinks, there are no viable excuses. Nobody bats a thosand, but nobody bats zero, either. It’s simple human behavior, you are what you do.
Bama is not a man of good intentions if you value individual freedom or a strong US economy.
Harry Schell on September 4, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Assault! With intent to bus!
juanito on September 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Wonder how much of that billions of $$$ Jones will be taking with him when he goes? I say we call for a “Green Job Czar audit” the minute the door his Van in the can!
Bicyea on September 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
QOTD
John the Libertarian on September 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
FIFM
TXUS on September 4, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Drudge is hammering Jones with some stories from his ‘colorfully robust’ past.
Monica on September 4, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Well ABC wouldn’t be carrying it if it weren’t for Tapper.
Monica on September 4, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Oh, dude. Can you even imagine the roar if these nitwits give Fox News the opportunity to spend the three days leading up to 9-11 with every newscast announcing that the O’Bozo administration is full of truthers?
Today after the end of the news cycle, unannounced. Down the memory hole.
Jaibones on September 4, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Exit question… how long until we have a Czar Czar?
MikeA on September 4, 2009 at 1:35 PM
I can see the headlines now:
VAN UNDER THE BUS
Christien on September 4, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Thank you Glen Beck for exposing this Commie radical thug nutjob. Please keep shining the light on these cockroaches. The future of this nation depends on patriots like you doing the job the State Controlled Media won’t.
AZCoyote on September 4, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Having never seen a Glen Beck broadcast until Wednesday a week ago this has been a heck of a free fall for Obama and those surrounding him. We began DVRing that show and after yesterday’s show my wife and I both mentioned the bus that would be running over the polished Mr. Jones.
Thank you Glen Beck, Michelle Malkin, Ed Morrisey and all the rest that have brought this to our attention. More please.
DanMan on September 4, 2009 at 1:36 PM
FIFY
ted c on September 4, 2009 at 1:37 PM
ted c,
LOL, thanks! Barry should just hire Jerome Bettis to replace Gibbsy.
Christien on September 4, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Commie Czar
faraway on September 4, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Tapper’s surely the Lone Ranger among the state run media. I sure hope he and Garrett have body guards. Beck, too, of course.
TXUS on September 4, 2009 at 1:39 PM
bradley11 on September 4, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Good catch, next week we’ll be treated to a nice rendition of “Me and Mr. Jones” by Paul Shanklin.
DanMan on September 4, 2009 at 1:40 PM
It will be very hard for Dear Leader to let VJ go since he is so close to his own thinking and that of Valerie Jarrett, but maybe for the good of the “movement”.
d1carter on September 4, 2009 at 1:41 PM
It is time for a bus czar.
daesleeper on September 4, 2009 at 1:42 PM
It’s getting hotter out there for old Mr. Jones.
Go here: http://www.weaselzippers.net/
2006 Anti-Police Day rally in Oakland, sponsored by the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party….
hee hee
Harry Schell on September 4, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Dang. I wished this vote included when Obama will be out. ;)
capejasmine on September 4, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Harry Schell on September 4, 2009 at 1:30 PM
___________________________
Harry, please do not associate this communist with Bama. Use a different epithet – like Zero, Bobo, Bambi, etc. We in Bama can’t stand him or any of his thugs.
Thanks
pcpower1 on September 4, 2009 at 1:46 PM
I’m hoping that when Van gets canned he pays Barack back by doing a media blitz exposing all Obama’s plans.
Bicyea on September 4, 2009 at 1:46 PM
I guess V. Jones’s remarks on white polluters and white environmentalists poisoning people of color is the dialogue about race that Eric Holder was looking for. Suspect they are in collusion.
Christian Conservative on September 4, 2009 at 1:47 PM
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