People thought I overstated the danger when I identified the source of the anger directed against Jones. Well, now it has come to pass and Jones is gone. This speaks volumes.
When Clinton's nominated his long-time friend, Lani Guinier, for the position of Asstant AG for Civil Rights, she was viciously attacked in exactly the same way as Jones. Instead of fighting, Bill folded and tossed her overboard. He didn't even let her have the decency of defending herself, afraid he couldn't spare the political capital by letting her go down fighting. When that happened I warned his CoS McClarty the message Dole and others would take from this was: "Clinton has no loyalty to anyone, even long-term friends. You can isolate him and torment him to your heart's desire and no one will take a bullet for him." History bore that out.
It's a small thing, but like a cut over a boxer's eye it can provide the opening you need to win. That's how Hollyfield beat Tyson. Jones' resignation is similarly a tiny part of the picture. He's just a cut over Obama's eye. But now they have an opening and they will work it relentlessly.
I repeat what I wrote before, because it is still accurate and relevant. It is a warning. The only way to deal with this is show, don't tell. Anything else is just words.
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To Kill A Mockingbird comes to Washington
A week ago I didn't know Van Jones from Rip Van Winkle. Never heard of the guy. First I heard comments about him originating in the Outer Limits of GlennBeckistan. I ignored them because I don't speak Batshit Insane. Then I heard his name in the right-wing echo chamber. He compared Bush to a crack addict. There was video. I watched it. I laughed because he pretty much nailed the addiction for oil.
Then they said he was a truther, which he denied. Republicans started calling for his resignation. I shrugged, hoping this loose cannon would not turn into the "daily distraction" that derails the president's newest message on health care.
Then they quoted him as saying
Only surburban white kids shoot up schools...
You've never seen a Columbine done by a black child. Never.
That is true. But this struck me as a strange statement. I know the mortality and morbidity statistics for homicides due to firearms. Surely, this guy wasn't trying to paper over the terrible toll of black-on-black gun violence by pointing to a rare case of mass casualties. I checked it out. The quote is accurate. There is a video. Watch it and you will be outraged at the evil.
I hope you watched the video before scrolling down here to read my commentary. If you didn't go back...
Not what you expected was it? As you see, the quote was accurate but the way it is being presented in the right-wing echo chamber has nothing to do with what he said. But this attack is worse than taking Sotomayor's statement out of context. Much worse. This is beyond politics. This is wickedness.
Here is a man -- a BLACK MAN -- who has the audacity to speak with compassion about love. About love for disturbed, alienated, ignored, abandoned, angry, hateful, young white men.
A BLACK MAN would dare to feel sorry for a white man? The unmitigated temerity!
As the realization grew within me that the people persecuting this man were attacking one of the few advocates for their children, the children they spit on... I had a profound sense of deja vu.
I remembered a scene in a courtroom from my childhood. The year was 1962. That year's Oscar nominees came from such classics as Mutiny on the Bounty, Lawrence of Arabia, The Miracle Worker and To Kill A Mockingbird. Gregory Peck won Best Actor that year for his role as Atticus Finch. And he won it, in large part for one scene... the courtroom scene.
That is the pivotal point in the movie when all the intrigue and artifice of the old South comes crashing down. That is when we learn Tom Robinson is innocent of the charge that he raped and beat Mayella Violet Ewell, the 19 year-old daughter of poor white trash.
Atticus knew his client, Tom Robinson, was innocent of the charges leveled against him, just as Van Jones is innocent of the charges being spread through rumor now. Tom Robinson, like Van Jones, was guilty of something much worse than raping a white woman. Van Jones, like Tom Robinson, A BLACK MAN had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry ... for a white child.
Once again the rabid rightwing Republican religious zealots in their hateful wrath have risen up and lynched an innocent man. Just like they did to Tom Robinson. Atticus' moving speech fell on deaf ears, just as Obama's have. Mr. President, the time for talk is over. You want to change the world? Show, don't tell. Or go home.
The only change is in the last paragraph. What was predicted has come to pass.