Glenn Beck has repeatedly used outrageous statements and race-baiting to attack President Obama and now Van Jones. Read the July 23rd attack on Jones, courtesy of Media Matters:
This guy wasn’t a radical, then was arrested. Spent six months in jails. Came out a communist. Then he was a communist-anarchist radical. And then he decided — he found the eco-movement and decided green is the new red. He then went on to become a green expert.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, on September 1st, Beck dug up video of Powershift 2009 – yes, the very same one – to ‘prove’ that Jones is a communist and a revolutionary. Skip to minute 4 if you can’t take all the craziness and just want the relevant stuff.
Why these attacks? Because one very bad-ass organization is running a very effective campaign to starve Beck of advertising money (i.e. his reason to be on the airwaves). Color of Change, with its campaign “Stop the Race Baiting” Oh, and Van Jones is one of the founders of Color of Change. Glenn Beck is lashing out because he’s hurt – Oh no, Glenn, are the angry liberals starting to get under your skin?
The most important thing you can do this week is join this campaign. Then put it on facebook. Then tweet it. Use the hashtag #supportvan and get this out there. We know how effective these campaigns can be – why else do conservatives fear MoveOn.org like its the devil? And we also know that our generation gets its news primarily from social media – friends.
Sign the petition, get the word out. Yes We Can take away Glenn Beck’s microphone.
Text of the petition:
To President/CEO & Board:
I want to alert you to the fact that Glenn Beck–whose show you sponsor on FOX–is using his platform to make outlandish accusations about the President and to advance baseless theories that prey on race-based fears.
He is claiming that President Obama is a “racist,” that he has a “deep-seated hatred for white people,” and that he is attempting to use our government to deliver “Obama-brand reparations.” The claims are ludicrous, and the rhetoric is racially divisive and pollutes our public discourse.
I presume your company does not want to enable such rhetoric, nor have your products or services associated with the kind of views and tactics espoused by Beck. I urge you to immediately cease all advertising on the Glenn Beck Program on the FOX News Channel.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
For more info read:
here’s a petition to Obama encouraging him to support Van: http://bit.ly/wXFqd
I would normally agree that you can find the truth by “following the money,” but I think Glenn Beck was ripping on Van Jones before the boycott started. Would it make any difference if a political appointee used his power to try to shut down a citizen who dared to dissent?
Not a Glenn Beck fan, but reality is that Van Jones is becoming more of a liability for the Obama administration and the DNC’s chances in 2010 than an asset. Press Secretary Gibbs offered scant support for him during Friday’s press conference. As for Glenn Beck, this episode with Van Jones has only made his audience/listeners swell.
I’m confused?? Is the goal for our nation to move towards Communism? Jones himself has a communist group “STORM” (Standing Together To Organize a Revolutionary Movement). Why are we saving someone who is a self-confessed communist who is now an advisor to the President?
This is getting ugly.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0909/Pence_calls_on_Van_Jones_to_resign.html
Not a Glenn Beck fan but reality is that Van Jones is becoming more of a liability for the Obama administration than an asset.
Not since Joe McCarthy shuffled off this mortal coil in 1957 has anyone made a career by accusing people of being communists. Glenn Beck has resurrected the practice. Not only has he found a cabal of secret communists, he has uncovered an entire communist corporation chock full of commies. The name of this company, you may ask?
THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY!
You heard me right, boys and girls. The network that gave us Uncle Miltie and Ma Perkins has apparently been secretly sending subliminal messages endorsing Marxist doctrine since it was formed in 1926. This would make perfect sense to me. Every time I watched the Rockford Files I had an unexplainable desire to read Das Kapital. But seriously, folks. Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, red baiting not only seems silly, it’s also kind of nuts. It’s not-at-all surprising that an organization would give this idiot a forum (after all, he’s on FOX Noise). What’s really stunning is the fact that his ratings are relatively high and that so many Americans take his word as gospel.
All kidding aside, half-witted ideologues are a dime a dozen. What separates Glenn Beck from his peers is the fact that he is doing some serious damage to the country he professes to love so much. For all of the comparisons to the Nazis he likes to make with respect to Liberals, Beck’s program has much in common with Adolf Hitler’s 1923 screed, Mein Kampf. Eighty-six years ago, Hitler attempted to arouse the anger of his fellow Germans by spouting half truths and utter nonsense – exactly what Glenn Beck is doing in 2009. So much of the insane dialogue that has been spewed forth at these Town Hall meetings across the country in recent weeks might have been lifted straight from a transcript of Beck’s program.
Beck and his twisted ilk have done the seemingly impossible. They have deflected the blame for America’s current economic distress toward Barack Obama. An incredible feat when you take into consideration the fact that the President is one of the few people in government today whose guilt in the matter is almost nil. They have also let loose with a vengeance the very worst angels of the American nature. Opening this Pandora’s box was relatively easy. Closing it might prove to be a bit of a problem.
Deep in their hearts
They do believe
That they shall undermine someday….
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
I hope Van Jones resigns because he is wasting his time in the administration. He’d do a lot more good as a radical movement organizer than a stifled, embattled adviser in a system designed to maintain the status quo.
Also, if you haven’t noticed, Beck attracts an audience based on the amount of controversy he generates, so if anything all this outrage about him is helping his cause. Also, calls to take him off the air strengthen his position as the “little guy” fighting the big bad, he’d say fascist, I’d say ineffective, liberals.
this is absolutely foul. Like Tom states…not since McCarthy was in office was this kind of shit pulled!!! Why are we still on this ridiculous communist witch hunt Glenn Beck?! Sure Van is a revolutionary! But so are the folks trying to make Texas succeed from the US.
I support Van Jones in whatever he does.
Tom and French, Let me ask you a question. Have you read ANYTHING that Van has written or co-authored? There has been accusation that Van is a communist, He says he is a communist is his own writhing. Do yourself a favor and follow the facts. Never, never take anyone’s word for anything discover for yourself. I would assume that you both have a college degree, I know that is encouraged and taught by most creditable professors.
Andrew: you might be right about effectiveness as an organizer vs. a part of the political establishment, and you might be wrong. But leaving under these circumstances is a victory for those who would turn this entire country into a strip-mine/mall. There’s something to be said for standing with your close allies when they are under attack.
Will Spencer: we heard you the first time. We are talking about that reality, and this call to action is urgent because this is a serious political move to discredit an administration and a message. As activists and organizers, I thought we were in the business of taking on fights and changing political realities. I don’t get the sense that you want to do that.
Kirk: I have no idea what your talking about.
Glad to see a lot of people coming out to defend one of the most brilliant minds in the environmental and social justice movements. We need a lot more, though. Get out there everywhere people are talking about this and comment your support for Van Jones. And do what no one is doing – point out all the brilliant things the man has said that have changed the way we talk about solving the climate crisis. No more repeating their talking points, no more accepting their frames. Van Jones stands for creating jobs in poor cities, in struggling rural communities, and doing it by cutting pollution and carbon to take our energy infrastructure into the 21st century.
It’s simple: either we get loud and we don’t back down or we lose this fight. The radical conservatives and dirty energy interests aren’t going to back down, so get ready to play hardball or get ready to lose.
Kirk: Van is not a communist. He is a progressive. Statements about him being a “self-professed” communist are taken out of context. Beck has taken part of an interview and quote the piece that suits his aims. Van said that his views became radicalized after the Rodney King verdict, but that he left those views behind almost 10 years ago. People have the right to evolve through various stages of growth in every area of their lives. Van is no exception.
Aside—The statement that Van spent six months in prison is an outright lie!
Unreal.
Mr. Beck . .The more you try to peel the onion, the more you reveal how rotten your onion is.
When will you wake up? Your program is founded on extremist lies- and according to your very own definitions, your statements are that of a fundamental “Communist” approach.
America has been destroyed by programs such as yours. There are hundreds of thousands of others world wide. that are saying wake up Mr. Beck- wake up America and join the rest of the world in creating sustainable solutions for an environmentally, socially just presence on this planet
Such a dirty shame that radicals like Glenn Beck get so much airtime in our country. Eva Paterson’s article on Van is the best I’ve read so far:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-paterson/glenn-becks-attack-on-van_b_271518.html
Van is a highly principled guy with a positive vision for our country like none other. Americans are lucky to have him in our White House.
So he resigned. Can’t say I didn’t see that one coming. I think this was a good move considering the fact that Obama has to deal with healthcare this week. This whole ordeal has been such a ridiculous couple days that I am almost glad he isn’t in the administration anymore. He wasn’t meant for their games. He’s too smart and longsighted to have to deal with the political tippy teoing of Obama’s team. We need him now, more than ever, to push for climate awareness leading up to Copenhagen.
Greetings from a supporter of individual liberty. Whether or not Glenn Beck is good or bad, accurate or inaccurate, the fact remains that those of us who believe in the individual liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are at war with you Collectivists — a war that YOU started. And we will win, because truth is on our side. We believe that the more power government has, the fewer rights individuals possess. YOU are trying to transform our country into something the vast majority of U.S. citizens do not want: an all-powerful central goverment which dictates how we live our lives, what jobs we should have, what cars we should drive, how long we can leave our lights on, and what we can do with our own property. That central government, for many decades, and most severely under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, has bankrupted our country by spending 10 TRILLION dollars more than it has collected in taxes. Our country is so far in debt that we may never recover. Now that same government wants to completely run our lives, and I’m going to fight with everything in me to stop it.
But the thing is that now the beast has tasted blood. The Bullies have succeeded – which means they will be back again and again and again, demanding more and more. Witchhunts, blacklists – we’ve been down this road before, and we know where it leads, and we know how many bodies will litter its ditches.
The reason the dumb ass Pubs get away with their bullying tactics is because they know that Democrats are pussies. If the shoe was on the other foot it would be stonewalling and denial until the end of time and there would have been no resignation. Van Jones shame on you for being a coward and not standing up to those ignorant bastards.
so i guess that we went from “yes, we can” to “no, we couldn’t”
How is the save Van Jones campaign going?
Not too well, it seems.
Amazing people even supported him. Says a lot about people who truly hate America.
He doesn’t mention race at all, So that brings the question, why bring race up at all. You post a video that has nothing to do with race, and accuse someone of being racist. Hmm.
At any rate, everyone seems to forget the big picture. We don’t need our government to spend trillions of dollars. Be it war, or social security. What we need is a government who provides protection from foreign threats, and to protect our rights. If it means keeping a big military so be it. If it means taxing imports, so that our companies can make a buck, so be it. If it means taxing companies that have foreign places of operation to save a dollar, SO BE IT. Although, everything else should be left up to the states. That’s a constitutional way of thinking, and if you don’t like the constitution then go to another country. Don’t run for office and try and change everything. It’s not broken. You are free to move at any time.
I hated the fact that G W. Bush spent so much money away from the US, and i hate that Obama wants to spend so much more on special interests. If you keep borrowing money eventually someone wants it back. This type of spending is what led us to the down turn that we see today. For GWB to call himself a Conservative is pathetic, just like Obama calling himself a capitalist
The more power you give to the government the more they take from you, why do you think our for fathers started a revolution. They didn’t like what they saw. They thought that maybe they could change something for the people who came after them. They did. Do we want to lose all that they fought for. That type of self sacrifice is unheard of now a days.
AL, the fact that you can’t see Beck’s racist remarks shows that you’re just not too bright and the fact that the government is forced to spend so much money is a direct result of 10 years of Republican incompetence. Grow a pair and start thinking for yourself instead of your ignorant racist friends. Happy Holidays!