Do you know who hasn't had enough positive media coverage lately? Van Jones! Luckily, the SF Chronicle is ready to leap into the breach. Their puff piece celebrating the release of his new book even dubs Jones, "Mr. Dreamy."
Van Jones, a pioneer among the nation's eco-activists, has made his mark from the Bay Area - where he's headed three major community organizations - to the White House, where he served as President Obama's "green jobs czar."
But Jones, whom Time Magazine named one of the 100 most influential people in the world and who has written a new best-selling book, "Rebuild the Dream," reached another landmark a week ago: The New York Times Magazine crowned him the Mr. Dreamy of the left.
"You have these fantasies that someday they will notice you and talk about your educational achievements," the 43-year-old, Yale-educated attorney and civil rights activist said in an interview with The Chronicle last week. "Little did I know I was just a pinup."
With the publication of his latest book, which is a call to arms to American liberals, Jones said he has attempted to showcase what he calls his "unique perspective in American life" almost three years after he resigned his White House post in the midst of a political firestorm.
No one at the Chronicle seems the least curious about the fact that Jones has been quite vocal in his efforts to organize mass protests (aka Occupy Spring) modeled explicitly on the Arab Spring. They also take him at his word that all of that 9/11 Truther stuff was just some sort of crazy Fox News thing:
In "Rebuild the Dream," Jones explains the incident at length, saying, "I never would have added my name to something like that. Even in my most radical days, I was not a conspiracy theorist."
But what really happened, he writes in the book, is that "someone approached me at a 2004 conference, along with peace activist (and Code Pink co-founder) Jodie Evans and eco-innovator Paul Hawken" and "asked us if we would be willing to help 911 families."
He says the three agreed - in principle - to that request, but "were never shown any petition alleging a conspiracy. None of us would have signed such a document, had we seen it." Jones said it was later shown that none of them ever did. The irony, he told The Chronicle, is that "I actually have controversial ideas, real ones that are mine - you don't have to make them up. I actually believe in marriage equality. I believe in affirmative action. I believe in real jobs. These are substantive things that people challenge me on."
Spare me. Affirmative action, gay marriage and "real jobs" aren't controversial. Jones can go anywhere in the Bay Area and earn cheap applause endorsing any of those. His 9/11 Trutherism wasn't limited to a pamphlet, as he well knows. Also, God forbid if they ask him about his very recent past as an avowed Communist. There's white washing to be done!
It goes without saying that there isn't a MSM outlet in the land that would present a conservative activist in such a positive light. Indeed, Jones' time at the White House was marked by a near-resolute incuriosity on the part of the media, which never thought to ask what a street activist from Oakland with virulently socialist views was doing with a $30 billion budget and the title of "green czar." There is a willing effort among the media to present this guy as some sort of idealistic demi-god, even as he plots in the shadows (well, on MSNBC) to carry out some sort of pseudo-revolutionary street movement to accomplish God knows what goals. Are we really going to have to rely on WND and Glen Beck to vet this guy again?
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