Worse yet, Smiley attacked the Obama White House for not fighting the "absolute lies" that sunk Jones – without ever bringing specifics. Smiley raised "this notion of if what was said about you was an absolute lie, it was untrue and it was manufactured and it was just a bunch of - it was a gotcha game, to use your word from earlier, why not defend Van Jones?"
PBS is taking our tax dollars to provide a completely sympathetic platform for a radical-left scandal figure, a place where he can seek to rehabilitate his image with the kindest of collaborators. Smiley offered no skepticism whatsoever to the strange claims of Jones that he never signed the petition demanding an investigation into charges the Bush administration "deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur."
SMILEY: Let me just throw a few things at you. These 9/11 truthers - what did you make of that story that started this ruckus about Van Jones in the White House?
JONES: Yes, yes. Well, I learned a tough lesson on that. First of all, let me say what I actually believe. I believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy by al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, and nobody else, trying to hurt America.
What happened to me on that, a tough lesson learned for me, six years ago I was at a conference. Some people came up to me. They said, "Hey, we represent 9/11 families. I'm like, "Oh, okay, good to meet you." They said, "We need your help. Will you help us?" I said, "Sure, whatever you want.
Then these people - I didn't know what their agenda was - they went and put my name on some abhorrent, crazy language they never showed me, I never saw, and it just sat there on this website for years.
Somebody discovered it, and then boom. So people actually believe that I actually signed on to something I never saw, never signed on to, and that became a part of this whole firestorm.
I decided at that point that I needed to resign, because I was becoming a distraction. From my point of view, the president of the United States deserved to be able to talk not about my past and everything I either did or didn't do, but about America's future. So I chose to step down.
Instead of questioning which claims about Jones were untrue, Smiley put all his weight on how Obama’s people shouldn’t have backed down from a fight where Jones was being unfairly and dishonestly maligned:
SMILEY: But it does raise this question, though. When you said to the powers that be that I am going to step aside because I don't want to become a distraction, did anybody in the president's circle say, "Van, let's rethink this, we don't want you do this, let's fight this?" Did anybody say that?
JONES: Of course. It was heartbreaking inside the building because everybody knew that this stuff, a lot of it was just manufactured. At the same time, these are serious times and the president's staff is there to protect and defend him, not the other way around. I don't think people understand that....
SMILEY: I only raise that because as you well know, we're big boys, we can handle this - I only raise that, Van, because as you know, there have been some questions, legitimate, illegitimate, we can agree or disagree, but questions about what this president and his staff truly believe in, what their principles are, what they are really willing to stand up and fight for.
That's the reason why I ask that question, because it's connected to this notion of if what was said about you was an absolute lie, it was untrue and it was manufactured and it was just a bunch of - it was a gotcha game, to use your word from earlier, why not defend Van Jones?
Jones discussed how the White House was a "dream job" and how Obama signed on to be "captain of the Titanic," and it would be rude to expect a fight. Smiley continued:
SMILEY: One other question about this, and this really isn't about your time in the White House, it is prior to that - your decision to go inside the White House. When you told me that you were going to do this - I can say this now.
JONES: Yes, sir.
SMILEY: My friend Geraldo Rivera used to host a show that said, "Now it can be told." (Laughter) I can now tell you this, since you're out of the White House.
JONES: Exactly, it's all right.
SMILEY: When you told me that you were going to go inside the White House, I didn't want you to - I believe in supporting friends and you know I love you, would do anything - would take a bullet for Van Jones.
JONES: Yes, sir, yes, sir, yeah.
SMILEY: But I'm thinking this Negro has lost his mind. (Laughter) I'm like, I know what it means to have the freedom as an advocate on the outside - I've been on the inside and on the outside - the freedom that you have on the outside to tell the truth, to speak truth to power, to side with truth over power.
That freedom - and this is not about Obama, it's just the whole political infrastructure. You know where I'm going with this.
JONES: Yes, I do.
SMILEY: When you go on the inside, your wings get clipped a little bit. You can't speak truth the way that you've been speaking it for all these years on the outside. So I'm thinking Van is one of the freest Negroes I know. (Laughter) Why does he want to bind himself up to some degree and go on the inside?
Jones talked about all the good green things he could do on the inside. Smiley then tried to spur Jones to attack Fox News and Glenn Beck for ruining him:
SMILEY : But that's my point, though. When you see what you saw on the inside that you're now describing for us so beautifully, it must really anger you, then, that the Glenn Becks of the world on the outside --
JONES: Here's the thing - I have one thousand defeats from last year, and one victory. I don't have any hatred in my heart for anybody, I'm not mad at anybody. I understand the pain of Glenn Beck's listeners; people who are wondering where are we going as a country? How am I going to get a job? All these different people are coming here, am I going to be respected?
I understand that, and I feel like what we've got to do is to answer to the pain, not respond hatred to hatred or bitterness to bitterness or add to the divisiveness, because that actually will keep us where we are.
Jones returned to more gooey statements about the wonderful Barack Obama.
Other media outlets are helping on the rehab tour. At TimesWatch, I reported on how John Broder of the New York Times announced his new job by referring to his charisma, and not his ideology:
"Van Jones, the charismatic advocate for environmental jobs who resigned from a White House post last September over a number of controversial past statements, has found a new job with the Center for American Progress in Washington."
He added that NAACP leader Benjamin Todd Jealous is on the Tavis Smiley wavelength, calling Jones an "American treasure."
