The Media Should Be Embarrassed

But they probably aren't embarrassed at all at their willful ignorance of the Van Jones story. Andrew Breitbart has some thoughts:

Now that White House “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones has resigned, what’s next?

Inevitably, the American mainstream media – ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, et al – must be held to account for sitting on the sidelines as this major story kept building without them, went viral on YouTube, and then became so large that a key appointee of President Obama was forced to step down.

But with their decision to ignore the Jones story, they may have actually done Mr. Obama far more harm than good: Who vetted this guy? How did he get past the FBI? What did he say, and how did he answer the infamous seven-page questionnaire that all Obama appointees were required to fill out? Inquiring Freedom of Information Act minds want to know.

For most people in this country, the resignation was the first they had heard of Van Jones. For this sin of journalistic omission, there’s institutional media blame. Bias is too tame a word for the utter shamelessness on display: Only Republican scandals – real and imagined – matter.

And it’s not just those the Democratic-Media Complex dub as “mobs” or “tea baggers” that are taking notice. Diminishing audience and evaporating subscribership reflect widespread consumer dissatisfaction. Eventually, the money will run out.

But until then, the growing alternative media of Internet and talk radio and a burgeoning mass of justifiably angry Americans will make every effort to expose the sham that is mainstream journalism.

Obviously, it’s not that the Jones story wasn’t newsworthy. His racist rants, his radical background and his membership in a 9/11 “truther” group made for heavy-rotation YouTube viewing that would have immediately destroyed other mere mortals if the shoe were on the right – or white – foot.

Compounding the problem, the Jones narrative hurts Mr. Obama because it underlines how the mainstream media helped elect the president by glorifying him instead of vetting him.

Just as Mr. Obama was not even cursorily investigated, Van Jones, a fellow “community organizer,” was not given the slightest media attention when named as an unaccountable “czar” selected to oversee billions in taxpayer money for the ambiguous purpose of “green energy.” And that despite having a body of damning evidence that could be found with a single Google search by an ADHD-addled high-school journalism student.

There's more here.

And someone on Twitter pointed out that the Secret Service must be pretty embarrassed right now too, not because they let this guy slip through, but because their boss just made it look like they did. My guess is they were told that Van Jones gets the job and it doesn't matter what's in his past, so the Service was stuck.

Had Jones applied through his congressman for a tour pass to the White House, he would not have been allowed anywhere on the premises. Consequently, you have to believe his presence in that job required someone to overrule the advice of the Secret Service.

Was he vetted? Probably, but the people that wanted him probably already knew about his background and didn't care. To them he was not a radical commie truther cop-killer lover anti-American, but just a passionate "activist" who pretended to know something about "green" jobs.

Can anyone point to any accomplishments Jones had during his months as czar? Did he help create even one green job?

Now that Jones is gone, will the media start to take a look at some of the other crazy czars in this administration? The science guy is worth a hard look.

He's next.