Sunday, September 6, 2009

Smear Campaign Or Truth Campaign?

When a member of government is forced to resign (fired) over publicly offensive deeds or words the normal response is they are victims of a “massive smear campaign”. Rather than admit error and seek indulgence they attack the messenger and the evidence as a smear campaign. However, these days with ubiquitous camera phones recording their acts truth is almost irrefutable.
Last night we got another example when Van Jones, Obama’s “Green Jobs” czar was fired (resigned). For weeks Glen Beck has been exposing video and audio of Van Jones declaring himself as a Communist and accusing Republicans of being “ass holes” for their political effectiveness. Jones is also a signer of a petition asking for a congressional investigation into whether high-level government officials had allowed the 9/11 attacks. Van Jones, upon "resigning" last night stated "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in his resignation statement. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide."