WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday.Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly "green jobs" with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.
The resignation comes as Obama is working to regain his footing in the contentious health care debate.
Jones issued an apology on Thursday for his past statements. When asked the next day whether Obama still had confidence in him, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only that Jones "continues to work in the administration."
The matter surfaced after news reports of a derogatory comment Jones made in the past about Republicans, and separately, of Jones' name appearing on a petition connected to the events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. That 2004 petition had asked for congressional hearings and other investigations into whether high-level government officials had allowed the attacks to occur.
"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."
Jones said he has been "inundated with calls from across the political spectrum urging me to stay and fight."
But he said he cannot in good conscience ask his colleagues to spend time and energy defending or explaining his past.
Jones flatly said in an earlier statement that he did not agree with the petition's stand on the 9/11 attacks and that "it certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever."
As for his other comments he made before joining Obama's team, Jones said, "If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize."
Despite his apologies, Republicans demanded Jones quit.
Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana said in a statement, "His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate." Missouri Sen. Christopher Bonds said Congress should investigate Jones's fitness the job.
Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck repeatedly denounced Jones after a group the adviser co-founded, ColorofChange.org, led an advertising boycott against Beck's show to protest his claim that Obama is a racist.
James Rucker, the organization's executive director, has said Jones had nothing to do with ColorofChange.org now and didn't even know about the campaign before it started.
Jones, well-known in the environmental movement, was a civil-rights activist in California before shifting his attention to environmental and energy issues. He is known for laying out a broad vision of a green economy.
Nancy Sutley chair of the council, said in a statement released early Sunday that she accepts Jones resignation and thanked him for his service.
"Over the last six months, he had been a strong voice for creating jobs that improve energy efficiency and utilize renewable resources," she said. "We appreciate his hard work and wish him the best moving forward."
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Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Council on Environmental Quality: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Loading comments...this Jones (if that is his name) should be indicted for treason.
he's a common street criminal. the type of guy Obama worked with at ACORN.a Yale/Jail trained law student on an affirmative action scholarship like Obama.
Jones was an official contact/organizer for a group of the first "Truthers" suggesting the Bush Administration was responsible for 9/11 back in 2002 - see the document here: http://www.rense.com/general18/march.htmIt wasn't just his signature on the petition in 2004. Jones was/is a truther activist.
No one needs to "smear" him - he's on VIDEO calling Republicans "***holes" not once, as an accidental slip - but over and over.Good riddance. It is high time we take a good hard look at the Obama appointed "czars" - there is obviously a reason they wanted to skip the vetting process with these clowns.
Who's next? I think they all need to go. All the Czars. Hillary in particular, and Geithner and Summers and both Emmanues, and Napolitano and Sebelius and Gates and Duncan and Chu and Jones and McChrystal and Petraeus and Holder and Locke and Sims and LaHood and Bernanke and Goolsby and Ortzag and Roehmer and Holbrooke and Ross. Clean sweep Obama, it's up to you to save your Presidency.Wait, wait. The article goes on to say, "...White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only that Jones "continues to work in the administration."The only thing that has changed is his title and maybe his payroll listing. He will continue to pull the strings on the same issues, and will still operate without ever receiving any Congressional approval.
Ayers, Wright, Khalidi, and now Jones. These extremist just seem to pop up out of thin air around Obama like so many bad pennies. Just a coincidence?Its an old saying but it does have some truth. Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.
"reports of a derogatory comment Jones made in the past about Republicans"Wow, AP, carry the water for Obama much? If a Republican official had called Democrats "a--holes" like Jones did to Republicans, would AP have watered it down to a "derogatory comment?"
Is that like Jeremiah Wright saying things about white people and America "that some call controversial?" And you people wonder why the mainstream media is fading.
If a Republican says the tiniest little thing, it's front page news every day until he resigns or hopefully gets charged with something. If you're a Democrat, it's "an unfortunate distraction," and by the way he apologized so we should all shut up. Just like if a Republican did it 20 years ago it's then end of the world, but if a Democrat did it 20 minutes ago it's old news and we're just drumming up the past to "distract and divide" again.
By the way, did you notice the cowards made sure he split on Labor Day weekend when nobody would see it?
They act like they're the best thing in the history of the planet, but every time they get their butts handed to them on something it's a "distraction" and the guy/gal/guy-gal in question runs out on a long weekend. Why not just say "that's right, he said all that stuff. So what? That's what we believe in?"
Could it be they're not as popular as the media makes them out to be?
This comment has been deleted by the administrator.oh no! one less racist, truther. how will we get on without him?Well, Obama cut him loose pretty quickly. Let's hope this "crumbling to opposition" behavior continues. The thing is though, Obama chose him in the first place. Scary!Bahahaha one down only 50 or 100 or however many Czars he has now left to go. Altho I don't believe for one second anything will change. This racist idiot will probably still have Obama's ear every day on the phone, and/or his racist wife's.Adios you Worthless P!*&%$ ----What is Obama smoking ? Where does he find these people----This man is talking more defecation than I can produce in a lifetime---and I really loved the one where white children are sufferring soooo bad that they just wake up one day and decide to blow away an entire school and a black child would never do that----They just shoot everyone else whos in the way of who theyre shooting----Im surprised Nancy Pelosi hasnt came to his rescue---after all us terrible white folks are giving the black people all our pollution----Im sorry to sound inflammatory but I just cant comprehend what planet they came from?The article says that Jones was "an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly green jobs". It's a LIE!He was then, and is now, a street thug specializing in Communist skullduggery designed to undermine and overthrow the Constitution of the United States!
Any assessment other than that, is a GD LIE! That is what he is, and THAT is why BHO choose him in the first place. (PERIOD!)
Oh no this is terrible news! What will happen to all the Green Jobs that he was going to create to lift everyone out of poverty while simultaneously cleansing the planet??? This is not just a loss to the Obama adminstration but a loss for all of mankind! Oh yeah and of womankind too!We need to end these racists games. Obama is just a little slicker version of Van Jones. Jones has also bragged openly about being one of the rioters after the Rodney King fiasco and who knows what other violence and mayhem he has directed at whites. One thing is certain, The Obamamessiah was never about wanting America to be a "post racial society".That would put goons like him, Holder, Van Jones and nearly every visible black man with the meaningless "Reverend" in front of their name out of business.
Can anyone imagine if Regan tried pulling half of Obama's stunts?
America is sick and Obama and his ilk are both a cause and symptom of the cancer eating this country alive.
This guy is typical of the Odumba Czars. No substance and a real thug. Its all good.oops...did we forget to mention that Jones is an ex-con, thinks Venezuala is a model country, is an admitted communist and racist, firmly believes in the "redistrubution of wealth" as well as who knows what else! Just the sort of individual we need advising our President...or was he preaching to the choir??This comment has been deleted by the administrator.One day the Democrats will have to come to the realization that these radical noisemaker types don't ever solve problems because all they know how to do is point fingers. Anyone can yell and scream through a megaphone but that doesn't mean you're good at fixing problems.I guess elections do matter now don't they ? the problem with America is simple. A 20 year old kid who never held a job in his life, is still in high school and lives with his parents can vote for a candidate with not ever knowing anything about that candidate or any of the issues. That vote can then "cancel" the vote of a person who fought in a war serving their country, held a productive job and paid taxes for 30 years and is exposed to all the political issues and has formed an informed view of them. There is always this PUSH to get young people to vote. Why not PUSH to get INFORMED people who have a vested interest in this country to vote ?Instead it's like the media promotes voting for voting's sake. That's how an inexperienced candidate like Obama wins over a decorated War hero. Sad really, we still have almost 3 1/2 years until we get to chose again.
Just saying.......
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Well its official, Van Jones has been thrown under the Obama bus. Can't say I am sad, only that it happened quicker than I expected. Maybe Obama needs to look at his advisors a little more carefully or send them through a Senate confirmation hearing for a vetting like the Constitution requires. I wonder if he received a Chicago offer he couldn't refuse.
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