Kleiman Sums Up the Van Jones Thing

Nothing more to say but this:

There’s an important general lesson here: If you want to say batsh*t-crazy stuff and still be treated as a respectable participant in the national debate, you’d better be a Republican. Suggesting that President Bush invited the 9/11 attacks in order to start a war is really no crazier than suggesting that President Obama wants to let terrorists loose in the United States, or that he plans to kill old people and disabled children, or that there’s something sinister about his encouraging schoolkids to study hard.

Actually, no, there is one other thing. The fact of his resignation is going to embolden Republicans and sap the morale of Democrats. Not his statements, extreme statements don't sap a damned thing. His resignation. The hard-right wingnuts like Beck will feel even more emboldened, and Democrats will be even more afraid to speak their minds and call out the Republicans on their nonsense. Why would they? The Republicans will savage them, and the Dems will abandon them.

I just hope that somehow, someday, a Democrat will know what belonging to a real political party feels like.