Van Jones: Does the NYT Know What a Truther Is?

Van Jones: Does the NYT Know What a Truther Is?

Van Jones: Does the NYT Know What a Truther Is?

A mostly political weblog.
Sept. 7 2009 1:21 AM

Van Jones: Does the NYT Know What a Truther Is?

Amazingly, many New York Times print readers still don't know why Van Jones resigned! Here's how the paper's John Broder describes his situation:  

The adviser, Van Jones, a controversial and charismatic community organizer and "green jobs" advocate from the San Francisco Bay Area, signed a petition in 2004 questioning whether the Bush administration had allowed the terrorist attacks of September 2001 to provide a pretext for war in the Middle East. [ E.A. ]

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Reading that, would you realize the petition was a Truther petition? You might think Jones simply made the standard argument that Bush shouldn't have used 9/11 to help gin up the Iraq War--as opposed to suggesting that Bush "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war," which is what the petition actually said  [ E.A. ] ...

P.S.: Is this a) the famous meddling liberal  Times editors rewriting Broder's lede graf to soften the blow to Jones or b) Broder sanding the facts in order to make his apparent thesis--that the White House was somewhat coldy caving in to conservative attacks on a minor official--more plausible (if the petition's wording had been made clear, after all, it might have looked like the conservatives had the goods on Jones and the White House was actually doing Jones a favor by letting him resign quietly), or c) incompetence--maybe second-string editors filling in over Labor Day who permitted either (a) or (b)?

P.P.S.: Sarah Wheaton's earlier Times story did not make Broder's mistake. ... [ Thanks to alert reader C.B .] 

Update: Newsweek ' s Daniel Stone defends Jones on the Truther count :

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It's worth noting that the "truther" movement accusing the Bush Administration of a hand in 9/11 has evolved significantly since 2004. Back then, it was a sizable group of skeptical citizens asking unanswered questions. Only since has the association turned fringe and angry.

Really? I remember attending some lectures around 2004 that were beseiged by Truthers. They sure seemed crazy to me. Stone goes on::

And besides, those questionable instances came before he had an administration to speak for and constituents to answer to.

Well all right then! ... 

Best defense of Jones so far: My brother's Wacky Bay Area Defense ! And it's not very good. ... 11:24 P.M.

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