Van Jones, Pres. Obama’s green jobs czar, resigned late yesterday amid growing criticism about his past comments.
According to the NYTimes, Jones said in a statement released early today, “I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past.”
In recent weeks, Jones, and his past comments, had been the focus of almost daily segments on Glenn Beck’s Fox News Channel program. Last week, Beck wondered where the other media were in reporting the story: “Hey! ABC, NBC… well I know where NBC is… CBS where the hell are ya? CNN where are ya?”
On Friday, CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reported a story for Friday’s Evening News which laid out those past comments and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ “let’s see how this all works out” attitude. 24 hours later, in the middle of the Labor Day weekend, Jones resigned.
Beck’s critics complained the talk radio and TV host was only going after Jones because he had co-founded an organization that launched an ad boycott of Beck’s show.
Still, Beck has been talking about Jones since before the boycott began, which was triggered by this comment Beck made on Fox & Friends July 28. Beck first began talking about Jones on his radio show July 16 and on his TV show July 23.