As previously noted, Van Jones found himself in hot water for exclaiming that Republicans were "assholes" during a tape-recorded conference held in February of this year - roughly a month prior to his ascendancy as "Green Jobs Czar" for President Obama.  Once Republican/conservative operatives found out about this, they apparently smelled smoke, and began digging deeper, uncovering even more outlandish and controversial statements made by this California left-wing radical. 

The result:  Even though much of the liberal media did not report a single solitary word of the right-wing orchestrated controversy, Mr. Jones offered up his resignation (probably at request), and President Obama accepted it.  As an aside, this may be indicative of the declining power of the leftist media - that a right wing furor that went almost entirely unreported in the "main-stream" media resulted in Mr. Jones departure post-haste.  I found it highly entertaining to read some of the rather sedate reporting of Mr. Jones' sudden departure, considering these "news" outlets never mentioned the controversy right up until Van Jones green job swirled into the toilet.  Declining Presidential poll numbers among swing conservatives - the block which put Obama in office, may have been a factor in Jones' demise.

That Mr. Van Jones is a left-wing radical is undeniable, in my opinion.  That President Obama would hire a left-wing radical with fringe views is no surprise, since President Obama is a left-wing radical himself (come on Stupid America - face it).  The more interesting aspect of this story is the hiring standards for these "Czars", and how they get into public office with inadequate vetting, if there is any public vetting at all.

However, setting aside whatever scrutiny is lacking for the hiring process of these sorts of Presidential appointments, I part with those conservatives gleefully celebrating the demise of Mr. Jones.  While Mr. Jones may have been stricken by that common ailment of foot-in-mouth disease,  there are no reports I've seen that he did illegal things like knowingly dodge taxes.  Unlike so many other 'have-to-have' Obama appointees who did go through Congressional vetting, and were passed despite their glaring flaws.  So, why is tax dodging perfectly acceptable, while calling Republicans assholes, plus the other kooky stuff Jones said, worthy of dismissal? 

Whether left wing radical or right wing radical, I would rather not see either fringe kook type wind up on the public payroll, but in a nation in which free speech is supposed to be both cherished and fiercely defended, Mr Jones radical views, especially expressed before he took office, should not result in his forced departure.  It's just wrong.  This is America dammit, and Mr Jones has both a God-given and Constitutionally protected right to make an asshole out of himself.  What's more, driving Van Jones from his cushy Government job over this issue makes conservatives look like........well.......assholes.

There are plenty of Republicans who are assholes by any standard.  Take former speaker Newt Gingrich for example - telling his wife he wanted a divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery - that's Royal asshole-ishness.  How about Dick Cheney dropping the F-bomb on the floor of the Senate?  And Lord knows there are assholes aplenty on the Democrat side - Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Barney Franks to name just a few.

So, let he/she who has never been an asshole in their life cast the first stone, otherwise "STFU".