MORE ON JONES - AT 7:01 P.M. ET:  Van Jones, the president's embattled "green jobs" czar, is still on the payroll at this hour, despite multiple revelations that he is an leftist extremist with a history of very disturbing views - among them that 9-11 was an inside job, that President Bush spoke like a "crackhead," and now, we find in a new news report, the view that only white suburban kids commit Columbine-type massacres.  That last point might technically be true, but murder in the inner city is not exactly unknown. 

Jones has not resigned.  He should, to save the president embarrassment.  Indeed, the only reason I can think of for his not resigning is that he may have gotten private assurance from the White House that he's being kept on.  I suspect that his extremist views have no impact on an important segment of Obama's left-wing constituency or even parts of the Congressional Black Caucus.  That group's leader, after all, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California, is a follower of Fidel Castro. 

Jones's presence will give renewed emphasis to the charge, made during the presidential campaign and ridiculed by the in-the-tank-for-The-One media, that Obama is himself sympathetic to the fringe left, and associated most of his life with some of its players.  Those charges seem fresh today, don't they?

September 5, 2009