Van Jones Denies Signing Truther Petition-Apologizes for the Other Crazy Things

This mornng Gateway Pundit Broke the story that self-proclaimed Communist and Obama Green Jobs Czar was a Truther, someone who believes that 9/11 was planned by George Bush so he could go into Iraq. Gatway Found Van Jone's name on a petition from 2004 that was eventually given over to the NY DA along with their 9/11 claims by the group 9/11truth.org

Here at #47 on the list is none other than Barack Obama's communist Green Czar Van Jones:

The news that Obama's Green Jobs Czar had a weak link to realty spread through the internet all day and eventially was revealed to the TV audience by Glenn Beck today.

Tonight Jake Tapper of ABC New is Reporting that Van Jones has apologized for all the crazy things he said, but denied the crazy thing he signed.

..In a statement issued Thursday evening Jones said of "the [truther] petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."

He did not explain how his name came to be on the petition.

This petition was signed and delivered in October 2004, five years ago,way before he was part of the Obama administration. The petition was publicized all over the place. Jones wants us to believe someone picked this unknown name out of a hat and added it to a petition without his knowledge? Why because they thought his unknown name would add so much visibility to the petition next to Ed Asner, Janene Garofalo, or Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney?  I think I would believe his 9/11 truther story before I would believe his denial.

Then Jones got weepy:

"My work at the Council on Environmental Quality is entirely focused on one goal: building clean energy incentives which create 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and use renewable resources," Jones said in his statement tonight.

Jones also said in his statement that "In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration – some of which were made years ago. If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize."

The next paragraph is unusual for Tapper as he allowed a bogus claim to go through unchallenged:

With a history of incendiary and provocative remarks, many of them dealing with his view of how whites exploit minorities, Jones has emerged as the subject of much conservative scrutiny in recent days, particularly from Fox News' Glenn Beck. (Jones defenders point out that most of Beck's criticism came after a group Jones helped found, Color of Change, began pushing advertisers to boycott Beck after he accused President Obama of being a racist.)

If Jake checked the facts he would have found out that the Color of Change efforts came as a result of Glen Beck's expose' on Jones, not the other way around.

Some of the other unhinged statements Jones has made incude:

In 2005 Jones told the East Bay Express that the acquittal of Rodney King's assailants in 1992 in that infamous police brutality case changed him significantly. "I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist."

Jones and other young activists in 1994 formed a group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, rooted in Marxism and Leninsm. Two years later, Jones launched the Ella Baker Center, an Oakland, Calif., based "strategy and action center" which states that it tries to "promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration."

In February during a discussion on energy at Berkeley, Calif., (and prior to his joining the Obama administration) Jones referred to Republicans using an epithet for a proctological orifice, which he called "a technical, political science term."

Asked why Republicans asserted more control of the Senate when they had a smaller majority before 2006, Jones said "the answer to that is, they're a--holes." He added that President Obama is not an a--hole, but, "I will say this. I can be an a--hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity."

"I apologize for the offensive words I chose to use during that speech," Jones said in a different written statement to Politico on Wednesday. "They do not reflect the views of this administration, which has made every effort to work in a bipartisan fashion, and they do not reflect the experience I have had since I joined the administration."

The Van Jones case brings up the question whether Obama's vetting staff is really lousy by allowing Van Jones to slip through, or is the POTUS comfortable with a communist, race-baiting truther as part of his administration.

UPDATE: Amanda Carpenter of the Washington Times spoke to the Grand Poobah of the Truther Organization who says all signatures were verified:

Mike Berger, a spokesman for 911Truth.org, told the Washington Times over the phone Thursday morning all of the signers had been verified by their group.  He said 9/11Truth.org board members “spoke with each person on the list by phone or through email to individually confirm they have added their name to that list.”

“I think in most cases they spoke to them personally,” he added. “No one’s name was put on that list without them knowing it.”