So how did a 9/11 truther like Van Jones get to be an Obama czar?
Although Obama's czars don't need to be approved by Congress, like Cabinet members, there had to be at least some vetting process involved.
Whatever it was, it did not involve the Obama questionnaire, 7 pages of 63 questions.
Full text of the questionnaire here.
From FOX News, Major Garrett:
Van Jones, the Obama green jobs czar who resigned shortly after midnight Sunday, did not fill out the exhaustive questionnaire White House officials required of every Cabinet-level secretary and deputy-secretary position.
An administration official said special advisers to the president, or czars, are not required to fill out the questionnaire that runs 7 pages and contains 63 questions.
The entire questionnaire, the official said, is reserved for appointees who must win Senate confirmation.
Among the varied topics covered in the questionnaire: history as a lobbyist or other "legislative agent", tax liens, bankruptcies, spousal employment, potential conflicts of interest, domestic help, internet "handles" and Facebook pages, and traffic fines in excess of $50.
Question 61 reads as follows: "Have you had any association with any person, group or business venture that could be used - even unfairly - to impugn or attack your character and qualifications for government service?"
That question might have raised a flag since Jones signed a 2004 petition calling for an investigation into potential government complicity in the 9/11 attrocities that left nearly 3,000 civilians dead in coordinated hijacked airplane attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
I'm not convinced that if Jones had filled out the questionnaire honestly and completely that any flags would have been raised.
I think it's highly possible that those on Team Obama are so out of the mainstream that being a 9/11 truther isn't an issue for them.
About Jones not understanding the nature of the petition and mistakenly signing it--
Before resigning, Jones issued a statement approved by the Council for Environmental Quality, that said he "did not agree" with the 9/11Truth.org statement and that it did not reflect his views "now or ever."
However, Fox News correspondent James Rosen spoke with 911Truth.org spokesman Mike Berger on Friday and Berger said Jones knew what the petition said and agreed with its contents.
"He did agree with that statement and he did sign on to it," Berger said in a phone interview with Rosen. Berger said the group's "original board members individually confirmed all signatories that had signed on to the statement." Asked by what means the confirmation was obtained, Berger said: "They did it through email or on the phone."
An administration official said Jones never hid his controversial associations or remarks from the White House.
"It wouldn't be fair to characterize him as being dishonest or hiding his comments or his positions," the official said. "It's just fair to say that he didn't go through the most rigorous vetting process."
If Berger is to be believed, then Jones lied when he said the petition did not reflect his views "now or ever."
Moreover, if it's true that Jones didn't hide his comments or positions from the White House, then something is really amiss.
It wouldn't take a very rigorous vetting process to discover that Jones is a 9/11 truther.
Either there is virtually no vetting process for Obama's czars or Jones' views weren't seen as being of any concern.
Both possibilities are troubling.
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