So does his aligning himself with the crazy lib Dems in Congress and agitating for Lysenkoist climate-related legislation, for example — as well as with the failed health care effort.

And:

” Had Van Jones be vetted by the Senate “

Aside from the “czars” as silly figureheads or inept additions of bureaucracies, there's the more sinister aspect that many of these officials who are adjutants to the President are outside Congressional purview, and in some cases this must be deliberately sought and arranged. Why?

* * *

“But what does this sad tale mean for the future of appointments in the White House?”

Aside from the extremist and play-pen examples we've seen (not only with Van Jones but, for example, with Carol Browner), we have to also note that far from all of the appointments have yet been filled!

Add ineptitude or darker explanations to the already-bad record.

Obama tries to see himself as a moderate, and making appointments such as Van Jones dispels that myth. He can't continue to try to sell that image with Van Jones hanging around with any degree of credibility. Had Van Jones be vetted by the Senate and gotten some Republican support Obama would have had political cover, he wasn't and he doesn't. When you make your own appointments unilaterally they reflect on you, team Obama didn't like the image that was coming back so Van Jones got jetisoned before he could do more damage to the image. If you go out on a limb, and the limb breaks its your own fault.

Jazz and T-Steel touched on this issue of propaganda with the Levi Johnston story with Jazz posting a story on Levi then deriding the public for consuming said stories. The bald fact remains that the media chooses at will what the public is informed about and what stories will create a dog-piling frenzy of 24/7 coverage. We talk about what the Village wants to talk about, and are interested in what they are interested in.

However, what's also important to note is that corporations and the media are not monolithic in response. Look at coverage of Hurricane Katrina, which I think was responsible for Bush's lame duck status more so than the Iraq War. Look at their support for Obama, a relative unknown as opposed to tried and true measures of HRC and McCain. Obama is living proof that corporations are not supreme.

“Remember the missing nine billion in Iraq, the fortune Halliburton made with cost plus contracting in Iraq, the civilians killed by Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq, if you don't I am not surprised, these stories barely made the headlines. I wonder why? Care to fill me in…”

Yes I do, and I hate to say it, but I'm getting tired of the bellyaching. If you hate how current media companies are producing news, make your own or support the ones you like. Blaming the “center-right” public and the “liberal” MSM is fun for a while, but I don't think witty snark is going to change the world.

There is also the Political response and chutzpah of the Republicans in defending their own, which gives them their mystical grand powers. Now you can attribute every bad thing that happens to the Democratic party and every good thing that happens to the Republicans to due to some secret cabal that meets in a shadowy underground temple buried underneath the Lincoln Memorial, or you could listen to what Jazz is saying. The questions of corruption, treason, and competence set aside, what Republicans are known for and do is protect their own (witness Cheney lobbying for complete pardon of Libby). Obama and his staff deliberately choose not to do the same.

There is no secret cabals, it's all out in the open… The mass media is owned lock stock and barrel by Corporations and therefor represent the interest of the Corporations. In general Corporations want two things, as little regulations as possible and cheap labor, and they will support anyone who will provide these things, in their opinion the people who will offer them these things are Republicans.

But Democrats never seem to have the same political chutzpah and derring-do as the Republicans.

The reason Democrats keep folding is really simple they serve two masters, their money people (Wealthy Individuals & Corporations) and their voters, when ever there is conflict between the two the voters lose which is why we will end up with gay marriage before we end up with a affordable functional health-care system.

To blame all of that only on some external force that seems more a creation of your own bitterness and cynicism is foolish.

Remember Whitewater, the scandal that would never die, it made the front page of every major Newspaper damn near every day for eight years.
Remember the missing nine billion in Iraq, the fortune Halliburton made with cost plus contracting in Iraq, the civilians killed by Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq, if you don't I am not surprised, these stories barely made the headlines. I wonder why? Care to fill me in…

Now, Republicans may be more corrupt because of this, but they retain the loyalty and services of their little soldiers as a result. But Democrats never seem to have the same political chutzpah and derring-do as the Republicans. To blame all of that only on some external force that seems more a creation of your own bitterness and cynicism is foolish.

You are spot on correct, there will be many unintended consequences spawning from this debacle.

No there won't!!! There are two standards in the US, there is the standard Republicans are subjected to and there is the standard Democrats are subjected to.

If you are a Republican, Being a convicted felon is not a barrier to entry into the highest levels of government. Iran-Contra figures get jobs in Bush administration

Poindexter was convicted in 1990 on five felony charges of conspiracy, making false statements to Congress and obstructing congressional inquiries. He was sentenced to six months in prison, time he never served.
…
Another former Iran­Contra defendant is Elliott Abrams. He now serves as Bush's special White House assistant for democracy and human rights. An assistant secretary of state under Reagan, Abrams pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress, then was pardoned by the first President George Bush

All these new fangled standards will be sent down the Memory-Hole the minute a Republican is in the White House. If you doubt me see how Pravda on the Hudson and Isvestia on the Potomac treated the GWBush & Clinton administrations.

I wonder if future Republican administrations will have to rule out appointees for having been birthers, tenthers, death panelists, supply side economists, racists or homophobes? There will be no Republicans left to appoint and we will then have true one man rule.

But I'm not a hardliner. If Rep. Michelle Bachman was an optometrist and good at it, I would trust my eyes to her even though I find her politics and worldview quite wacky. If Rep. Barney Frank was a helluva caterer, he would have my business. So on and so forth. I'm about how a person can do the job and if they can do it fair. Van Jones would have been a Green Jobs Czar. Does being a “Mumia guy” affect that? He would have only advised black radicals and treated white people with scorn? Made sure green jobs are only available to Marxists?

Now if he was ran out of town due to lack of qualifications, I wouldn't say a darn thing.