Really, the good thing about the blowup was that it drew additional attention to Jones, providing further publicity to the allegation that he is a 9/11 Truther.

Here's Jake Tapper:

Van Jones, the Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is Number 46 of the petitioners from the so-called "Truther" movement which suggests that people in the administration of President George W. Bush "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."

In a statement issued Thursday evening Jones said of "the 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. An administration source said Jones says he did not carefully review the language in the petition before agreeing to add his name.

Shoe's on the other foot, right? Believing that your country murdered more than 3,000 citizens in order to fuck with gas prices is very similar in its paranoia and emphasis on imagined facts to believing that Pres. Barack Obama is not an American. What's fascinating is that Obama can hire a 9/11 Truther and not be called a traitor, yet any Senate Republican would be dead to rights if he came within 10 feet of bringing a Birther on staff. You know what the Birthers need? Professors.

Sorry for the short roundup, y'all. It's FALL ARTS GUIDE TIME!