NOTE: I wrote this before reading this. My point still stands though, Beck's increased attacks on Jones are clearly motivated by Jones' association with ColorOfChange.org which ended in 2007.

The story goes something like this: Van Jones helped found ColorOfChange.org which, “exists to strengthen Black America's political voice,” particularly online. Fox News' Glenn Beck said President Obama has “a deep-seated hatred for white people” before going on to say that “this guy is, I believe, a racist.” ColorOfChange.org kicks off a campaign calling on advertisers to drop their sponsorship of Beck's show. To date, at least 57 companies have ceased advertising on Beck's Fox News program. Beck refuses to apologize and goes after Jones calling him, among other things, one of the President's “radical advisors” who is “fighting a revolution.” In vintage Beck, the Fox News conspiracy-theorist-in-chief bizarrely asked: “Will progressive pigs fly right out of Van Jones' butt and pedal bicycles to” replace coal power? Heck, even CNN's Howard Kurtz noted that Beck had “trashed” Jones while “neglect[ing] to mention” that Jones had co-founded the group which is currently leading the boycott of his Fox News show.

I don't view Beck as the second coming like many in his audience seem to, so I was of course immediately suspicious of his claims about Jones. After a little time on Google I found this YouTube video of Jones and a few others addressing the “Green Collar Economy” at the Center for American Progress back in November.

Watch the video for yourself -- Jones starts just after the 14 minute mark.

I'm sure you'll agree that Beck's rantings are more likely motivated by the loss of so many major sponsors (along with a dash of his own special blend of paranoia and crazy) than by the dark, supposedly “radical” portrait of Jones that Beck's been painting.