The Scandal That Could Dwarf Watergate

Once upon a time a group of political operatives inside the White House decided to find out what the Democratic National Committee was up to in the run-up to the 1972 presidential election.

And so they recruited a group to break into DNC headquarters, in the Watergate Complex, to install eavesdropping devices. It didn't go well, and the five men were caught.

Thus began a months-long saga in which journalists uncovered a conspiracy among top level White House officials to cover up their knowledge and participation in this and a few other relative minor -- but significant -- trespasses against the constitutional rights of others.

Eventually suspicion went all the way into the Oval Office, and forced the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Watergate remains the gold standard of presidential scandals, chiefly because of how many people were involved in the coverup attempt of forbidden activities, including political dirty tricks.

But it may soon have a challenger.

There is a high presidential adviser to President Obama, by name of Van Jones, who is the "Green Jobs Czar." Yeah, weird name. But he's kind of a different sort of guy anyway. He started out as merely a black nationalist attorney, but became a committed Marxist since his imprisonment for participating in the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. Later he "saw the light' of the environmental movement -- Green is the new Red, you know -- and hopped on that bandwagon.

Naturally, our new president saw great potential in Van Jones, and brought him into the fold.

Turns out Jones has many talents, not the least of which is to run a political operation against perceived enemies of the White House.

Jones was a founding member of a group called "Color of Change" that is pressuring advertisers to get off or stay off of Glenn Beck's TV show on "Fox." At this point several big advertisers have pulled their programs, including Geico and Progressive insurance companies, SC Johnson, and Wal Mart. There may be 20 in all, although that's somewhat hard to pin down.

You can get up to speed HERE, or HERE and HERE.

Now I don't have any problem with economic boycotts. It's still a free country -- barely.

But I do have a problem with a campaign against a political commentator, left or right, being directed from the White House. And that's exactly what looks to be happening. Van Jones has come under scrutiny -- thank God -- by Beck for his past behavior and associations. It is obvious that Jones is hitting back.

That the president hasn't seen fit to discipline his valuable "green jobs" czar is all you need to know.

If any other White House had behaved this way, there would be loud cries from the press and the Congress for investigations into "Jones-gate" or "Ad-gate."

So far the silence is deafening.

If the White House can orchestrate financial damage to a critic by employing affiliated outside groups, which are by the way funded with tax money and certain lefty philanthropists, or even better yet if it can force the cancellation of an opposing voice, you can bet that it will not stop there. At the least they apparently hope they can get Beck to back off his criticism of the White House. (They don't know Beck very well.)

This White House has signaled that it is only for free speech as long as you agree with it. President Obama has publicly declared that "those who created the mess" need to get out of the way "and stop talking." The mess defined as anything he doesn't like and intends to "clean up."

Apparently he and his commie buddy Van Jones believe that Glenn Beck needs to stop talking.

Not even Richard Nixon was this prickly, or tricky.