The muted response to the racist campaign against Van Jones says volumes about where so-called progressive whites and the most powerful Green and liberal groups.  Judging by just how quickly the administration surrendered to Glenn Beck’s assault, grassrootsers still don’t count for much within the White House. 

A recent story in AlterNet explores some of the ties between Astroturf groups and the FOX news campaign. Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake offers her take on why liberal institutions have distanced themselves from the whole affair. So what’s really at stake? And what does the Van Jones story reveal about American politics?

Ludovic Blain, Project Manager of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative, Rory O’Connor, co-founder of Globalvision and the author of Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio: America’s Ten Worst Hate Talkers and the Progressive Alternativesir?t=lauraflanders-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0975272438Tim Wise, the author of Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obamair?t=lauraflanders-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0872865002, and Jane Hamsher, the founder of Firedoglake discuss the recent developments and what their impact might be.