That afternoon, Meg Whitman gave this statement to The Weekly Standard:
My husband and I met (Van Jones) and many others on a cruise sponsored by National Geographic and The Aspen Institute. He talked about supporting job growth in California, but of course I did not do a background check of his past over dinner. As these reports have surfaced, it's clear that he holds views that I entirely reject; any suggestion otherwise is ridiculous.
So stop quoting that other thing I said. What kind of fool would take me at my word?
Also, you've gotta love how she has to get it in that her husband was there, too. There was no, repeat NO shipboard romance between Van Jones and Meg Whitman.
Meg's only twisted love affair is with The Weekly Standard. Fred Barnes wrote a gushing cover story about her in May -
Meg Whitman is the most interesting person in American politics and, potentially, a formidable Republican leader at the national level.
-- but it was accompanied by an illustration that made her look like a hydrocephalitic village idiot with the late Richard Harris' hair.
I guess it's like when a boy at school pushes you down because he likes you.
Anyway, Meg wants you to know that, when it comes to Van Jones, although she "got to know him very well" and she's "a big fan," she also hates everything he stands for, and doesn't know him from Adam Clayton Powell.
I hope that clears it all up.
She doesn't say whether she still thinks he's articulate.