Obama adviser: Republicans are "a**holes"

A video in which White House green jobs adviser Van Jones calls Congressional Republicans (and himself) "a**holes" is quickly making the rounds on the Internet this morning.

Jones made the off-the-cuff remark in February, during his lecture at a Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC) event on the green economy. At the time, the Obama administration had not yet tapped Jones to serve as a special adviser on the White House's Council on Environmental Quality.

The slip happened in response to a question about the Democratic Party's inability to push legislation through Congress.

"When [President George W. Bush] was in office, [Republicans] had a majority; it wasn't 60, it wasn't more than 60, but they pushed through all of these bills," the questioner began. "But when we have 58, we seem to not be able to move things as progressively as many of us here would want, as Obama wants. ... how were they Republicans able to push things through when they had less than 60 sens, but we cant?"

That's when the first slip happened. "Well the answer to that is, they're a**holes," Jones said, prompting audience applause.

"I was afraid that was the answer," the questioner replied.

Jones, however, continued his casual rant. "And Barack Obama is not an a**hole. Now, I will say this: I can be an a**hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama, are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity [to get things done]."