Unemployment

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner didn't like the unemployment facts David Gregory presented to him on a chart during yesterday's Meet the Press.

Unemployment 7.3 percent Inauguration Day. Up to 9.2 percent with the latest report. Up 26 percent.

Geithner's response -- Well, David, that's a--let me just say that's a ridiculous table...

Gregory -- You're certainly not disputing those numbers. And this is what happened with the jobs report this week. The New York Times described it this way. "Feeble Job Numbers Show Recovery Starting To Stall...

Geithner -- The, the economy absolutely slowed in the first half of the year. There's no doubt on that. And when the economy slows, job creation will slow, and that's what's happening. It slowed because...

Geithner then went on to blame, among other things, higher gas prices (a gallon of gas up over 100 percent since Obama's inauguration) and really terrible weather across the country which slowed construction spending.

The weather excuse certainly sounded familiar and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The Big Lug Nut, last July, tried to Blame It On The Rain while defending his poor unemployment record and I-JOBS spending that began in 2009.

That was certainly a winning strategy.

Keep in mind the Obama administration's 2009 stimulus spending was supposed to keep unemployment from reaching higher than 8%.

Now the administration tells us

W.H.: Jobless rate can drop to 8.2% by the fourth quarter of 2012.

If that happens, look for another spike after that because Americans will be adding the Obama/Biden administration to the unemployment rolls.

Asleep at the Wheel?

From The Washington Times Inside Politics column....

"Asked by a reporter about how 'President Bush today blamed the surge of violence in Iraq on al Qaeda,' incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded with a disjointed answer about how 'the 9/11 commission dismissed that notion a long time ago, and I feel sad that the president is resorting to it again,' " the Media Research Center's Brent Baker reports at www.mrc.org.

"Though al-Qaeda is clearly in Iraq and responsible for deadly bombings, and the 9/11 commission conclusion was about links before September 11, on Tuesday's 'NBC Nightly News' reporter David Gregory treated Pelosi's off-base retort as credible and relevant.

Without suggesting any miscue by her, Gregory segued to Pelosi's sound bite with a bewildering set up of his own about how incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disagreed, warning that such rhetoric about al Qaeda will make it harder for Democrats to work with the White House.

"On [Fox News Channel's] 'Special Report with Brit Hume,' after panelist Mara Liasson characterized Pelosi as 'confused' and Morton Kondrake suggested she was just 'mixed up,' Fred Barnes maintained that 'she clearly screwed up here.' ...

"Barnes argued the media wouldn't let a Republican get away with such a flub, telling Kondrake: 'If some Republican had done this, if Bush had done this at a press conference, if Newt Gingrich had said it, if John Boehner had said it, if Roy Blunt had said it, you'd have been all over it. It would be inexcusable.'

"Neither ABC's 'World News Tonight' or 'The CBS Evening News' played the Pelosi sound bite."

SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

SanFranNan Pa-LOSER is off to a rousing start.

I can't wait to see how smooth her first 100 hours as Speaker will be.

*****UPDATE*****

The Dummycrats are already backing away from a key election promise!

Here's what the Washington Post is reporting....

It was a solemn pledge, repeated by Democratic leaders and candidates over and over: If elected to the majority in Congress, Democrats would implement all of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that examined the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But with control of Congress now secured, Democratic leaders have decided for now against implementing the one measure that would affect them most directly: a wholesale reorganization of Congress to improve oversight and funding of the nation's intelligence agencies. Instead, Democratic leaders may create a panel to look at the issue and produce recommendations, according to congressional aides and lawmakers.

....aides on the House and Senate appropriations, armed services and intelligence committees confirmed this week that a reorganization of Congress would not be part of the package of homeland-security changes up for passage in the "first 100 hours" of the Democratic Congress.

The 9/11 Commission was unequivocal about the need.

"Of all our recommendations, strengthening congressional oversight may be among the most difficult and important," the panel wrote. "So long as oversight is governed by current congressional rules and resolutions, we believe the American people will not get the security they want and need."

Sufferin' Succotash Sylvester score another swing and a miss for Pa-LOSER!

The View from ABC Broadcasting

They'll give Rosie O'Donnell an open forum to fling dung at Christianity, but they can't find time to carry all of President Bush's news conference.

They cut away, over 15 minutes early, to Kate Snow and George Stephanopoulos giving their interpretation of the President's remarks. They then returned to regular programming, in this case local news on Channel 5.

Disgraceful!

NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC & CNN all stayed with the President.

I didn't catch the whole news conference, but the President was in command! You can tell he gets annoyed with these media morons!!

He put NBC's David Gregory in his place, back on his butt with his mouth closed. If Gregory had any sense he'd be embarrassed by his pompous actions.

He did have a funny exchange with a New York Times reporter. I'll paraphrase...

GWB: Did you say Hi Mr. President, that's pretty friendly.

NYT: We're a friendly newspaper.

GWB: Yeah.......Let me put it this way, I'd hate to see UN-friendly!

That's a step up?

MSNBC has decided to remove Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as anchors of their election coverage.

Their replacement is David Gregory (pictured--Nothing up my sleeve, nothing inside my head).

How low have they sunk for this to be considered an improvement?

Olbermann and Matthews will remain as ANALysts.

Nothing has really changed and the scientific community is united in that fact.