Lots of good stuff to read on the Web today. First, Best Headline award to Paul Krugman — “Whom the Gods Would Destroy, They First Make Bipartisan.” He was referring to pundits who had fallen for Paul Ryan’s packaging as a courageous, honest, serious, and even wonky intellectual. Apparently some scales have fallen from some eyes.
Speaking of bipartisanship, here’s more proof that the practice of “fact checking” is dying on a bipartisan vine. Last night Mayor Castro said that 4.5 million jobs had been created on President Obama’s watch. (I am pretty certain he said “private sector jobs,” although that’s not in the official transcript. Maybe someone could check that.) Well, the fact-checkers at CNN confirmed that this number is correct — 4.5 million private sector jobs have been added to the economy since January 2010, when the recession hit bottom — but they downgrade the statement anyway. Why? Because (a) the economy lost a million public sector jobs; and (b) you have to subtract the number of jobs lost from January 2009 to January 2010, when the economy was still in free-fall.
So, CNN says, the Obama Administration has seen a net gain of only 300,000 private sector jobs, and when you add in the public sector jobs lost — many of which were lost because Republican governors were “balancing budgets” to make room for tax cuts — you end up with a negative number.
And I cordially invite CNN to fact check my ass. If anything, CNN’s argument makes the Democrats’ point, that the Bush economic crisis was so terrible it took a whole year just to stop the hemorrhage. And we wouldn’t have lost so many public sector jobs had Republicans not cut aid to states out of the stimulus, and see above about the Republican governors. How many jobs did Scott Walker alone lose?
See also Brian Beutler, “The Truth Behind The GOP Claim That Obama Hasn’t Created A Single Net Job.”
Do read Lincoln Mitchell, “Hey You Kids, Get Off of the Republican Party’s Lawn.” A sample:
Eastwood’s speech reveals a lot about today’s Republican Party. First, the fact that he was up on that podium in the first place raises questions about the professionalism and judgment of the operatives and strategists who planned the convention. Apparently, none of the people charged with making sure the convention presented the party and the candidate in the best light possible thought it was worth it to vet Eastwood’s speech or to find out whether the octogenarian actor was up to the task of giving a speech at the convention. This is the kind of mistake that serious presidential campaign teams do not make, but today’s Republican Party is rapidly losing its claim to being a serious or professional operation.
(In Eastwood’s defense, sorta kinda, I have to say that he is first and foremost an entertainer, and he was giving the audience in front of him exactly what they wanted.)
Likewise, much of the reaction from the Right to last night’s Dem convention was just weird. I see little attempt at substantive criticism; they are mostly picking out things like taking “God” out of the platform (thank you, Dems). They also went ballistic over a line from a video shown in Charlotte, “Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To.” See Steve M for details.
Finally, don’t miss Nate Silver, “Sept. 4: The Simple Case for Why Obama Is the Favorite.”
I cordially invite CNN to fact check my ass.
Thank you! I’ve been thinking the very same thing, except I don’t want Wolf Blitzer anywhere near my ass.
OK, so on to Night 2. Last evening my Official Snack Food was guacamole, in honor of the keynoter. I suppose tonight, for Big Dawg, it oughta be BBQ? Or as Letterman once quipped, “Press a button on the VCR and fried dough comes out”? Or post-heart surgery post-conversion Big Dawg organic veggies?
Bleah. M&Ms it is!
Now that it’s completely devoid of any journalistic credibility (with the exceptions of Soledad O’Brian, and occasionally, Anderson Cooper), I’m sure they have Erick, the son of another Erick, who was the son of yet another Erick, going all the way back to the original one to first step on our shores, ‘Erick, the Red State,’ to check on whatever it is that he considers “facts.” And to verify those” facts,” he reaches into his rather ample ass, pulls the proof out, and smears it on a piece of paper. ‘Hey,’ he probably tells his bosses, ‘sh*tty facts are better than none!’
And I’m sure that he’s inably assisted by Dana, the Loeschbag.
And Wolf is, if he ever was, of no help whatsoever, since he wouldn’t know a fact from a factoid from a blatant lie, if one bit him on his sagging lupine ass.
Eastwood’s little skit didn’t disturb me. I saw it as standard fare for the Repugs. After seeing Joe Walsh’s episode of calling the President of the United States a lair during a State of the Union speech, I kinda guessed that any respect for that office was out the window,at least while a black man was occupying the office.
Have to disagree with you on the “best headline” thing (although that is a good one). I think Garance Franke-Ruta’s “FLOTUS like a butterfly, sting like a bee” wins the internet.
I followed the con man link from Krugman’s article linked above and found this beauty. Just had to share it.
Mr. Ryan isn’t offering fresh food for thought; he’s serving up leftovers from the 1990s, drenched in flimflam sauce.
How many jobs has Scooter “My Hero” Walker lost (people really have that on their front lawn)? Ok, lets see, carry the two, multiply times how many months Walker’s been in office. Add 6,000 for all the teaching jobs that were lost (but somehow the ‘reforms’ are working, despite the data). We’re at close to 40K jobs lost. With the worst prospect for future growth in the country. Other states around us are adding jobs (including Illinois, whom Walker loves to lampoon). He said he would add 250,000 new jobs his first term. At this point, that’s getting on toward 15-20K jobs PER MONTH. I must say I hope he does it, we need them badly, but I know they won’t happen because the policy just doesn’t work.
Regarding the referenced Steve M’s blog comment, I have an interesting bit of trivia from a longtime superfan of Jeopardy! Ken Jennings is a Mormon.