Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

In after Baud. Damn.

I really should read my own blog.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Good lord, these people are nuts.

People are complicated. Love is not.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Come on, man.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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Reader Interactions

191Comments

  1. 1.

    Another Halocene Human

    They’ve been preparing for this moment since the Bush II administration, even before.

    Fox has cast their lot with the conspiracy theorists.

    Callou, callay?

  4. 4.

    Steve

    Bush’s press secretary already confirmed that the numbers are obviously legit. Even Rick Santelli had a problem with Jack Welch’s deranged tweet.

    They should have stuck to their usual BS about U-6 and discouraged workers and all that. The fact that they’re going full-out Truther is an admission that these numbers are a really big deal – maybe even a Biden-style BFD – for the President’s reelection.

  6. 6.

    Patricia Kayden

    So when the job numbers are bad, they’re real and all President Obama’s fault, but when they are good, they’re fake and not reflective of the lazy, dumb Black man?

    Got it.

  9. 9.

    ...now I try to be amused

    By the Law of Right-Wing Projection, they’re saying “We totally would have done that.”

  11. 11.

    Suffern ACE

    LOL. I remember doing this “I don’t believe those jobs numbers” bit back when Reagan was in office. I was 14, however. What’s their excuse.

  12. 12.

    MikeJ

    Interesting that the Fox hed says one thing but the blurb backs away from it. The hed screams, “Is the number real?”and the blurb says that maybe it’s a “statistical fluke”. Which would be entirely different from “not real.”

  13. 13.

    Brian R.

    Fox News: Have You Ever Really Looked at Your Hands? I Mean, Like REALLY Looked at Your Hands? Because That Is Some Freaky Shit, Dude.

  17. 17.

    Marc

    @MikeJ:

    But it certainly can’t be true. Because it’s inconceivable that things could get better under *that* president.

  18. 18.

    hep kitty

    Well, we were all making these very predictable predictions about the rw spin on this job numbers thing this morning. Because they are so damned predictably predictable you can set your watch by them.

    Didn’t these numbers just come out this morning? Has the President even had a chance to “make hay” with these numbers? Where are they getting their info from? Did Axelrod get up this morning and tweet something like “This is a good thing”?

  19. 19.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Steve: The problem with wanking about U6 is the obvious directionality of the employment figures.

    Even if we DO have discouraged workers–and we do!

    There’s also a problem comparing 1930s employment figures to now and that’s because a whole lotta people entered the employment market between the 1930s and the 1990s, IYKWIM, AITYD. And household composition has also changed. (Actually, women went into the workforce in the 1930s too, it was a whole cultural phenom, but I’m not sure how they were working the stats back then.)

    The bottom line is the impact on households and with the change in household composition, change in primary breadwinners, and the institution of social security and unemployment insurance, it seems that the “REAL UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURE” the fiscal conservatives tout is not accurate.

    I think based on the social upheaval and political winds that maybe it’s somewhere between the headline and the old method of calculation? But the old method is clearly off. The shitstorm we should have seen if it was truly apples to apples never came. Economically or socially.

  23. 23.

    TooManyJens

    The right-wing motto: when reality contradicts ideology, deny reality.

    Been this way for decades. For fuck’s sake, these are people who think evolution is a conspiracy of God-hating scientists.

  25. 25.

    The Red Pen

    @MikeJ:

    Shit just got ℝ.

    I’d like to express the amount of win in that comment, but it’s uncountably infinite.

  26. 26.

    Joseph Nobles

    @Steve: But Santelli did say this:

    I told you they’d get it under 8 percent — they did! You can let America decide how they got there!

    Hey, he’s just asking questions.

    Of course, right before the election, when this number gets revised (and it will, the number always gets revised), all of these yahoos will be screaming, “Told ya!” Even if it goes down to 7.7%, it will just be further proof that the numbers are cooked even more. Bank on it. I tried to talk 9/11 Truthers out of their tree for 9 years, and this is exactly how the brain under tin foil works.

  27. 27.

    grandpa john

    So todays news cycle will be dominated by
    1. Good jobs report
    2. Big Bird
    both of which are positives for Obama
    by Monday people will be asking “What debate”
    So thus it ever is”Glory and fame is but a Fleeting thing”

  29. 29.

    FormerSwingVoter

    Somehow, every time I think they can’t be any crazier than I think, they prove me wrong.

    Wow. Just wow.

  30. 30.

    The Bearded Blogger

    Democrats should start using that Beatles “I have to admit, it’s getting better” tune in their appearances…

  31. 31.

    The Red Pen

    Free Republic is a huge, stinky echo chamber right now. One Freeper ironically commented that “these fake number may push Obama over 50% in the polls,” apparently forgetting — briefly — that the poll numbers are also supposed to be fake.

    The WSJ blog reported the observation of a former BLS head who said that the agency really can’t manipulate the numbers, it can only compile and report the data it gets. Here’s a representative Freeper reaction:

    And the Hawaii birth certificate is authentic.

    Growing up, the standard for a delusional adult was one who “still believed in Santa Claus.” In the context of today’s “conservative” movement, that would seem comparatively rational and fact-based.

  33. 33.

    Spatula

    There is an inordinate amount of focus at BJ on what the right wing nut jobs are saying about this or that; who cares? What does it add to the conversation but redundancy?

  34. 34.

    Paul

    As Erick Erickson said this morning, Republicans are losing credibility if they are going to claim fraud with the job numbers since they have already complained about the poll numbers being rigged.

    The little boy crying wolf and all that…

  36. 36.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @FormerSwingVoter: After Obama wins: “is it all just in the matrix? are octopus-like beings directly feeding an obama win into our brains? cogito ergo no black man is president!!!”

  37. 37.

    Citizen_X

    @PeakVT: Wow.

    Gotta love that graph of GE earnings (nice smooth line under Welch suddenly turns into market-realistic jagged line under Immelt).

  38. 38.

    FormerSwingVoter

    This is insane. Like, clinically insane. Literally so.

    It’s not just that these people are conspiracy theorists; it’s that their reflexive reaction to things they don’t like is to spontaneously and immediately hallucinate a conspiracy, with no evidence whatsoever.

    I’m flabbergasted. I didn’t think I could still be amazed by the raging insanity and/or ignorance of these people. I was wrong.

  39. 39.

    Napoleon

    @hep kitty:

    Didn’t these numbers just come out this morning? Has the President even had a chance to “make hay” with these numbers?

    They came out at 8:30 this morn. I read that the Obama political appointy up the chain of command from the department that prepares the number (which is run by a career person) is only given then number at 8:00 the same morning. They have 1/2 an hour to come up with what they are going to say, if anything, about the data.

  41. 41.

    Seanly

    I can’t see your graphic (blocked by work maybe?), but the sad thing is that I don’t think 114k jobs even keeps up with population growth so it’s funny to see them freak out that the number is made up. Any increase is good news, but we need more, more, more.

    Yeah, quick google found that we need around 125k to 150k jobs just to keep up with population growth.

  42. 42.

    Hal

    And just like that Mitt’s debate performance exits stage left. All we have been told for years and years by the media is “No President has been re-elected with an unemployment rate higher than 7.9%.”

    Yes, that’s bullshit because they only look as far back as Reagan, but none the less, this helps focus the next few weeks between and President who is helping America or a Candidate who wants to fire Big Bird, Jim Lehrer, and potentially 100,000’s of Government employers.

    Oh sorry, not fire, attrition.

  48. 48.

    The Moar You Know

    Can’t catch a break. Their guy Godzilla stomps the Prez in the debate over trivia, and two days later, the real world comes back and wrecks their fantasies of winning.

    Couldn’t happen to shittier group of so-called human beings.

  49. 49.

    nellcote

    @amk:

    Upon Further Review: Mitt Romney May Have Cheated To Win The Debate

    Glad to see that breakthrough into the msm.

  50. 50.

    patrick II

    Jack Welch is the guy who was in the NBC newsroom and ordered them to call the 2000 Florida presidential race for Bush even though he was being told it was still to close to call. Welch knows something about cooking books and hypocrisy.

  51. 51.

    danimal

    Is it too much to ask the RWers to show their work? I’m sure they have proof of the vast conspiracy.

    I want this issue to become huge, so that conservative hysteria is on full display. We need congressional hearings, 24 hour news cycles filled with the all-important question: “Why are so many people getting jobs under Obama’s leadership?” This needs to dominate the discussion for the next several days. Please make it a scandal, Mr. Ailes.

    Why are the jobs numbers improving under THAT ONE???

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    If it weren’t an election year, these monthly and quarterly numbers wouldn’t have been published at the beginning of the new month/quarter.

    Gimme a Chi-Style QED, bitchez!

  54. 54.

    LD50

    @The Red Pen:

    Free Republic is a huge, stinky echo chamber right now. One Freeper ironically commented that “these fake number may push Obama over 50% in the polls,” apparently forgetting—briefly—that the poll numbers are also supposed to be fake.

    But he makes up for that lapse by implying that Obama has been below 50%.

  55. 55.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @Steve: And the freakout itself really hurts them. The old image of the GOP as the sober tough love grownups is wasting away completely. After 2012, they will be the party of cranky lunatics

  57. 57.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Spatula:
    Discussing the opposition, their tactics and behaviors and what they’re saying and likely to say, is important in any contest. The GOP has reached a point where instead of this stuff being nutpicking, the crazy is the dominant theme in their party. So yes, it’s worth following every little change.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    @patrick II:
    A special anteroom is being prepared in hades for the likes of Welch and Chainsaw Al Donlap. There may be space for Willard if we ever get to figure out what the hell he did in the seven minutes he admits to running Bain.

  62. 62.

    The Moar You Know

    There is an inordinate amount of focus at BJ on what the right wing nut jobs are saying about this or that; who cares? What does it add to the conversation but redundancy?

    @Spatula: A good question, actually.

    One: who cares? Know thy enemy. Good advice then, good advice now.

    Two: “What does it add to the conversation but redundancy?” Well, thirty to forty people coming up with slightly different reactions and observations to right-wing framing may, just may, come up with a really effective rejoinder. And the nice thing about that happening here, well, this blog gets read by the administration. Not by Obama himself, I don’t think, but some folks working for him.

    A better way would be no internet at all, and having to go out and talk to your neighbors about this stuff, but…here we are.

  63. 63.

    Citizen_X

    @LD50:

    MITCH MCCONNELL, YOU HAD ONE JOB!

    So when McConnell appears before the Koch brothers, does he meet his fate

    a) Darth Vader style, with Charles Koch saying, “You have failed us for the last time,” and McConnell expiring on the floor as his reelection fund gets telepathically depleted, or

    b) Bond villain style, where a trap door opens up and drops him into a pool of sharks?

  64. 64.

    Comrade Jake

    The funny part about this manipulation nonsense to me is, why wouldn’t you make the numbers A LOT better? I mean if you’re going to manipulate the data, why not add 250k in each of the past couple of months?

  65. 65.

    Tom Q

    Someone may have already mentioned this in one of the other threads, but, in case not, I think it needs to get out there:

    The unemployment rate on Election Day 1984 was 7.4%. That was Morning in Frickin’ America/49-state landslide. Can people really pretend 7.8% is so much worse that Obama should be losing by ten points except for biased media/Romney-fail? Obama’s winning this thing on his own, folks.

    When the usual Barack shows up in Debate 2, this thing’s going to be so over even Morning Joe won’t be able to say otherwise with a straight face.

  67. 67.

    The Moar You Know

    As Erick Erickson said this morning, Republicans are losing credibility if they are going to claim fraud with the job numbers since they have already complained about the poll numbers being rigged.

    @Paul: In my years-long reading of Trike Force Erick, one thing I’ve found is that he’s not too stupid. He ain’t smart…but not dumb either. He knows his party has been dancing on the lunatic edge, knows that they need to step back to get them to 50% +1, and he’s trying but he knows that’s not happening, which is why he doesn’t comment much there anymore save to pimp his new time slot for his radio show.

  68. 68.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Joseph Nobles: I tried to talk 9/11 Truthers out of their tree for 9 years

    I am so, so sorry.

    I was naive enough to think that Tr00F! was based on the French claims that GWB knew about or planned the attacks. It was stupid then, stupid now (‘never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence’) but kind of understandable given the administration’s reaction to it. (Ashcroft… geez.)

    Noooooooo. 9/|| +Rooooooof is based on some utterly laughable notions about physics. And I just take that personally. It’s laughable. But infuriating. All at once. I generally explain to a troofer ONE TIME how the physics works. Then I drop it. Not worth it.

    You’d think that with all the people in the world who play jenga, though, they’d understand how the building could be collapsing faster with the collapse of each floor … erghhhhh … BP rising … never. fucking. mind.

  69. 69.

    Enhanced Mooching Techniques

    So much like the geological record, historical record, the atomic decay rate and the speed of light the Left fakes the numbers. Fox is right, it’s just a little to convenient that ALL of the evidence supports the Left’s position.

  71. 71.

    catclub

    @danimal: Show their work, indeed.

    Rising employment helps the incumbent president when it starts rising about June, so that people have time to notice and absorb it. However, the incompetent conspiracy at BLS has pretty bad numbers from about May through August, then NOW they hike them up. Yeah, right.

    It all makes such perfect sense, when viewed through a kaleidoscope.

  72. 72.

    Linda Featheringill

    Oh, what a good job the UE conspiracy folks are doing! They are really and truly spreading the word far and wide that the UE is [slowly] falling.

    I’ve run out of thank you notes and can’t get to the store right now. I’ll have to thank them online.

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! All of us DFHs are really, really grateful for what you’re doing. Keep up the good work!

  73. 73.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Steve:

    Even Rick Santelli had a problem with Jack Welch’s deranged tweet.

    Welch’s sour grape juice didn’t go down so well, huh?

  75. 75.

    ? Martin

    @Spatula:

    What does it add to the conversation but redundancy?

    Nothing. A post per day would be adequate to cover it. Today would have been better served:

    1) Explaining the job numbers and why the unemployment rate fell so much and why the revised numbers changed so much. And to head off the inevitable questions like ‘did people just give up’? No, the payroll to population rate is up a full point from last year – these are actual jobs.

    2) Was there any new news on Iran today? Their currency has been in freefall. Inflation is skyrocketing. People there are dumping the rial and trying to stockpile dollars.

    3) Have the polls shown any notable change due to the debate? These things take a day or two.

    4) What’s going on the ground in places like Iowa and Florida.

    5) Did Betty Cracker find that damn snake?

  77. 77.

    Punchy

    I love the comments section at Barry Ritholtz’s site. The comment instructions are as follows:

    Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

    Perfect.

  79. 79.

    Culture of Truth

    Let me take you down
    And we’ll read…some wingnut zeal
    Nothing is real
    And nothing makes any sense
    Conservatives.. rule… forever

  81. 81.

    Suffern ACE

    @Citizen_X:

    b) Bond villain style, where a trap door opens up and drops him into a pool of sharks?

    Since they’re out in Kansas, shouldn’t the trap door lead to a pit of snarling rabid prairie dogs?

  82. 82.

    wrb

    @The Bearded Blogger:

    The Bearded Blogger Says:

    Democrats should start using that Beatles “I have to admit, it’s getting better” tune in their appearances…

    That’sa great idea (it can’t get no worse)

  84. 84.

    LD50

    @The Red Pen:

    Free Republic is a huge, stinky echo chamber right now.

    I reject your implication that there have been times in the past when this was not the case.

  88. 88.

    GregB

    The unemployment fell due to all of the increased chair manufacturing after the GOP convention.

    Thanks Clint!

  89. 89.

    hep kitty

    @Another Halocene Human: Regardless of anyones’ personal feelings about “troofers'” nuttiness (not all who question are nutty, btw, but they get buried under the din of nuttiness within the movement) the fact remains that many questions remain unanswered and that the Bush admin waited 3 years to launch an investigation that he didn’t even want in the first place. And it’s convenient to wait 3 years after the fact for reasons that ought to be obvious.

    And after those hearings, many questions still remain unanswered to this day. Naw, nothing to see here. Move along.

    Is it a dead subject for me now? Yes. Am I going to paint everyone who still has very frustrating unanswered questions with the broad brush of the most vocal and nuttiest of the movement? No.

  90. 90.

    Southern Beale

    Birthers, Truthers, global warming skeptics, unskewed pollers and now Jobbers … really, this is pathetic. You can’t deny EVERY single piece of reality that conflicts with your worldview. Can you?

  91. 91.

    Soonergrunt

    Gallup 7-day rolling average tracking poll of 2012 Presidential election, now includes first day post debate. And the results are….
    Obama up by 1.

    I believe the correct phrase is
    VICTORY!

    Who wants to bet that the job approval ratings will swing back upwards again starting tomorrow after the news about the jobs reports gets reported tonight in the mainstream non-bullshit, err, non-Fox outlets?

  92. 92.

    blingee

    Oh goody, this FINALLY gives DougJ and Greenwald booger eater Cole something to talk about….or dronezzzz.

    Surely they don’t want to talk about anything positive about todays report….like going from an 8 to a 7 when the electorate is dumb and only understands simple things like that….30 fucking days before a fucking election.

  97. 97.

    Soonergrunt

    Oh, and the Federal deficit is down for the second year in a row, this time by $200 million no thanks to the Republicans in Congress who won’t allow a budget.

  98. 98.

    Suffern ACE

    @Napoleon: It’s actually quite an interesting process. The press are taken into a room and at 8:00 are given the report to read, but no phones, pagers, etc. allowed. Then at 8:30, it’s like that scene in Airplane where all the reporters run to the phone booth all at once.

  99. 99.

    Yutsano

    @blingee: Herp.

    @Soonergrunt: If the Republicans don’t stop being assholes my job is gonna suck next year. It will take a VERY long time to program in everything into the IRS computers for the massive number of changes and expirations. But the deficit would evaporate overnight too.

  100. 100.

    hep kitty

    @Linda Featheringill: Well see there the President is already strutting his stuff over this even though, as another commenter pointed out (at the time of this posting), he hadn’t even had a chance to say a damn word about it.

    Can’t you just see him now? With that cocky, funky, Huggy Bear strut? Fox has.

    Conspiracy success!

  101. 101.

    Joel

    Early polling results post-debate are in, the PEC meta-margin dropped 2.4% from O +6.18 to O +3.78, which is not good. However, Wang doesn’t filter out pollsters, so there’s some silver lining here:

    A ton of the polls were released from a republican commissioned pollster: McLaughlin & Associates – American Conservative Union. Another set was released from a pollster, We Ask America, that has a Rasmussen-like republican house effect.

    Gallup is still O+5 national, FTR.

  104. 104.

    hep kitty

    @blingee:

    the electorate is dumb and only understands simple things like that

    You’re assuming a lot. Like remedial math and reading comprehension

  105. 105.

    wrb

    Since 538 has economic stats cooked into their Nov 6 projection I figure they are gonna show a nice bump for Obama.-

    Which will freak out righties who don’t understand how it works and know ROMNEY WON

  107. 107.

    Another Halocene Human

    @hep kitty: the fact remains that many questions remain unanswered and that the Bush admin waited 3 years to launch an investigation that he didn’t even want in the first place

    Of course not. How would that not fit in with what we already know?

    a) for some in the admin, 9/11 was a massive opportunity that they used to the hilt

    b) why remind anyone that they allowed the biggest terrorist attack on the US ever to happen on their watch

    c) an investigation would have turned up the admin’s negligence and incompetence as leaders, more obsessed with their Iraq plans than paying attention to current intelligence

    Incompetent, greedy fools HATE investigations. And it wasn’t just the admin. The party had a lot to lose, so of course the investigation was stuck on a shelf.

    I’ve worked with incompetents. Any meeting, focus group, plan whatever gets shelved and the idee fixe or the pull-it-out-my-ass plan pops right back up, like a bad penny.

    Sort of the way Iraq popped right back up.

  112. 112.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Yutsano: Major pain for the poor, though.

    Oh, never mind, the consensus plan was going to fuck them anyway.

    I don’t think wages up to min wage should be taxed period. That includes payroll tax. Skin in the game, my ass. We’re talking about sleeping the street, child-starving territory here.

    And fuck anyone who doesn’t give a damn.

  113. 113.

    Ed in NJ

    Nate Silver just blew shit up on the Republicans:

    “According to that survey, 413,000 workers joined the labor force in September. But 873,000 more people became employed, causing the unemployment rate to fall to 7.8 percent.”

    Rightwingers have been insisting that the rate went down because of workers leaving the job force, but clearly that is not true this month.

  115. 115.

    Spatula

    @burnspbesq:

    Can we at least put the backbiting on hold until the drinking lamp is lit?

    Holy shit: This explains so much. Raven’s drinking lamp is an eternal flame.

  116. 116.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    Well I for one refuse to believe any of the obvious agitprop coming from an outfit named the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They have the word Labor right out in the open, not even trying to hide their Communist affiliation. What do you think we are, a bunch or morans? Call me when the Bureau of Capitalist Statistics has some news to report. Come to think of it, the word Statistics sounds mighty fishy too. You can’t spell Statist without Statistics, and now that I think about it, Stalinist is hanging out just around the corner. This whole vocabulating neighborhood is bad, if you ask me.

  118. 118.

    Violet

    @Ed in NJ:

    Rightwingers have been insisting that the rate went down because of workers leaving the job force, but clearly that is not true this month.

    Truth has a well known liberal bias.

  119. 119.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Jay in Oregon: That is seriously terrible and I suspect his vocal, er, technique is his way of trying to cover his inability to hit his pitch.

    I must give him credit for one thing–he has a video of a passenger train going through the crossing and it’s a PRIVATE passenger train, not Amtrak.

    So he’s a foamer who likes excursion trains but actually using trains for transportation: “Biden’s a joke”.

    The joke will be on you, obsessed-with-oral-sex-man, when you become older and sicker and your doctor informs you that you can no longer fly and no longer drive for long distances.

  120. 120.

    bemused

    I’m surprised Republicans didn’t try to take credit for the lower unemployment rate. It wouldn’t be any more nutty or ballsy than any of the other crap they peddle.

  122. 122.

    blingee

    You clowns do realize that the people who write this stuff don’t believe it and are only trying to get people riled up rrrright?

    They know bloggers like here at BJ fall for this shit every single time…if not for anything else than because you gotta have something to write about day after day.

    Welcome to the dope show.

  123. 123.

    Yutsano

    @GregB: What am I Hermione?

    @Another Halocene Human: It’d suck a lot yes on a lot of levels because we still have a shit ton of debt that the bankstahs insist on holding on to come hell or high water or favourable bankruptcy laws. We need a national jubilee and the banks need to suck it up and eat shit. Call it their just reward for getting us into this situation in the first place.

  124. 124.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Violet: Wingnut’s explanation for Obama not behaving like Clinton Wilt Chamberlain while in office.

    “He’s too squeaky-clean. He must be gay!”

  127. 127.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Yutsano: oh fuck yeah

    Besides, the feared Japanese no-growth regime was caused by the government refusing to acknowledge an enormous debt overhang fueled by fraud. Write that shit down! Cram-downs, here we come! Fuck the banks, up with people!

  129. 129.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    Everyone be sure and save some popcorn for the after-election hilarity when the wingers and some members of the Village start spewing out the reasons that Obama really isn’t the president of all the people and that he really should follow the Romney-Ryan plan or, or, or else.

  131. 131.

    Violet

    @gnomedad: Democrats have known for months what the weather would be on election day. That’s why the put it on that day. Liberal conspiracy!

  134. 134.

    catclub

    @Napoleon: Didn’t we know last month that Obama sees the numbers on Thursday night, and his knowledge of them could change how he did his convention speech? I know that was discussed here last month.

  136. 136.

    Alex S.

    I don’t know what’s there to freak out about. When I heard that they had to revise the job numbers it was clear to me that the unemployment rate would decrease. I guess that only half of the outrage is caused by delusion. The other half is manufactured.

  138. 138.

    Tractarian

    Republicans on the defensive yet again. Only two days after their bestest debate performance evar.

    Loving it.

  139. 139.

    hueyplong

    First it was Science that was the mark of the beast. Now it’s numbers of any kind. Math, statistics, polls: all liberal conspiracies to test the faith of the chosen.

    In the good old days, the “more reasonable” GOP would have said that the passage of unemployment below the 8% mark was the market’s optimistic anticipation of a Romney presidency in light of his flawless and apparently successful campaign.

    But that wouldn’t have been “severely conservative” enough.

  140. 140.

    Roger Moore

    @Woodrowfan:
    Lehrer: The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t. Not without your help. But you’re not helping.
    Romney: What do you mean, I’m not helping?
    Lehrer: I mean: you’re not helping! Why is that, Mitt?

  141. 141.

    Bruce S

    If you stop and think about it, this isn’t any more bizarre, concocted or out-of-touch with reality than most of the rest of FOX News.

  143. 143.

    Spatula

    @Raven:

    That shit means nothing to me, I haven’t had a drink in 20 years.

    Dry drunk is no way to go thru life, Raven.

  145. 145.

    bemused

    @Jay in Oregon:

    The old guy just seemed to be a bad singer but relatively innocuous for a right winger until the end. I bet he’s a big hit at the Republican senior center.

  147. 147.

    Tractarian

    @blingee:

    Just one of 2 things you won’t be reading about much today in the MSM….the other being the jobs numbers

    Hey, I’m as cynical as the next guy, but the MSM has been all over the jobs report so far today. And, with the exception of the usual suspects, the coverage hasn’t been conspiracy-theory BS.

    Just savor what’s happening here. This jobs report could not have come at a better time. Whatever momentum Mitt got from the debate is being absolutely drowned out.

  154. 154.

    LD50

    @Violet: You have to understand, when wingnuts imply Obama is gay, they mean ‘gay’ in the sense that boys in middle school use the word.

  157. 157.

    Jay in Oregon

    @LD50:
    Watch the video. That’s not what this guy is saying.

    He’s saying that Obama will move in with “George, Ed, or Steve” if he loses the election. And “how do we know Obama doesn’t like Fred, Sam, or Paul?”

    It is juvenile, but it’s also homophobic as shit. Obama’s a faggy fag who likes getting blown by other men!

    Naturally, the guy bills himself as a good Christian…

  159. 159.

    Spatula

    @Raven:

    A weak fucker like you would need some bullshit “program”.

    Ahhh…NOW we’re getting somewhere: Your hateful rage entirely accounted for.

    Please tell the group how that’s working for you. I’ll make more coffee.

    Your new screen name shall be “White Knuckles.”

  162. 162.

    Joel

    @Soonergrunt: NIH grant fusing for R01s is around 10-15% right now for most institutions and that’s with clawbacks from funded grants. A ~7% cut from sequestration will fuck us good and well.

  163. 163.

    JPL

    @amk: Your earlier comment mentioned Mitt’s note. It’s a smiley face his grand children drew for him. (I have it on good authority, Miss Moxie told me)..
    Whoops time for my meds…

  164. 164.

    Jay in Oregon

    /sigh

    I edited my last comment and added some stuff that tripped the mod filter.

    I know why it was moderated, but I was trying to make a specific point. If I need to rephrase it, I will.

  165. 165.

    JasperL

    @Comrade Jake:

    The funny part about this manipulation nonsense to me is, why wouldn’t you make the numbers A LOT better? I mean if you’re going to manipulate the data, why not add 250k in each of the past couple of months?

    It’s an obvious point, but one that doesn’t occur to the crazies, or seem necessary for their purposes.

    RW: Obama is killing the economy!
    BLS: Steady but very slow job growth.
    RW: Wait…what?!! Oh yeah, numbers are fake! Obama killing economy!!!!

    Simple remedy to cognitive dissonance. Why would they investigate further, and invite MORE cognitive dissonance? Makes no sense for them to try, and so they don’t.

  166. 166.

    RaflW

    @amk:
    Kinda fascinating, to watch Mitt casually drop his cliff notes on the podium. I wonder if he learned to do that at Harvard?

  167. 167.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @blingee: Well, someone has to counter all of the people who will believe it. If we only had “Obama’s fudging the numbers” out, a lot of people will start believing it’s true. Someone has to yell bullshit.

  168. 168.

    Ash Can

    @Tractarian:

    Republicans on the defensive yet again. Only two days after their bestest debate performance evar.

    This, I think, is so very telling. Right out of the box on Wednesday night, things were looking really good for Team Romney. All us Obots are left wailing and gnashing our teeth. Game changed, right?

    So what happens?

    — All anyone remembers is Big Bird

    — The mass media really do go ahead and fact-check Romney’s whoppers

    — The polls don’t move

    — While Romney himself tries to spin the employment numbers in a reasonable, if partisan, manner, everyone else on his side goes running around yelling that the numbers are bogus

    — On top of it all, a major news outlet has picked up the speculation that Romney cheated at the debate.

    To sum up, if the GOP can’t even win something without fucking it up, it really doesn’t bode well for them.

  173. 173.

    catclub

    @Ash Can: This is how Gore lost in 2000. The press liked the other guy better.

    Not fair, but if you won’t spring for a tire swing, you get the treatment.

  174. 174.

    Spatula

    @catclub:

    This is how Gore lost in 2000. The press liked the other guy better.

    While your second statement is certainly true, wouldn’t you agree that the press’s love affair with GWB is only a PART of that story?

  175. 175.

    Spatula

    @catclub:

    This is how Gore lost in 2000. The press liked the other guy better.

    While your second statement is certainly true, wouldn’t you agree that the press’s love affair with GWB is only a PART of that story?

  176. 176.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @Ash Can: To sum up, if the GOP can’t even win something without fucking it up, it really doesn’t bode well for them.

    They proved this to my satisfaction from 2001 through 2008.

  177. 177.

    Cargo

    all I care about, really all I care about is how this affects downticket races. It’s pretty clear Obama is going to win – but will he keep the senate and (dare to dream) get the House back?
    or will this be four more years of obstructionary bullshit.

  180. 180.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Jay in Oregon: Naturally, the guy bills himself as a good Christian…

    I used to hang out on a stock picking board owned by an extremely foul-mouthed divorced guy who liked to photoshop cartoon dongs on cartoon bears, that kind of thing.

    I made the mistake of visiting his website (homepage?) once, where he has an essay up about why he’s a Catholic and Why You Are Wrong.

    Catholic.
    Foul-mouthed.
    Divorced.
    Makes comments about skull fucking.
    Just like Jesus?

  182. 182.

    blingee

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):
    Sigh…but what you don’t get is that by yelling “bullshit” you are echoing the ‘what is bullshit’. Therefore you are reinforcing the meme…..ie…that is why they call it the echo chamber.

    You do realize that the bullshitters know that this is EXACTLY what you are going to do….ever single fucking time…like good little lemmings. They don’t care that you call it bullshit….spew on about it, present graphs and facts proving it wrong. None of that matters. What matters is that you are talking about what they said.

  184. 184.

    piratedan

    well this makes perfect sense, after all wasn’t it the BLS that informed the Bush Administration about the Nuclear and Chemical weapons in Iraq?

  187. 187.

    The Other Chuck

    Well shit, they do this for the president himself.

    Obama shows birf certificate but IS IT REAL?

    Climate hottest on record but IS CLIMATE CHANGE REAL?

    We report what we call news, but IS IT REAL? Oh wait, not that one.

  190. 190.

    magurakurin

    @Raven:

    yeah, fuck him

    Rock on man, 20 years sobriety, good for you. I’ll have 25 next April.

    Anyone who slags someone about their sobriety is an ignorant asshole who really doesn’t get it.

    You’re an asshole, Kitchen Tool, go die in a fire.

  191. 191.

    Jo

    The summer of 2008 I remember Cavuto claiming every day that 96% were paying their mortages on time, he just never mentioned the percentage that weren’t paying at all. Bet he knew what was coming and was covering for the Bush administration,Fox was so good at that, they are pathetic.

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