The unemployment rate has fallen below 8%! For the first time since January 2009! Surely time for Americans everywhere to come together and celebrate the fact that more people in the US have jobs?
No. Not at all. Instead, conservatives are furious. According to some, the only way the unemployment rate can possibly have fallen is through manipulation and scheming – most likely by shadowy, Chicago-based figures. (For which, read "the Obama campaign".)
Here are some of the people who do not like falling unemployment. At least, not under a Democratic president, a month out from an election.
Jack Welch
Welch, former chief executive of General Electric, now describes himself as "Author, commentator, founder of the Jack Welch Management Institute." He could add "snark":
Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers
— Jack Welch (@jack_welch) October 5, 2012
Welch attracted support from the Republican congressman Allen West:
In regards to today's Jobs report---I agree with former GE CEO Jack Welch, Chicago style politics is at work here...tinyurl.com/9rbommz
— Allen West (@AllenWest) October 5, 2012
To be fair to Welch, he was out there trolling the unemployment figures before it became mainstream to do so.
@dmacd11 at 7.9 it would be Chicago and labor Sec in action
— Jack Welch (@jack_welch) October 5, 2012
On Thursday night, he was already predicting skullduggery, tweeting to a man called Don MacDonald that if the jobs numbers were at 7.9% he would deem it was "Chicago and labor Sec in action".
Joe Scarborough
The irascible host of Morning Joe on MSNBC repeatedly questioned the methodology on Friday's show. He repeatedly said the 7.8% figure "did not make sense and was "confusing". CNN's rival show, Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien, featured a more analytical discussion with Ken Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former IMF chief economist, who was also sceptical – but on the more factual basis that unemployment remained high and the economy sluggish.
But Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, returned to the methodology repeatedly in the final half-hour of the show. Expect liberal-leaning MSNBC to shift the tone of its coverage somewhat during the day.
Conn Carroll
I don't think BLS cooked numbers. I think a bunch of Dems lied about getting jobs. That would have same effect.
— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) October 5, 2012
Conn Carroll, senior writer at the Washington Examiner, does not think the US Bureau of Labor Statistics manipulated the figures. Let's be reasonable here. It was just a load of Democrats lying.
Keith Urbahn
No, there's nothing at all curious about the last jobs report diving to 7.8% unemployment before the election.
— Keith Urbahn (@keithurbahn) October 5, 2012
Urbahn is Donald Rumsfeld's former chief of staff. Until he joined the BLS conspiracy, his most famous tweet was about Osama Bin Laden being dead. He was one of the first to pump out the news on 1 May.
Ross from the Tea Party
So the unemployment rate is 7.8%. Well Rush was right, the Obama Admin did manipulate the numbers to get it under 8% b4 the election. #tcot
— Ross . (@indyrallen) October 5, 2012
If that's Rush Limbaugh that Ross is referring to, then perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised. Couple this with the fact a later tweet has the Tea Party hashtag and I think we can safely conclude where Ross is coming from.
The unemployment numbers WILL BE CORRECTED to reflect the actual rate...after Mitt takes the oath of office. #tcot #teaparty
— Ross . (@indyrallen) October 5, 2012
Voices of reason
Not all conservatives followed Welch down the road to fairyland, however. Tony Fratto, a former Bush White House aide, pointed out that for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to be caught cooking the books would be a huge scandal:
BLS is not manipulating data. Evidence of such would be a scandal of enormous proportions & loss of credibility.
— Tony Fratto (@TonyFratto) October 5, 2012
Philip Klein, a senior editorial writer on the Washington Examiner, agreed.
BLS is comprised of career professionals. Don't see how anybody could argue it's manipulated by WH without hard evidence.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) October 5, 2012
