memeorandum: Rick Santorum On Big Bird: ‘You Can Kill Things And Still Like Them’ (VIDEO) (Elyse Siegel/The Huffington Post)

5:35 PM ET, October 5, 2012

Top Items:

Meet The Conservatives Who Think Today's Job Numbers Are A Conspiracy — The Bureau of Labor Statistics released an unexpectedly strong monthly jobs report on Friday, finding a dramatic drop in unemployment to 7.8 percent and revised the number of jobs added in July and August up from initial estimates.

Discussion: Economic Policy Institute, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, Mario Piperni dot Com, americanthinker.com, Wonkette, Guardian, Blue Mass Group, Dependable Renegade and rubber hose

Congressman Allen West / Facebook:

In regards to today's Jobs report—I agree with former GE CEO Jack Welch, Chicago style politics is at work here... We all want the suffering of the American people from this rampant scourge of unemployment to end. However, today's jobs report is confusing to say the least.

Discussion: GOP 12, The Huffington Post, Politico, The Right Scoop, BuzzFeed, TechCrunch, theGrio, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider, Mother Jones, The Hinterland Gazette and Post on Politics

Tim Catts / Bloomberg:

Former GE CEO Jack Welch Says White House Manipulates Jobs Data — History Says No — Former General Electric Co. (GE) Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch accused the Obama administration on Twitter of manipulating today's employment data for political advantage.

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:

Solid Jobs Report Spawns Crackpot ‘Job Truthers’ Movement — This post has been updated. — The economy added 114,000 jobs in September and unemployment declined to 7.8 percent. Not great numbers, but paired with major upward revisions to previous monthly reports and taken in the context …

Discussion: The Hill, Firedoglake, Right Wing Nut House, Economix, Paul Krugman, The Maddow Blog, The Right Scoop, Outside the Beltway, Mother Jones and Associated Press

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Jobs News Makes Obama's Case Easier — Whenever a new set of jobs numbers is announced, it is important to keep in mind just how noisy the data can be. — Forecasts of the monthly growth in nonfarm payrolls miss by 68,000 jobs on average. That means that the margin of error on the forecasts …

Discussion: Real Time Economics, Business Insider, Felix Salmon, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Prairie Weather

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:

September jobs report: Debunking the jobs report conspiracy theories — Look at that graph. There's nothing all that amazing, or all that weird, about this month's numbers. — We've hit that moment in the election when people begin to lose their minds.

Discussion: The Caucus, The Daily Beast, National Review, Business Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Maddow Blog and Booman Tribune

Steven Russolillo / MarketBeat:
Jack Welch: 'I Wasn't Kidding'

Discussion: Business Insider, Mediaite and Election 2012

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:
The sickly, stagnant September jobs report

Discussion: Americans for Limited …, Guardian, Business Insider, The Fix, Economy Watch, Hit & Run, Calculated Risk, Colorlines, Donklephant, The Immoral Minority, neo-neocon, Weasel Zippers, Instapundit, OpenMarket.org, protein wisdom, ABCNEWS, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and National Review

David A. Graham / The Atlantic Online:
Meet the Incredible, Incoherent Jobs-Report Truthers

Discussion: The Monkey Cage, USA Today, The Daily Beast and Wonkblog

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The unemployment truthers are not helping Romney

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, The Raw Story, BuzzFeed and Business Insider

Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Jobs Growth Rises 114,000 as Rate Slides to 7.8 Percent

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Gateway Pundit and Weekly Standard

Kevin A. Hassett / National Review:
Think Again about That ‘Good’ Jobs Report

Discussion: Hot Air and Power Line

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Jobs report: 114K jobs added, jobless rate 7.8%; Update: CNBC confused by “contradictory” …

Discussion: Bloomberg, CNSNews, AEIdeas, Economix, Shot in the Dark, The Heritage Foundation, Pirate's Cove, HyperVocal, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway and Patterico's Pontifications

Shaila Dewan / New York Times:
Jobless Rate Falls to 7.8%, Lowest Since January 2009

Discussion: Firedoglake, Examiner, Economix, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, The Caucus, Washington Examiner, Marbury, Plunderbund, The Agonist, Mother Jones, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Magazine and The Maddow Blog

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:
Economist: Unemployment drop ‘implausible ... a statistical quirk’

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, protein wisdom and Instapundit

Associated Press:
US jobless rate falls to 7.8 pct., 44-month low

Discussion: Vox Popoli, p m carpenter's commentary, The PJ Tatler and The Hinterland Gazette

Lucy Madison / CBS News:
On jobs numbers, BLS vows there's no conspiracy

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Wonkblog, BuzzFeed and Jared Bernstein

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Romney “Cheat Sheet” Was A Handkerchief, Campaign Says — Conspiracy theory of the day. — Source: youtube.com — ABINGTON, Va. — Mitt Romney's campaign is shooting down a simmering online theory the Republican nominee used a “cheat sheet” in Wednesday night's debate against President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Gawker, The Week, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Shakesville, Wonkette and Towleroad News #gay

Daily Kos:

Did Mitt use crib notes for the debate? — There is a scandal brewing that suggests that Mitt Romney used crib notes for the debate. This is of course, C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G!, and would be awful if true. — I believe the candidates are only supposed to have a blank piece of paper (pad) and a pen at the podium, provided by the CPD.

Discussion: Mediaite, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Democratic Underground:
Did Romney bring cheat notes into the debate?

Discussion: American Prospect, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog, NewsBusters.org, New York Magazine and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:

Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally: Jeffrey Goldberg — It was an extraordinary scene: President Barack Obama, sitting impassively in the Oval Office in May as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lectured him, at considerable length and at times condescendingly …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Weekly Standard and The Daily Dish

Bill Sizemore / Virginian-Pilot:
Ex-defense chief says hit on Iran would be disastrous

Discussion: Informed Comment, The Daily Dish and Washington Free Beacon

Linda Morrison / Quad City Times:

I was not calling Ryan out — I am the woman in the Green Bay Packer jacket at Rep. Paul Ryan's rally in Clinton who asked him the question about specific plans to fix our economy. Needless to say, I was quite shocked to learn the Obama campaign seized my question, putting out the statement …

Discussion: The Hill and ABCNEWS

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Email Shows State Department Rejecting Request of Security Team at US Embassy in Libya — (Image Credit: Ibrahim Alaguri/AP Photo) — ABC News has obtained an internal State Department email from May 3, 2012, indicating that the State Department denied a request from the security team …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, protein wisdom, The Daily Caller, Taylor Marsh, The Heritage Foundation, emptywheel, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, JustOneMinute, americanthinker.com, National Review, Conservative Hideout 2.0 and The Daily Beast

Jacob Bernstein / New York Times:

Patrick Abner and Thomas Roberts — EVEN news anchors with matinee-idol looks can get a case of the jitters. — Of course, this isn't exactly how Thomas Roberts — a fairly down-to-earth guy and the 11 a.m. host of “MSNBC Live” — describes himself. — But it is what happened back in September 2000.

Discussion: Yahoo! Good Morning America, Towleroad News #gay, Daily Mail, Media Decoder, TVNewser, BuzzFeed, Gay Star News, Mediaite and The Daily Dish

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA): Evolution, Big Bang ‘Lies Straight From The Pit Of Hell’ — Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) tore into scientists as tools of the devil in a speech at the Liberty Baptist Church Sportsman's Banquet last month. — “All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs and The Reality-Based Community

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Exclusive: Jim Lehrer says he was ‘effective’ as presidential debate moderator — I didn't follow it carefully,' he said | Jim Lehrer has been widely criticized for his passive performance as the moderator of Wednesday's night's presidential debate, but in his first post-debate interview …

Discussion: CNN, CMPA, The Hill, Mediaite, Instapundit, Althouse, The Nation, Washington Examiner and New York Magazine

BuzzFeed:

Obama Deploys Big Bird To Romney Rally — And the Democratic National Committee releases a new web video mocking Romney for wanting to cut the subsidy for PBS. Furry politics. — Source: youtube.com — Statement from Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith:

Elyse Siegel / The Huffington Post:
Rick Santorum On Big Bird: ‘You Can Kill Things And Still Like Them’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: Business Insider, Crooks and Liars, The Week, CNN and The Raw Story

Paula Bolyard / PJ Media:

Ohio Poll Analyst: Voter Turnout Modeling Predicts Big Ohio Trouble for Obama … That's the analysis of Clinton Cooper at Election Insights, an Ohio firm that uses geographic information systems (GIS) and election data to illustrate the political landscape of the electorate.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Hot Air and Race 4 2012

Max Brantley / Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times:

Republican extremists, in their own words — SLAVERY HAD ITS PLUSES: Republican Rep. Jon Hubbard. — Extremism is no vice among Arkansas Republicans. And, no, I'm not talking about neo-Confederate Republican Rep. Loy Mauch, who once tried to have Abraham Lincoln's bust removed from the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Elias Isquith / The Atlantic Online:

Paul Ryan's Debt to Barry Goldwater—Who'd Be Mortified by Paul Ryan — The conservative scion vice-presidential nominee seeks to finish the work that the GOP started in 1964, with one crucial revision. — U.S Congress (Ryan); Library of Congress (Goldwater)

Discussion: Bloomberg, Balloon Juice and National Review

Washington Post:

Romney: ‘47 percent’ remarks were ‘completely wrong’ — View Photo Gallery — Surrounded by four of his five sons, Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney makes a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Denver. View more photos from the campaign trail.

Discussion: Election 2012, The Fix, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice and Fox News Insider

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Ryan: Biden Coming at Me ‘Like a Cannonball’ — Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan talk to each other on the phone almost every day, and the day of the first presidential debate was no exception. “I told him after the debate that he crushed it,” Ryan told THE WEEKLY STANDARD in a phone interview Thursday night.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Caucus, The Hill, Connecting.the.Dots and Election 2012

Ryan J. Reilly / Talking Points Memo:

Paul Ryan Has News For The Birthers: He's Not One Of Them — Paul Ryan has figured out a way of letting the birthers down gently. — Like many of his fellow congressmen, Ryan has been bombarded for years with letters from conspiracy theorists who believe President Obama was somehow secretly born …

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Obama pays price for ducking the questions — Barack Obama received a valuable reminder in his drubbing at Wednesday night's debate: He is a president, not a king. — In the hours after the Republican challenger Mitt Romney embarrassed the incumbent in their first meeting …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Week, The Daily Caller, GayPatriot, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Election 2012, News Desk and National Review

Lisa Fleisher / Wall Street Journal:

Halloween Horror Story: The Case of the Missing Pumpkin Lattes — Starbucks Fans Bemoan Shortage of Seasonal Favorite; Expressions in Haiku — For Asher Anidjar, the arrival of fall isn't marked by turning leaves or a chilly breeze, but a steaming seasonal drink.

Discussion: Washington Wire, ABCNEWS and Outside the Beltway

Jamil Anderlini / Financial Times:

China's naked truths reveal emperor's garb — The Chinese Communist party would like the world to believe that the forthcoming trial of Bo Xilai will be a triumph of authoritarian self-policing and evidence of its ability to root out a few bad apples. — In fact, the downfall …

Discussion: The Peking Duck and Via Meadia