memeorandum: Obama Weighs Retaliation for Attacks in Benghazi, Libya, That Killed Chris Stevens (Eli Lake/The Daily Beast)

8:00 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, Mediaite, Sky Dancing, Hullabaloo, Wonkette, Guardian, Taylor Marsh, Mario Piperni dot Com, americanthinker.com, The Reality-Based Community, Blue Mass Group, Dependable Renegade and rubber hose, more at Mediagazer »

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: Talking Points Memo, CBS News, The Huffington Post, GOP 12, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, TechCrunch, The Right Scoop, theGrio, nation.foxnews.com, Weasel Zippers, Jared Bernstein, The Lonely Conservative, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Hinterland Gazette, Mother Jones and Post on Politics

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

The unemployment truthers are not helping Romney — So the unemployment rate truthers are in a panic this morning. Some conservatives are angrily claiming that the new Labor Department stats finding unemployment below eight percent were cooked to help Obama win reelection.

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

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, Economix, p m carpenter's commentary, The Economic Collapse, Right Wing Nut House, Paul Krugman, The Maddow Blog, The Right Scoop, Firedoglake, Mother Jones and ABCNEWS

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, Felix Salmon, Business Insider, AEIdeas 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: Hot Air, The Caucus, Business Insider, ABCNEWS, National Review, The Maddow Blog, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner, Outside the Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune and The Agonist

Tim Catts / Bloomberg:
Former GE CEO Jack Welch Says White House Manipulates Jobs Data

Discussion: Election 2012, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, The Other McCain, Mediaite, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, MarketBeat, The Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Wonkblog and The Hinterland Gazette

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

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

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

Chris Isidore / CNNMoney.com:
Jack Welch questions jobs numbers

Discussion: CNN, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, New York Times, Washington Examiner and Business Insider

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

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, protein wisdom, GayPatriot, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Instapundit

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

Discussion: Business Insider, Mediaite, Election 2012 and Weekly Standard

Geoffrey Rogow / Real Time Economics:
Impossible to Manipulate Labor Survey Data — Former BLS Head

Discussion: Wonkblog, MarketBeat, Power Line and Outside the Beltway

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Joe Scarborough: Jobs Report Numbers 'Don't Add Up' (VIDEO)

Discussion: BuzzFeed

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

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Associated Press, National Review, Firedoglake, CNBC, New York Times, Bloomberg, CNSNews, Shot in the Dark, Pirate's Cove, Outside the Beltway, Patterico's Pontifications and The PJ Tatler

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:
Santelli Smells A Rat: 'I Told You They'd Get It Under 8%—They Did!'

Discussion: Politico

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:
Jobless rate tumbles to near four-year low

Discussion: The Raw Story and Angry Black Lady Chronicles

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, US News, CBS DC, Bob Owens, Sky Dancing, The Lonely Conservative, Shakesville, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, 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, AMERICAblog, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, NewsBusters.org and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Culture Desk:

Cover Story: The First Presidential Debate — Here's a sneak preview of next week's cover, “One on One,” by Barry Blitt. “This image seemed like a proper response to the first Presidential debate,” says Blitt, “but I'm not sure I realized how hard it is to caricature furniture.”

Discussion: Race 4 2012, Riehl World News, Election 2012 and Gawker

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, Hullabaloo, Gawker, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wonkette and Middle Earth Journal

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

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
Obama Weighs Retaliation for Attacks in Benghazi, Libya, That Killed Chris Stevens

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Hot Air

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

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: CMPA, CNN, Hot Air, The Hill, Mediaite, Instapundit, Althouse, The Nation and Washington Examiner

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, Gay Star News, Daily Mail, Media Decoder, TVNewser, BuzzFeed, Mediaite and The Daily Dish

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:

Discussion: PJ Media

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

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: ABCNEWS and The Hill

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

Jason Sickles / Yahoo! News:

Boy Scout denied Eagle award after coming out — A longtime Boy Scout claims he's being denied the organization's highest honor because he's gay. — Ryan Andresen, who lives near San Francisco, recently finished an extensive service project needed to earn his Eagle Scout award, but his troop leader refuses to give him the rank.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Gawker, Outside the Beltway, American Prospect and Whiskey Fire

Miranda Leitsinger / U.S. News:
Almost-Eagle Scout denied award because he is gay

Discussion: Change.org, Crooks and Liars, CBS San Francisco, Poliglot, Daily Mail and Towleroad News #gay

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 …

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

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 …