memeorandum: September jobs report: Debunking the jobs report conspiracy theories (Ezra Klein/Wonkblog)

4:40 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: Hullabaloo, Mario Piperni dot Com, americanthinker.com and Dependable Renegade

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.

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

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

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

Steven Russolillo / MarketBeat:

Jack Welch: 'I Wasn't Kidding' — After setting off a minor social media firestorm with a tweet suggesting the Obama administration had manipulated the September jobs report, Jack Welch wants to get one thing straight: He meant it. — “I wasn't kidding,” the pugnacious former CEO of General Electric said in an interview.

Discussion: Mediaite and Business Insider

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

The sickly, stagnant September jobs report — Is this the Obama October Surprise? — Only in an era of depressingly diminished expectations could the September jobs report be called a good one. It really isn't. Not at all. — 1. Yes, the U-3 unemployment rate fell to 7.8% …

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

David A. Graham / The Atlantic Online:

Meet the Incredible, Incoherent Jobs-Report Truthers — Good economic news for Obama? Some conservatives insist it can't possibly be true. — Today's jobs report was good. Not beat-the-world, America-is-back good, but pretty good: The economy added 114,000 jobs, almost exactly hitting …

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

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, The Gateway Pundit, iOwnTheWorld.com and Weekly Standard

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

Discussion: Bloomberg, CNSNews, AEIdeas, Shot in the Dark, Economix, Pirate's Cove, HyperVocal, Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Patterico's Pontifications and Blue Mass Group

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

Discussion: Hot Air and Power Line

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

Discussion: Examiner, Economix, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice, Washington Examiner, Marbury, Plunderbund, Mother Jones, The Agonist, Firedoglake, New York Magazine, Washington Monthly and The PJ Tatler

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

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

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, protein wisdom and Instapundit

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

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

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Jobs News Makes Obama's Case Easier

Discussion: Real Time Economics, Business Insider, Felix Salmon and Prairie Weather

Sheldon Alberts / The Hill:
Labor secretary ‘insulted’ by claims job numbers were rigged

Discussion: CNN

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: 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, National Review and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

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

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Daily Kos, New York Magazine and AMERICAblog

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

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, The Hill, Mediaite, The Nation, Washington Examiner and New York Magazine

Katy Davis / CMPA:
Study: Presidential Debaters More Aggressive in 2012

Discussion: Politico and Election 2012

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: protein wisdom, Los Angeles Times, 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

Bill Sizemore / Virginian-Pilot:

Ex-defense chief says hit on Iran would be disastrous — Painting a picture of internal political dysfunction in a dangerous world, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Wednesday night that a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences.

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

Bloomberg:
Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally: Jeffrey Goldberg

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

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: Daily Mail, Media Decoder, TVNewser, BuzzFeed, Gay Star News, Towleroad News #gay, Mediaite and The Daily Dish

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

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: Little Green Footballs and The Reality-Based Community

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

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.

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

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, National Review and News Desk

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

CNN:

Deficit tops $1 trillion for 4th straight year — New York (CNNMoney) - The federal government logged a $1.1 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2012 - marking the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar shortfalls. — As a share of the economy, the deficit fell to roughly 7% …

Discussion: Politico and Weasel Zippers

Keith Bradsher / New York Times:

Glut of Solar Panels Poses a New Threat to China — BEIJING — China in recent years established global dominance in renewable energy, its solar panel and wind turbine factories forcing many foreign rivals out of business and its policy makers hailed by environmentalists around the world as visionaries.

Discussion: Hot Air, MarketBeat and Via Meadia