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

3:25 PM ET, October 5, 2012

Top Items:

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.

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

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

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: Mario Piperni dot Com, americanthinker.com, Wonkette, Dependable Renegade and Blue Mass Group

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 …, Economy Watch, Donklephant, Business Insider, protein wisdom, neo-neocon, Calculated Risk, OpenMarket.org, Felix Salmon, Colorlines, ABCNEWS, The Immoral Minority, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Weasel Zippers, Instapundit, The Heritage Foundation and National Review

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: The Huffington Post, Politico, BuzzFeed, TechCrunch, theGrio, Weasel Zippers, Post on Politics, The Hinterland Gazette and Mother Jones

Talking Points Memo:

Romney: ‘This Is Not What A Real Recovery Looks Like’ — Following news that the U.S. economy added 114,000 jobs in September, with unemployment falling to 7.8%, Mitt Romney on Friday released the following statement on the September unemployment report:

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Suburban Guerrilla, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and p m carpenter's commentary

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, Paul Krugman, The Maddow Blog and Mother Jones

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Jobs Growth Rises 114,000 as Rate Slides to 7.8 Percent — Job growth remained tame in September, with the economy creating just 114,000 net new positions though the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent, the first time it has been below 8 percent in 43 months.

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Guardian, Mediaite and Business Insider

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

Discussion: CNSNews, AEIdeas, Shot in the Dark, FiveThirtyEight, Economix, Pirate's Cove, HyperVocal, Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Maddow Blog and Patterico's Pontifications

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

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

Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider:
JACK WELCH: Obama Is Manipulating The Jobs Numbers Because His Debate Performance Was Awful

Discussion: GOP 12 and The PJ Tatler

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

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, protein wisdom and Instapundit

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

Discussion: Power Line and Hot Air

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

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

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

Discussion: CNN

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

Discussion: Wonkblog, MarketBeat and Outside the Beltway

Alex Kowalski / Bloomberg:
U.S. Jobless Rate Declines to 7.8%; 114,000 Jobs Added

Discussion: Hit & Run, NO QUARTER USA NET and Balloon Juice

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

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Economix

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

Discussion: Politico

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

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

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, National Review and Balloon Juice

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

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: American Prospect, BuzzFeed, Gawker and Whiskey Fire

Craig Asato / Change.org:
Supporters — Reasons for Signing — The Boy Scouts funding …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Poliglot, CBS San Francisco, Daily Mail, The Raw Story and Towleroad News #gay

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, The Daily Dish and Washington Free Beacon

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

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

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, Daily Kos, Election 2012, Balloon Juice and Fox News Insider

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

No, Romney Did Not “Move to the Center” in Debate — Before it becomes a kind of Fact-Made-Fact-By-Repetition, I'd like to challenge the much-assumed idea that in the first presidential debate Mitt Romney “moved to the center” in a real, substantive way. This seems to be the conclusion …

Discussion: First Read, Mother Jones and Slate

David Brooks / New York Times:
Moderate Mitt Returns!

Discussion: p m carpenter's commentary

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

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: TVNewser, Towleroad News #gay and The Daily Dish

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