BLS Truthers: Barack Obama Still Rigging Jobs Report

According to the nerds at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in November and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7%.

At least with the election behind us, we won't have to listen to people claiming the Obama administration is rigging these numbers to affect the polls. Or will we?

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Tags: Barack Obama, Department of Labor, Economy, Twitter, Unemployment

The Daily Show on the Looming Cliffpocalypsemageddonacaust

"There's an asteroid headed toward the Earth. We made it and fired it at ourselves. Because otherwise we would never have done the hard work required to protect ourselves from asteroids." – Jon Stewart

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11/10c.

Tags: Barack Obama, Economy, Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, Video

Tweet Untweet: Fiscal Miff

Can someone find the guy who coined the phrase "fiscal cliff" and never stop hitting him with a rolled-up newspaper?

— BillCorbett (@BillCorbett) November 30, 2012

Tags: Budget, Economy, Tweet Untweet, Twitter

Mitch McConnell Laughs Existentially at the Cosmic Joke

Having just stared deeply into the vast nothingness of the Treasury Department's proposal for averting the metaphorical and self-imposed "fiscal cliff" over which Congress is currently dangling itself, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — laden heavy with despair — found himself bereft of all options save one...

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, says he "burst into laughter" Thursday when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner outlined the administration proposal for averting the fiscal cliff. He wasn't trying to embarrass Geithner, McConnell says, only responding candidly to his one-sided plan, explicit on tax increases, vague on spending cuts.

Geithner's visit to his office left McConnell discouraged about reaching a "balanced" deal on tax hikes and spending reductions designed to prevent a shock to the economy in January. "Nothing good is happening" in the negotiations, McConnell says, because of Obama's insistence on tax rate hikes for the wealthy but unwillingness to embrace serious spending cuts.

McConnell truly is the Sisyphean hero written of by Arthur Camus so many years ago, hefting the boulder of compromise up, up, up the hill only to watch in disgust as Obama pushes it back down with a simple flick of his thumb. And down McConnell must go to take up the task once again, for the sake of his constituents.

To paraphrase Camus: "The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Mitch McConnell happy."

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Economy, Mitch McConnell, Senate

Stephen Colbert Peers Over the Fiscal Cliff

"Some Republicans are abandoning the anti-tax pledge as fast as their abandoning… uh, what's his name? Don't help me, don't help me, don't help me… uh, Ripp Flambé?" – Stephen Colbert

Coverage continues with the National Review's Reihan Salam after the jump.

The Colbert Report airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30/10:30c.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Economy, Grover Norquist, House of Representatives, Stephen Colbert, Taxes, The Colbert Report, Video