Joshua Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt-Marshall can kiss my entire white ass.

When the fuck exactly did job numbers become the benchmark instead of the unemployment rate? If I were a cynical bastard, I'd say it's because the unemployment rate now compares favorably to the rate during the re-election cycle of 1996. But that's just me.

I heard Lanny Davis (I think, some lib talking head anyway) cornered on that question during an interview at the DNC, and his response was along the lines of "But there's more people now, so we need more jobs."

Does that mean that if the rate in 1900 was 5%, it needs to be 0.5% now to be equivalent, so we have the same number of people out of work in both cases?

If two months of gains over 300k didn't assure a victory for Bush, then how can one month of crappy news assure his defeat? The fact of the matter is that it doesn't. Granted, we all would have preferred to see better numbers, but let's take a step back, take a deep breath and get some perspective here.

"...how can one month of crappy news assure his defeat?"

Simple. If people only read/watch liberal media sources, then they will only know of the crappy news. And yes, there are people who only read/watch liberal media.

Well, we dealt with a relentlessly liberal media for decades up until the advent of talk radio and FoxNews. Let us not forget that both George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan both won in spite of the media's hatred. Instead of just complaining about the liberal media, we need to make sure that we counter its spin any way we can. I like bitching about it as much as the next guy, but I also know that it's counterproductive.

Blogs like this one are great for getting out our message, as are local talk radio and hometown newspapers. So instead of complaining, call your local drive-time talk radio guy or write a letter to the editor and let them know that the economy is incredibly. These small acts may seem insignificant, but if we can a lot of people to participate, we can have a much larger effect than the decreasingly relevant "mainstream" media.

Rusty Shakelford of mypetjawa v.2.0 not only touched on this discussion, he provided statistical evidence of how Bush has done a better job on the economy/jobs issue than others. You can view the data he obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the pages below:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/039600.php
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/039859.php
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/040299.php
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/039265.php

This last one is the best as it really compares the economy going all the way back to FDR's time.