By Steve Benen
When the jobs reports were looking quite good in the early spring, Republican leaders
were eager to take credit for the positive numbers they had nothing to do with. After all, as far as GOP officials were concerned, their mere presence in the House majority was enough to inspire job creators everywhere.
But if Republicans demanded credit for the job totals in the spring, these same Republicans are desperate to avoid blame for job totals in the summer. It’s a nice little scam Republicans have put together: when more jobs are being created, it’s proof they’re right; when fewer jobs are being created, it’s proof Democrats are wrong.
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Regardless, following up on a little exercise
from July, let’s play the game in a way Boehner might like, using Republican rules. Here’s a chart showing private-sector job creation in the latter half of 2010, when stimulus money was still being
And here’s a chart showing private-sector job creation so far in 2011, after stimulus spending largely ended, Republicans took control of the U.S. House and most of the nation’s gubernatorial offices, and the national discourse pivoted from jobs to the deficit and debt.
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