BREAK IN THE RANKS: MAINSTREAM MEDIA REPORTS ON OBAMA'S "STIMULUS" LIES

Is the mainstream media's love affair with the Obama administration on shaky ground?

In anticipation of the Obama administration's 'stimulus report' tomorrow, CBS Evening News reported on the fraudulent jobs claims already fabricated by Obama's White House.

CBS used research provided from a report yesterday by the Associated Press, entitled, "Stimulus Jobs Overstated by Thousands," which documents several specific instances of outright lies of the Obama administration, and says, that the administration has “overstated by thousands the number of jobs created or saved.”

Isn't it worth noting that the same people in government falsifying these numbers are the same ones being entrusted to potentially run the nation's health care?

Video and a full transcript of the CBS Evening News report follows, followed by more information on the boondoggle known as the Obama Stimulus Plan (my bold):

CBS ANCHOR KATIE COURIC: Now let’s get back to that $787 billion ‘stimulus’…. Earlier this year, the President claimed it would create or save three million jobs. There are some questions about how many it may have created so far. Chip Reid is at the White House tonight. And Chip, I know the Administration is putting out a jobs report card tomorrow. What can you tell us about that?

CBS CORRESPONDENT CHIP REID: Katie, that report is going to claim the ‘stimulus’ has already created or saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, but if the Administration's first effort at counting stimulus jobs is any guide, tomorrow's numbers could be hard to believe.

At a small college in Georgia, $100,000 in ‘stimulus’ funds paid for trucks for students to practice for commercial driver's licenses. Another $100,000 went for a modular classroom. The school reported to the government that 280 jobs were created. In reality, not even close. That’s the number of students who benefitted. It has nothing to do with jobs. In Cocoa, Florida, a childcare center reported 129 jobs created by a ‘stimulus’ grant. In fact, no jobs were created. The money was really used to increase the compensation and benefits of 129 existing employees.

Overall, it turns out the Administration’s initial ‘stimulus’ jobs report contained hundreds of errors as first reported by the Associated Press. Critics say if the kinds of errors found in that earlier report are repeated in Friday’s much more extensive job creation survey, it won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on.

CRAIG JENNINGS, FISCAL POLICY ANALYST, OMB WATCH: We have, I think, a rough estimate at best. And at worst, these numbers are next to useless. CHIP REID: The White House says the errors have already been corrected, that tomorrow's jobs report has been double and triple checked for weeks, and that it will give an accurate, detailed look at the early success of the ‘stimulus.’ Republicans in Congress, though, predict the report will be a world-class example of government obfuscation.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): There is no factual way of determining how many jobs were saved or created.

CHIP REID: Those Republican critics also say they don’t understand how some ‘stimulus’ projects will create any jobs. For example, half a million dollars to study social networks like Facebook and $219,000 to study the sex lives of female college freshmen.

END OF CBS REPORT

On the topic of the failure of the "stimulus," the Washington Times (excerpt below) has a new editorial appropriately entitled, "Economic Road to Hell," that profiles more of the deception and propaganda being spread by Obama and his tax payer funded professional liars. The article effectively "pulls down the covers" on the claims that the "stimulus" is working and that it's even having the opposite effect, according to the real data. Remember, the Obama administration said that the benchmark to measure this program by was the reduction in unemployment that they deceptively and naively promised:

On Feb. 28, the council predicted that with passage of the $787 billion stimulus package, the unemployment rate would only reach 8.1 percent this year. With current unemployment at 9.8 percent and rising, the president's promises of millions of jobs being created or saved haven't panned out. The administration has tried to claim that its earlier estimates couldn't be held against the White House because Team Obama didn't know how bad the economy was, but that's implausible, given that Mr. Obama repeatedly said we were facing an "unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action" in speeches during the campaign and in January and February.

There is no evidence that states that have gotten the most money have seen improvements in their unemployment rate. From January through September, just two states - Minnesota and Vermont - have seen their unemployment rates fall, and both received less than the average per-capita stimulus dollars. Using the government's Recovery.gov Web site, we find that the states that have gotten the most money per capita actually saw a slightly larger increase in their unemployment rates on average. The relationship isn't close to being statistically significant, but given how much money is being spent, it is reasonable to hope for some evidence of a decline in unemployment - not weak evidence of an increase.