I’ve seen some lame attempts at spin in my 30 years of watching politics. But this NYT “story” is the lamest yet. Check out the headline: “Reasons Abound for Ebb in Job Growth.” The second graf goes like this:
The addition of just 115,000 jobs in April was disappointing, but economists urged no panic just yet. Maybe the unusually warm winter had encouraged companies to do their spring hiring a little early, they offered in one of several theories. Maybe high gas prices, now falling, temporarily discouraged job growth. Better yet, maybe this latest report understates how many jobs were added, since the initial estimates for earlier months have been revised upward.
Can you guess what Totally Unbiased News Reporter Person Catherine Rampell doesn’t mention? ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, and the exploded deficit.
Huh.
UPDATE: Two in one day, if you can believe it. This one’s by Mark Landler, and the headline reads, “Job Numbers Become Instant Campaign Fodder.” And the lede:
Mitt Romney responded to Friday’s weaker-than-expected job numbers with a sweeping denunciation, declaring it a “terrible and very disappointing report” — evidence of an economy that is “slowing down, not speeding up.”
Yep, there’s Mitt Romney, using the unemployed as “fodder” for his political ambitions. The President, meanwhile, “has doggedly pushed piecemeal proposals that he says will improve the lives of middle-income Americans.”
That line is from the story, not from a White House press release. Or is that a difference without distinction?
Anyway, the NYT is full-court-press for Obama, which should shock no one. It ought to anger a shareholder or two, however.
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