So the new BLS numbers are out, the last ones before the election, and they show continued (albeit extremely sluggish) growth. The economy is turning around – could be faster, but it’s going the right way, more or less.
And sure enough, right on cue, here comes Jack Welch, late of GE, to proclaim that it’s a conspiracy, and that the Bureau of Labor Statistics – which currently has a career interim boss, replacing a Bush appointee who lasted most of Obama’s term; there has never been an Obama appointee running BLS – is cooking the books to help Obama. And all manner of radio hosts and elected Congresscritters jump on the train.
Just like, presumably, every single pollster – including Fox News – was cooking the samples to give Obama a lead in the polls. I wonder if that same level of skepticism will persist if those same polls show Romney narrowing the gap after the debate.
The right wing in this country has entered a completely post-factual phase. It makes me wonder just exactly what will happen if Obama wins. Is Conservatism, Inc. ready to deny the reality of another Presidential election? Will ACORN’s zombie ghost steal a second straight vote? And more important – what are they prepared to do in that instance? How far is the conservative establishment willing to go into the fever swamp?
The answer to that is very very important. And presently unknowable. And Dave Weigel, longtime observer, is a little curious about that himself…