The Gaffetastic Harry Reid (Updated!!)
Our illustrious Senate Majority Leader this morning:
“Today is a big day in America. Only thirty-six thousand people lost their jobs today, which is really good.”
Oh yes: he did.
(Yes, yes, to all you Dear Harry Defenders: We KNOW what he meant: it’s been worse; it could be worse. It’s better than other days we’ve had. But, still: Really?!)
Update (11:57 a.m.): Here are the remarks before and after Reid’s “only…really good” statement (via RalstonFlash):
TAX EXTENDERS ARE MEASURES THAT COME AT THE END OF THE YEAR. MANY OF THEM SHOULD BE EXTENDED FOR MUCH LONGER THAN A YEAR, BUT WE’RE IN A MOMENT NOW OF PAYING FOR THINGS, AND AS A RESULT OF THAT, WE DON’T HAVE THE MONEY TO DO IT FOR MORE THAN A YEAR. EXPIRING PROVISIONS ARE VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES. THEY DEAL WITH SATELLITE TV, WHICH IS IMPORTANT TO ABOUT A MILLION AND A HALF PEOPLE IN AMERICA. MANY IN THE RURAL WEST DEPEND ON THIS. UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION. TODAY IS A BIG DAY IN AMERICA. ONLY 36,000 PEOPLE LOST THEIR JOBS TODAY, WHICH IS REALLY GOOD. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AROUND AMERICA HAS NOT CHANGED. PROGNOSTICATORS THOUGHT IT WOULD GO UP AND HAS NOT, SO WE NEED TO EXTEND — THERE ARE ABOUT 15 MILLION PEOPLE IN AMERICA OUT OF WORK. THESE EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS WILL HELP MILLIONS OF THOSE PEOPLE. WE WERE FORTUNATE ENOUGH FOR EARLIER THIS WEEK TO GET THE 30-DAY EXTENSION WHICH SAVED THEM SO THAT WHEN WE FINISH THIS LEGISLATION, WE SHOULD FINISH IT HOPEFULLY ON TUESDAY, WE CAN GO TO CONFERENCE WITH THE HOUSE AND QUICKLY WORK OUT OUR ADDITIONS.
As I said in my initial post: what Reid meant was, it’s been worse (and: we were expecting things to be worse). But it could have been better worded, no? Putting the phrase “really good” in the same sentence with “people lost their jobs” is just not too swift.
Team Reid, realizing the political fodder he offered up and trying to do some quick damage control, put out this statement a short while ago (again via RalstonFlash):
I want to talk about some remarks I made this morning – especially in light of how they are being irresponsibly mischaracterized by those seeking to score political points.
Today we learned that 36,000 Americans lost their jobs in February. Those families don’t need today’s Department of Labor report – or anyone else in Washington – to tell them what that means for putting food on the table – or for paying the bills – or affording their health care. It’s undeniably devastating news.
But if we’re going to discuss the state of our economy and the direction in which it’s going – and if we’re going to talk about it like adults – we have to take a step back and put this number in context.
Economists thought 75,000 Americans were going to lose their jobs last month. That’s more than double what the actual number turned out to be. But that number is still too high.
Those economists thought the unemployment rate was going to go up. It did not. But the unemployment rate is still too high.
Ask the 40,000 Americans who economists thought were in the line of fire – but who still had a job to go to this morning – and they’ll tell you they were relieved that February wasn’t as bad as expected.
And remember: If you compare where we were last year and where we are today – if you compare where we were before the Recovery Act and where we are after – there is no question we stopped a terrible situation from getting even worse.
In the three months before the Recovery Act, three-quarters of a million Americans lost their jobs – just in those three months alone. Then the Recovery Act kicked in, and in the last three months, that number is down from 750,000 to 36,000.
That’s not all: in the quarter before the Recovery Act, the economy shrank by more than 6 percent. In the last quarter, the economy grew by 6 percent.
Expert after expert has said that as many as 2.5 million people who have jobs today would not have had them if we hadn’t acted.
Expert after expert has said that our recession would have become another depression if we had done nothing, as some urged.
Taking our economy from 6-percent contraction to 6-percent growth is not the end, but it’s a step in the right direction. Going from 750,000 job losses to 36,000 is not the end, but it’s a step in the right direction.
The statement goes on, but that’s all the contextualizing re: jobs.
As far as I am concerned this is a pretty small blip on the political radar, though Team Tarkanian was immediately all over it with a new website (“Which Reidism Is Worse?”) and Team Lowden put out a press release with a link to an existing video on Reid and the economy four minutes later. As one would fully expect during campaign season.
