I'm shocked. Amazed. Dumbfounded. Astounded. Astonished.
I'm just looking at a new PolitiFact story about Scott Walkers jobs numbers after having noticed that his main campaign promise in the 2010 election, to bring 250,000 jobs to Wisconsin is now off of his website. Yeah, figures since the Walker administration posted so many consequetive job losses that they finally had to resort to putting out their own pnonied up "jobs numbers" just before the recall election. The tiny 2 line article had a link to the "update" in their analysis of how he's doing.
OK, I clicked the link and got my second shock.
The "promise-o-meter" shows Walker about 75% toward the goal line.
Huh? What?
Delving below the graph, I look at the periodic updates. PolitiFact is now wholly relying on the same phony jobs numbers from the Walker controlled Department of Workforce Development that his administration started putting out before the recall. His numbers, of course, looked a whole lot better that the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers that everyone had been relying on before. So the media in Wisconsin just went along with them. In fact, as I diaried at the time, not only did they swallow those numbers hook, line, and sinker, they went to extraordinary lengths to discredit the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers.
We're not merrily humming along in this state when it comes to jobs and economics and this is the result of Scott Walker and the GOP stripping every public employee of 18% of their take home pay which is now withheld to pay for their benefits. Take that much out of so many paychecks and your economy is going to tank, businesses won't be patronized, money can't be spent because it's not coming in, and bad things happen.
Month after month after month we've seen job losses. Yes, things are getting a bit better, but 75% towards the goal is beyond a stretch.
But when you control the entirety of government, can put out whatever "facts" or propaganda you want, and have a lazy, corporate, complicit media ready to do your bidding, a lie can become a fact and that's what the Walker regime has done.
PolitiFact has been demonstrated time and time again (thank you, Rachel Maddow) for the unfactual nature of their ratings. They should lose every shred of credibility they ever had.
Rant over.
Solidarity.