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UPDATE: Our friends at the NRSC take Specter to task, reminding us of what defines "loyalty," "consistency" and "reliability."

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Tonight, Vice President Joe Biden is holding a fundraiser in Pittsburgh for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA). Back in April, Biden said he worked “double-time for … 100 days” to get Specter to switch parties. Biden probably worked “double-time” because he wanted to get another Senate vote for labor unions’ top priority: the “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA), otherwise known as “Card Check.” After all, Biden did tell a labor union back in May: “We owe you.”

So has Biden seen any fruits of his labor? Let’s look at the timeline:

• March 24: Facing a Republican primary challenger, Specter announced he would oppose EFCA.
• April 28: Specter becomes a Democrat, and Obama announces his “full support” for Pennsylvania’s senior Senator.
• August 14: Specter says he will support cloture on EFCA with “no doubt.”

Looks like Biden succeeded. But it ... more

Today, the White House is claiming the stimulus saved 250,000 education jobs, asserting that by giving states stimulus funds to fill budget gaps, teachers were not laid off. Vice President Joe Biden was brave enough to say the stimulus was “helping soften the blow of tough times” for teachers. What Biden forgot to tell you is what we pointed out earlier this month – that over 23,000 education jobs were shed on the state and local level in September alone, and since the stimulus was signed in February, over 150,000 education jobs have been lost on the state and local level, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

This is a pattern from the White House that we’ve been following throughout the year: the worse America’s economic reality becomes, the more the Obama Administration tries to create good economic news out of thin air. Just yesterday, we wrote on the numerous errors within the White House’s latest stimulus job count. It’s clear that the White House ... more

Just days after the Obama Administration released information on “jobs created or saved” from federal stimulus contracts, problems are surfacing with the numbers, just as we predicted. A senior analyst with OMB Watch says “the data is rife with mistakes.” One of the more interesting mistakes highlighted is an error involving the size of the contract awarded to a French Vaccine maker, reported to be around 100 times its actual size.

On top of that bad news, The Washington Post reported today about a windows and doors factory in Chicago. The factory was slated to close when a California company, Serious Materials, bought the factory with the promise to hire back all of the 250 workers that were going to be laid off. Serious Materials was counting on weatherization incentives from the stimulus to create business. Vice President Biden had even visited the factory in April and held it up as a model for green jobs. However, fewer than 20 workers have been hired back so far. Some model. ... more

They can run, but they can’t hide. And from Virginia to Nevada, we made sure Americans knew what Democrats were really up to today.

With Al Gore holding a fundraiser for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, we took the opportunity to show how the “Goracle” must love the fact that “Cap-And-Trade Creigh” supports a job-killing national energy tax.

But not all Democrats play well together. In fact, throughout this whole government-run health care debate, the debate has chiefly been between Democrats. So we produced our 23^rd edition of CHAOS, noting that Democrats, labor unions and left-wing organizations are launching attacks on Sen. Max Baucus’s version of government-run health care.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is writing Obama’s government-run health care plan behind closed doors with White House aides. So Biden is holding a fundraiser today for the embattled senior Senator from the Silver State. Our research shows that deploying Biden on health ... more

The White House starting posting their claims of jobs “created or saved” as a result of the federal stimulus contracts yesterday. Here are some of the numbers:

• 6 jobs created or saved in Rhode Island, a state with 12.8 percent unemployment
• 159 jobs created or saved in Nevada, a state with 13.2 percent unemployment
• 400 jobs created or saved in Michigan, a state with 15.2 percent unemployment
• 4,695 jobs created or saved in Colorado, a state with 7.3 percent unemployment

So after claiming that the stimulus would help the hardest hit areas, it seems that, even by the White House’s own measure (job estimates that have proven to be completely unreliable), the stimulus has been less beneficial to states with higher unemployment figures.

We don’t believe the White House’s numbers to begin with, but the problem is real.  Since the stimulus was signed into law in February, there have been countless stories of stimulus funds not going to the hardest hit areas.  In July, The Wall Street ... more

The National Endowment for the Humanities. Seriously!

As of today, of the 33 highest level positions at the Treasury, more than half are still vacant. So with a department that is overseeing the stimulus, TARP, and financial regulation reform, working with other nations to fix the global financial crisis, one would think that staffing this critical organization would be priority number one. 

Under the Obama Administration, the economy may be left to fend for itself. But the President made sure that by March he had a White House liaison to the National Endowments for the Humanities. As Steven Pearlstein of The Washington Post pointed out at the time:

“We’re up to our necks in the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s … nearly all the top jobs at the Treasury Department are vacant, yet somehow the White House has found the time and the money to hire a liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities!” 

But more important than the priorities Obama sets with his appointments ... more

Today, President Obama will visit a road construction project in Fairfax County, VA, delivering “remarks on the economic benefits” of his $787 billion stimulus package.

It was only 8 months ago when Obama visited that same Fairfax County road project to sell his stimulus plan, pledging:

“Here in Virginia, my plan will create or save almost 100,000 jobs … As President, I expect to be judged – and should be judged – by the results of this program.”

But judgment day has long since past, and since the stimulus was passed in February, over 20,000 jobs have been lost in the Old Dominion State, leaving President Obama 120,000 jobs short of his pledge. 

While jobs were being lost, stimulus funds were instead wasted on a bridge in Cumberland County that receives little traffic. Residents of the area were confused by the use of stimulus funds, saying they didn’t know the bridge needed repairs and weren’t sure if it was the best use for the funds.

It’s no surprise that Democratic ... more

That’s what the Obama Administration told business leaders (a/k/a job creators) who were in Washington last week to express concerns about a White House proposal to increase taxes on profits made from overseas operations. Obama economic adviser Larry Summers told the business executives in a meeting last week that the government is desperate for new revenues and the business community needs to help cut the deficit. Summers pleaded, “I need you to be patriotic.” 

Larry Summers is right on one point; the government is desperate for money.  Obama’s spending is out of control. Just look at the $787 billion stimulus, the GM and Chrysler bailouts, and the nearly trillion dollar health care legislation they’ve proposed.  The government could cut their spending, but why do that when they could continue to hit businesses with more taxes?  U.S. businesses already pay one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, what’s a few more taxes?

This is eerily similar to Joe Biden’s message ... more

The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Reuters is reporting today about the “Buy American” provision in the stimulus that is causing many construction projects to be delayed, costing plenty of jobs.  This provision, popular among unions, requires that all public works projects use only U.S. made goods, a problem when many projects require components made elsewhere in the world. 

This rule is also frustrating our neighbors to the north, who are angered that Canadian firms are not allowed to participate in some stimulus projects.  Some Canadian communities are retaliating by starting their own Buy Canadian campaign.  Last month, The Wall Street Journal told the story of one Wisconsin man who says he stands to lose 25 percent of his business if Canadian companies exclude U.S. bidders. I thought the stimulus was supposed to create jobs, but apparently it’s set up to kill them.  Something doesn’t seem right here. 

Yesterday, House Republicans held a roundtable discussion to bring attention ... more

Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial talks about Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s fondness for a value-added tax (VAT), a middle class tax hike if there ever was one. Democrats love this national sales tax because it taxes goods on every level of production, gathering unprecedented levels of revenue along the way.  Of course, those making less than $200,000 a year will be hit – we all need to buy things here and there – clearly breaking Obama’s pledge to not raise any taxes on middle class Americans.

And it looks like the Obama Administration is laying the groundwork to institute a VAT and break its pledge. John Podesta, president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, and President Obama’s transition chief, suggested that taxing middle class Americans to help close federal budget deficits is a necessity and said “[a]s progressives, we need to debate the policy merits and likelihood of enacting a range of options – including designing a small and more progressive ... more