On “objective” America’s News HQ today, Shannon Bream interviewed Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and allowed her to distort the Scott Walker administration’s rather poor record of job losses as one of job creation.
As the Christian Science Monitor reported in late April,
Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs between March 2011 and March 2012, according to data released Tuesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state’s lead in job losses is significantly greater than the rest of the 50 states: No other state lost more than 3,500 jobs.
The majority of the losses in Wisconsin, 17,800, were in the public sector. However, the state lost more private-sector jobs, 6,100, than any other state. The only other states to report private-sector job losses in the same time period (instead of private-sector gains) were Mississippi and Rhode Island.
Kleefisch can thank “objective” host Bream for the opportunity to spin Walker’s record of job losses as job gains. Bream coyly sidestepped citing any of the actual statistics to the “we report, you decide” network’s viewers – and gave Kleefisch free rein to say whatever she wanted – by “asking,” “I want to give you a chance to respond to some of the criticism from (Walker’s opponent, Tom Barrett). He says that growth in Wisconsin’s actually lagged behind other states in the region... How do you respond?” By quoting Walker's opponent, it was also a sly way for Bream to give the appearance of offering balance - at the same time she gave Kleefisch the opportunity to rebut without any challenge.
Kleefisch avoided saying outright that Walker’s policies had created jobs but you could be forgiven for thinking she had – and, of course, Bream didn’t throw any cold water on the spin with any actual facts.
Kleefisch called “our job numbers” a “victory for all of Wisconsin.” She added,
“87% of our job creators right now, today, Shannon, say that they are poised to create jobs in 2012 but the number one thing that’s holding them back is this recall election. Job creators need certainty, stability, predictability in order to feel comfortable taking their dollars out of the bank and putting it into their workforce… and number one way you give that stability… is when you have a financially responsible budget like what we have laid here in Wisconsin.
…We have a fully-funded retirement system here… we didn’t lay off public employees in Wisconsin."
Kleefisch even sounded like she was reciting lines from a campaign speech as she said that what helps workers is to,“lay the foundation for economic growth and that’s exactly what we’re seeing in Wisconsin. We’re creating jobs together and starting on June 6th, we’re hoping to see that employment section in the newspaper grow by inches.”
Bream ended the interview on that upbeat-for-Kleefisch note by saying, “Thank you for your time and we’ll be watching as it goes down to the wire on Tuesday.”
Kleefisch smiled and said, “Sounds good.”
Who could blame her for her pleasure? Fox News has not only been extensively covering the Walker recall election, it's been blatantly pro-Walker as it goes - even to the point of providing fundraising help.
Misogyny Is My Business, My ONLY Business!
And trust me… what a lot of other states with RW governers are doing is appealing to him. He’s flat salivating over Rick Snyder.