Did Stimulus Bill Really Save Many Jobs?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Stimulating Conversation
Vice President Joe Biden claims the federal stimulus program has created or saved 150,000 jobs since February. President Obama said the same thing during his news conference last month.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Both have said the stimulus legislation will help save or create as many as four million jobs by the end of 2010. But, finding the data to back up any of the numbers is a real challenge.
The progress report on the stimulus plan issued from Biden's office last week contains no reference to the 150,000 number. Cybercast News reports Biden's office says the number was taken from a report published last Monday by the President's Council of Economic Advisers. But that report doesn't contain the 150,000 figure either.
And as for the jobs saved or created, the Labor Department reports more than 1.3 million jobs have been lost since the stimulus was signed into law. It's nearly impossible to find how many were saved.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Can't We All Just Get Along?
Senator Jim Bunning has taken another shot at fellow Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. Bunning is running for re-election despite the wishes of many Republicans.
He calls McConnell a "control freak" to The Courier-Journal and says he's not worried about a lack of support from the minority leader: "If Mitch McConnell doesn't endorse me, it could be the best thing that ever happened to me in Kentucky." McConnell declined to endorse Bunning on "FOX News Sunday" last weekend.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Common Sense
Britain's Speaker of the House of Commons has resigned amid a public outcry over the exposure of lavish taxpayer-funded expenses by members of Parliament. This is the first time in three centuries a speaker has been forced from office in that country.
Even though Michael Martin was not caught up in the recent scandal involving reimbursement claims for porn movies, chandeliers, and even moat cleaning, he was blamed for creating an environment in which such excesses were tolerated. Martin's supporters say he is taking the fall for other lawmakers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Don't Bet On It
And Nevada Republican Governor Jim Gibbons says President Obama is refusing to meet with him, and key business leaders from his state, after causing severe financial problems for them.
Gibbons says more than 400 conventions and business meetings have been canceled in the months following the president's statement in Elkhart, Indiana on February 9 that: "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gibbons says: "President Obama is coming to Las Vegas later this month for a political fundraiser, but he will not help the struggling families in Las Vegas and Nevada who are out of work because of his reckless comments... President Obama stood for change, but all he has done is brought negative economic change to Nevada."
— FOX News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.