Media Inflamed Over Romney's Innocent 'Unemployed' Joke, But Totally Ignore Obama's Callous 'Shovel-Ready' Joke

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is taking flak from Democrats after telling a group of out-of-work Floridians "I'm also unemployed."

The former Massachusetts governor and multimillionaire made the comment Thursday at a Tampa coffee shop. He told the group that he did have his eye on one particular job.

Romney was criticizing President Barack Obama's economic performance, calling it the worst since President Jimmy Carter's in the 1970s.

Democrats were quick to pounce on Romney's comment. Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said he is out of touch with the average American and that being unemployed isn't a joke. Wasserman Schultz chairs the Democratic National Committee.

Continue reading at AP.org

Any joke about the state of the economy told by a politician is an invitation to disaster. Any joke about the state of the economy told by a politician who's worth nine figures and is already vulnerable to blue collar/white collar class resentment points to a political death wish. Debbie Downer and the DNC are already trying to make an issue of it, just four days after her own sub-moronic comment about having turned the economy around. They won't get much traction given all the laughter in the clip, but if one of the voters sitting there with him had freaked out when he said this, the footage would be in constant rotation on cable news tomorrow. He lucked out here, but he won't always be so lucky. Learn from the mistake.

Continue reading at Hotair.com

President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness met today in Durham, NC at Cree Inc., a company that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting. One of the Council's recommendations to President Obama was to streamline the federal permit process for construction and infrastructure projects. It was explained to Obama that the permitting process can delay projects for "months to years ... and in many cases even cause projects to be abandoned ... I'm sure that when you implemented the Recovery Act your staff briefed you on many of these challenges." At this point, Obama smiled and interjected, "Shovel-ready was not as ... uh .. shovel-ready as we expected." The Council, led by GE's Jeffrey Immelt, erupted in laughter.

The Obama administration promised the Recovery Act ("the stimulus") would prevent the jobless rate from going over 8%. It now stands at 9.1%.