After the unemployment numbers were published this morning, even the NYTimes can’t sugarcoat what’s happening. Also after this month’s unemployment figures were released, Rep. Carolyn Maloney said that, yes, they’d pulled the economy back from the brink but that there’s still a long ways to go. NO KIDDING!!! Here’s the thing from the NYTimes’ article that caught my attention:

Dean Baker, a director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said he did not expect declining unemployment rates until next spring. “We may be looking at very high levels,” Mr. Baker said, “barring a policy response, for several years into the future.”

Rep. Mike Pence, the chairman of the House GOP Conference, issued this statement on the jobs report:

Families across this nation are devastated by the reality of a 26-year high unemployment rate. It’s hard to find a friend or a neighbor who hasn’t been touched by today’s news that the national unemployment rate is 10.2 percent. The challenges facing our families and small businesses are obvious to those who are listening. Unfortunately, the Democrat leadership has turned a deaf ear to the concerns voiced by countless citizens, and the American people are paying the price.

“The American people want to know why Congress is forcing through the Pelosi plan for a government takeover of health care instead of a plan that will help create jobs. Concerned citizens don’t understand why their elected officials can’t work together to create jobs and bring relief to families hurting in the city and on the farm. It is time Democrat leaders abandon their endless pursuit of government-run health care and begin working on bipartisan solutions that will put the American people back to work.

The Democrats’ ideology is pushing them to vote on the Pelosi Abomination. They’ve worshiped at the altar of single-payer, ‘universal’ health care for a century. A little thing like unemployment reaching a 26-year high isn’t on their radar screen when they’re focused on an historic vote that would (a) kill health industry jobs, (b) explode the already-exploding deficits and (c) give government unprecedented control of our lives.

The Democrats’ mantra that they’re cleaning up the mess left by “the last eight years” isn’t playing anymore. This graphic shows that the Democrats’ projections are rosy but that reality destroys their projections:

Economic reality doesn’t match the Democrats’ projections, most likely because the Democrats’ projections are just window dressing, not serious predictions based on sound economic principles. Most likely, they’re wishful thinking.

This is just another instance where Democrats aren’t setting the right priorities. They’re rushing to pass unpopular legislation that will hurt the economy while ignoring putting in place economic policies that would lift the economy from the rut it’s in. Voters of all stripes won’t accept policies that keep unemployment at or near today’s 10.2 percent.

Just like there are no atheists in foxholes, partisanship fades when you’re unemployed or you know someone who is unemployed. At that point, people stop caring whether the man or woman with the solutions has a D or an R behind their names. That’s why the DNC is most likely ordering Maalox by the case as they put a strategy together for 2010.

Whether we’re back from the brink or not is immaterial. What’s got people’s attention is whether they’re unemployed or not and whether they see signs for hope. Right now, people haven’t seen proof that Pelosi’s minions care about the economy.

Technorati: Economy, Unemployment, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Jobless Recovery, ARRA, Democrats, Mike Pence, Republicans

Cross-posted at California Conservative