Jon Stewart Takes Fox To Task For Suggesting BLS ‘Cooked The Books’ On Jobs Numbers

by Andrew Kirell | 10:01 am, October 9th, 2012

 

Last night on The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart went after some Fox News personalities for suggesting the Bureau of Labor Statistics falsified the 7.8% unemployment statistic, all while previously reporting less favorable-to-Obama jobs numbers as cold, hard fact.
After playing several clips of Fox hosts reporting that some believe the numbers may have been manipulated, Stewart sarcastically asked: “What else would explain why — after unemployment has been steadily declining for the last year — that now suddenly right before the election, it declines a little more?”
“Please! I think we know what’s going on here,” he mocked before playing another clip of Fox hosts intimating that the federal government may have “cooked the books” with the jobs report. “If you’re cooking the books, 7.8% unemployment is a shit recipe,” he joked. “It’s the radish stew of jobless numbers.”
Stewart then took shots at former General Electric CEO Jack Welch for believing the numbers were falsified without having any actual evidence beyond “these numbers don’t smell right.”
The comedian’s punches then continued with Fox host Eric Bolling, who told Welch he doesn’t believe there are any coincidences in life, implying that the somewhat positive jobs numbers are the result of a government manipulation.
“If these goods numbers from the BLS are clearly a conspiracy, what were the earlier, less positive numbers considered?” Stewart then asked before playing several clips of Bolling accepting previous figures as solid fact.
Watch below, via Comedy Central: