George W. Weeps?

George W. once said, "I weep and mourn every troop death."

I remember that because my 9th grade English teacher was a bona fide member of The Grammar Police, and it is impossible "to weep a troop death."

Ahem...

See George W. weep. Weep, George! Weep!

OK. I made that up. The actual caption reads:

President Bush smiles from inside the Oval Office after he made comments on the economy, Friday, Dec. 2, 2005, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington. The economy grew at a lively 4.3 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in more than a year.

The best showing in more than a year? 215,000 jobs?

Hm. Who's presided over the worst job losses since Herbert Hoover?

Wait! There's more!

Later yesterday morning, during the White House press gaggle...

Q: Can I ask, when the president came to the Rose Garden this morning about 10:45, at that hour, did the White House already know about this attack on the Marines in Fallujah?

MCCLELLAN: Yes, we did. The president was informed about the loss of the Marines last night and those that were injured, and then he was briefed again this morning.

Hm.

10 Marines killed and 11 more wounded in a single attack; and a dozen are missing. Not to mention the 3 other soldier deaths

And about those new jobs...

Before Bush was appointed in 2000, the US added 300,000 new jobs each month.

How many of George W.'s new jobs fit into one or more of these categories?

Seasonal part-time jobs
1. Retail
2. Restaurants
3. Fundraising

Gulf coast jobs
1. Those that merely replace previously held jobs
2. Clean up jobs
3. Burocratic paper pushing jobs

And here's the real catch:

Economists said the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates again on Dec. 13 as the economy shows gains. Nigel Gault, economist at Boston-based Global Insight, a consulting firm, said he expected three more interest rate increases to take place over the next several months before the Federal Reserve takes a pause. Gault added that he expected the economy to slow in 2006, saying that debt-ridden consumers are likely to spend less heavily.

Sung Won Sohn, president and chief executive of Hanmi Bank in California, said the growing job numbers still could be masking the fact that lower income workers are having trouble coping with high fuel costs and rising interest rates. "We have somewhat of a polarization in the economy," he said. "People with high incomes are doing well. But for people in the lower-income sector, there are fewer jobs."

Will George W. weep the plight of the lower-income sector like he weeps every troop death?

File this under: Seasonal Greetings!