Job Numbers Are In...Only 96,000 Jobs Created In September

...and George W. Bush is officially the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss of jobs during his presidency. When was Hoover president, you ask? The Great Depression.

September's job-creation total fell well short of Wall Street economists' forecasts for 148,000 new hires. The department also revised down its estimate of August jobs to 128,000 from 144,000 it reported a month ago.

Most jobs last month came in the services sector, while manufacturers shed 18,000 jobs after increased hiring in the two prior months.

How can there be a net loss of jobs when jobs are actually being created? Because about 150,000 jobs per month are required just to keep pace with those entering the workforce. Anything below that is a job loss. But not if you listen to the administration:

Commerce Secretary Don Evans pointed out it was a 13th straight month of job creation and said "we've had job gains despite being in a wartime economy" -- a theme Bush was expected to amplify in Friday's debate.

Yeah, well they've cut taxes four times despite being in a wartime economy too, cuts that the administration promised would create jobs in the hundreds of thousands. What a shock that they were oh so wrong again.