In a continuation of the recent pattern, there was unexpected bad news today.

I love the first two paragraphs in this piece. Read carefully….

The number of newly laid-off workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, evidence that layoffs are continuing and jobs remain scarce.

The rise is the fourth in the past five weeks. Most economists hoped that claims would resume a downward trend that was evident in the fall and early winter.

Hoped? HOPED? What the ….? So they don’t do any kind of scientific research or study data, they just make it up as they go? (Sounds like global warming climate change research.)

There was virtually no good news, so the WH will have to work hard to spin it. Oh wait, no they won’t – they’ll just blame it on Bush and say it would have been worse if not for The One.

But I did like this paragraph, previewing tomorrow’s unemployment report, or at least the EXPECTED version of it.

The figures come a day before the Labor Department is scheduled to report the January employment figures, which are expected to show a tiny gain in jobs. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 10.1 percent.

If this pans out, it will be fun to see the WH try to say some tiny gain in jobs is a positive, even though it isn’t even enough to cover the net number of people joining (or at least attempting to join) the workforce, nudging employment from “at” 10% to “over” 10%.

Can we PLEASE get Obama to make more campaign stops in contested districts?