In his Tuesday interview with Sarah Palin on NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer insisted the economy was getting better and wondered why voters should bother voting out President Obama: "Some people would say if things seem to get better, or be getting better, why would I take that chance and change the person in the White House?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Lauer referenced a March 28 interview he conducted with House Speaker John Boehner: " Even the Speaker of the House, I sat down with him, John Boehner, last week, I said is the economy improving? He said yes, it is. And I said, so how do Republicans run against an improving economy? He said, you say, 'It should be better.'" Palin interjected: "It should be a lot better and it could be a lot better." Lauer countered: "But is that a bumper sticker that's going to inspire people?"
During a Super Bowl interview with President Obama on February 5, Lauer failed to challenge the President on his mantra that the economy would have been worse if not for his policies. Later in the Tuesday interview, Palin called out Lauer and the rest of the media for their glaring double standards in political coverage.
Lauer asked Palin if the economy was improving, to which she replied: "For whom? Maybe for those, some on Wall Street. But not for the millions still unemployed, not for those whose houses are under water, not for those who are having to settle at this point with a job that is not fulfilling for them financially."
Lauer declared: "But jobs are coming back. The numbers will come out on Friday. They could be 200,000 new jobs created, manufacturing is looking better, the stock market is looking better, consumer confidence is up."
Palin pointed out: "We still have fewer jobs today than when Barack Obama took over. And we have debt being incurred at $3 million a minute, our government is spending too much money, and people are understanding that we cannot keep going down the path that we're headed."
Here is transcript of that portion of the April 3 interview:
7:11AM ET
(...)
LAUER: Let's talk about the economy. You think it's improving?
PALIN: For whom? Maybe for those, some on Wall Street. But not for the millions still unemployed, not for those whose houses are under water, not for those who are having to settle at this point with a job that is not fulfilling for them financially.
LAUER: But jobs are coming back. The numbers will come out on Friday. They could be 200,000 new jobs created, manufacturing is looking better, the stock market is looking better, consumer confidence is up.
PALIN: We still have fewer jobs today than when Barack Obama took over. And we have debt being incurred at $3 million a minute, our government is spending too much money, and people are understanding that we cannot keep going down the path that we're headed.
PALIN: It should be a lot better and it could be a lot better.
LAUER: But is that a bumper sticker that's going to inspire people?
PALIN: It could be a lot better. Look at – take just one example of an indicator of the economy that is still pretty woeful. Gas was a buck 83 a gallon when Barack Obama took over. Now we're looking at $4 and $5 a gallon gas because Barack Obama has no energy policy for this country. He has thwarted opportunity for resource development in this country. Again, people have a choice. Do you want to fire that CEO of our country and replace him with somebody who knows how to allow the private sector to create jobs?
LAUER: But some people would say-
PALIN: How to responsibly develop resources.
LAUER: Some people would say if things seem to get better, or be getting better, why would I take that chance and change the person in the White House?
PALIN: Because things aren't getting better fast enough. And they should be. And people who are hurting, people who are seeking that job, people who want to hold onto their businesses, and to their homes, and to be able to afford to send their child to college, people know that we have opportunity to do even more. Be better in America than what we're doing today.
(...)
