GOP Says Even Bloodhounds Can't Find Stimulus Jobs

CNN.com:

On the day the June jobs report showed the U.S. labor market shedding 467,000 jobs, House Republicans released a tongue-in-cheek Web video featuring a bloodhound named "Ellie Mae" sniffing out stimulus jobs.

Narrated by Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, the clip shows the bloodhound "on the money trail" visiting AIG's headquarters in New York City and projects in Wisconsin and North Carolina supported by federal stimulus dollars. It was modeled on a campaign commercial run by the current Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in his 1994 Kentucky Senate race.

House GOP Leader John Boehner poses with Ellie Mae at the end of the video. "She hasn't found any stimulus jobs yet, and neither have the American people," says Boehner. "It's time to stop runaway spending in Washington and help small businesses get the economy running once again. Hang in there, honey, we'll find 'em."

"This is a lighthearted web video, but the underlying point is no laughing matter," Boehner said in a written statement. "At a time when Americans are looking to Washington for leadership, the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' isn't working. Americans were promised the 'stimulus' would keep the unemployment rate from going above eight percent. It's now it's skyrocketing above nine percent. Where are the jobs?"

Nadeam Elshami, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wasn't amused by the video. "Looks like the hound couldn't track down any of the police officers, teachers or nurses who are working today because of the Recovery Act or the construction workers working on more than 1,900 highway projects already under way across the country."

Elshami also said the stimulus law still needed time to show results, and slammed the GOP: "Betting against the American economy is another fairly depressing political strategy from the House Republican Conference."