Biden: “Two Words — Made in America!”; October Jobs Report Called “Bad” by Markets; Kelly Criticized for Not Leveraging 50th Senate Vote on Border

On 10/8/2022, Biden repeated his “two words: Made in America” gaffe and touted the October jobs report as “historic” while markets called it “a bad report.” Senator Mark Kelly was criticized for not using his leverage as the 50th Senate vote to demand border security from Biden. OPEC’s production cut “caught the administration by surprise.” A Democratic Senate candidate said she would “never support vouchers or universal school choice."

"Two Words: Made in America”

Biden opened with the gaffe that had become a signature. “Let me start off with two words. Made in America. Made in America. That’s not hyperbole. I’m not joking about that,” Biden said — still apparently unaware that three words is not two words.

Jobs Report: “Historic” vs. “Bad”

Biden called 263,000 new jobs “historic progress” — “the fastest job growth at any point of any president in all American history.” He framed wage growth as positive: “Wage growth for workers remains solid, down from historic high pace months ago, but still growing.”

Markets disagreed. “This was a bad report. The market shouldn’t go down. The Fed is winning in terms of getting the stock market down,” an analyst said — meaning the strong jobs number signaled the Fed would continue aggressive rate hikes.

Biden attacked the interpretation. “Many of my Republican friends are basically arguing that good news for the economy is bad news for America — as if they’re rooting for fewer jobs and lower wages,” Biden said. “It’s all part of this trickle-down mentality.”

He repeated the “transition” framing: “We need to move from historically strong economic recovery to a more steady, stable recovery. We need to bring inflation down without giving up all the historic economic progress.”

Kelly: The 50th Vote He Never Used

A critic made a devastating argument about Arizona Senator Mark Kelly’s border record. “He’s the 50th vote in the U.S. Senate. Joe Biden needed his vote. Mark Kelly a year ago could have dug his heels in and said, ‘Mr. President, I’m not supporting a single thing — not a single spending bill, not a single piece of your agenda — unless and until we get border security,’” the critic said.

“Biden would have had to secure the border. This is the result of Senator Kelly being focused on the border. My gosh, he’s the most ineffective and worst senator of all time,” the critic concluded.

When Kelly was asked directly whether he had voted to reject 18,000 more Border Patrol agents, he evaded. “There are votes that happen in D.C. that have nothing to do with Border Patrol agents and it might have the title on it and nothing happens. I’ve been focused on the border since day one,” Kelly said.

“That, my friends, is called evasion,” the moderator noted.

OPEC “Caught Administration by Surprise”

An official acknowledged the OPEC production cut was unexpected. “OPEC caught the administration by surprise with the decision they made yesterday. So we’re readjusting now to deal with that decision,” the official said.

School Choice Opposition

A Democratic Senate candidate drew a clear line. “I will never support vouchers or universal school choice,” she said — opposing the education reform movement that had gained momentum during pandemic school closures.

Key Takeaways

• Biden repeated “two words: Made in America” (three words) and called 263,000 jobs “historic” while markets called the report “bad” because it signaled more rate hikes.
• A critic said Kelly could have used his 50th Senate vote to force Biden to secure the border but chose not to — making him “the most ineffective senator of all time.”
• OPEC’s production cut “caught the administration by surprise” as they scrambled to respond.
• Biden accused Republicans of “rooting for fewer jobs” when they noted the jobs report would lead to more Fed tightening.
• A Democratic candidate vowed to “never support vouchers or universal school choice.”

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

• Let me start off with two words. Made in America. That’s not hyperbole.
• This was a bad report. The Fed is winning in terms of getting the stock market down.
• He’s the 50th vote. He could have said: not one spending bill until we get border security. Biden would have had to act.
• Did you vote to reject 18,000 more Border Patrol agents? There are votes that have nothing to do with Border Patrol.
• OPEC caught the administration by surprise. We’re readjusting now.
• I will never support vouchers or universal school choice.

Full transcript: 714 words transcribed via Whisper AI.