On the job

Rarely does a seasoned politician so succinctly lay bare his party's true agenda. But that's precisely what Majority Leader Harry Reid did Wednesday when he took to the Senate floor to utter this doozy: "It's very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine. It's the public-sector jobs where we've lost huge numbers, and that's what this legislation is all about."

Where to begin?

First, the comment is flat out false. Since December 2007, the private sector has shed 6.3 million jobs. Government jobs are down 392,000. Even as a percentage of total employment, the carnage pales in the public sector. Government employment has dropped 1.8 percent. Meanwhile, there are 5.4 percent fewer jobs in the private sector.

But beyond the facts, the comment is a stunningly clear admission that Big Labor pulls the strings in the modern Democratic Party.

Sen. Reid was attempting to defend the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, a part of the president's jobs bill that would allocate $35 billion to hire new teachers and other public-sector workers. It is, of course, vital for Democrats to spread the cash around to their union allies, who in turn lift a portion of that largess from their members and return it to Washington in the form of campaign contributions.

As well as pulling back the curtain on this money laundering effort, Sen. Reid has -- perhaps inadvertently -- revealed a mind-set all too prevalent among many on the left.

"Mr. Reid's comments ... reveal that he and his fellow Democrats inhabit an economic universe in which government is the main engine of job creation," noted The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. "That's how you get a jobs crisis."

Amen.