Today’s jobs report was not the news that Team Biden wanted, but they’re going to try and serve us all lemonade anyway.

However, there is no possible was to sugar coat these numbers, so pucker up, everyone. This is straight-up lemon juice.

BREAKING: +194,000 jobs added in September, far below consensus estimates of +500,000. pic.twitter.com/g4XCEE3eUR

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) October 8, 2021

The reflex to keep blaming COVID and/or the delta variant is still running strong in the mainstream news spin.

Hiring in the U.S. fell far below expectations last month, with employers adding just 194,000 jobs versus the expected 500,000, as the delta variant slows the pace of the recovery.”

The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.8%, the Department of Labor said Friday, but the latest hiring data comes after dismal job growth seen in August as well. Some 366,000 jobs were added in August, according to revised data released on Friday, and over a million jobs were added in July.”

The more-contagious delta variant’s impact on the recovery is likely reflected in the disappointing figures, as the labor market still finds itself at the mercy of the virus that saw new spikes earlier in the month when the employment data was collected. The unemployment rate still remains elevated compared to the pre-pandemic 3.5% seen in February 2020.”

Notable job gains last month occurred in the hard-hit leisure and hospitality industry, which added some 74,000 jobs. Employment in leisure and hospitality is still down by some 1.6 million jobs, or 9.4%, compared to data before the COVID-19 shock.”

Can we all just keep in mind that the COVID shutdown was an artificially imposed economic restriction, and those states and localities that are still insisting on treating it as an “ongoing emergency” are shooting themselves in the proverbial foot. And of course, we are talking about blue areas being the hardest hit when it comes to economic recovery. I wonder why?

Biden had to use covid panic porn to explain why he was pushing record taxation, spending, and regulation, and to excuse his own failures. That covid panic porn is now a psychological addiction for blue areas of the country.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 8, 2021

Spin mode activate! Here’s shadow president White House chief of staff Ron Klain trying to convince people that this is really lemonade.

The unemployment rate is now down to 4.8% — in just eight months. We've created 2x more jobs under @POTUS in his first nine months than any administration in history.

— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 8, 2021

You have to admire the audacity of that spin. It really is something to behold.

Finally, it was time for Joe Biden himself to be propped up and wheeled out. That takes TIME, though. The White House originally scheduled Biden’s remarks on the jobs report to begin at 11:30 am Eastern. They finally pushed him out on his soundstage White House set an hour and twenty-three minutes late.

Biden’s spin on the jobs report mimicked Klain’s comments – look how low that unemployment rate is! Remember, this report isn’t ACKSHUALLY from today – the survey was taken September 13th and COVID was really bad then! People are getting paid more! (No comment on how that dollar isn’t going as far because of inflation.) Now get vaccinated and pass all my bills! Don’t you want America to be awesome? Then we need to have more social programs and spend more money!

After his whole whopping less-than-14-minutes speech, Biden shuffled back off his soundstage, giving us all the most familiar view that we’ve become used to of Biden as president – his back. No questions. Buh-bye.

I’m going to make two predictions right now about next month’s jobs report.

First, the Biden administration will STILL not have released any kind of OSHA rules regarding vaccination by the time the next jobs report is released. Why? Because they are trying to avoid the optics of businesses who ARE imposing those vaccination mandates and seeing employees leave their jobs. The administration is desperate to not take the political hit of having created a rule that causes people to lose or quit their job, thus inflating the job numbers. Biden will still push hard on businesses to get them to create mandates, but I am betting that OSHA will take its time, if a rule is created at all. Team Biden knows they are facing lawsuits the second that OSHA comes out with regulations, so they would rather use the bully pulpit and stay out of court – and dodge the blame of the next jobs report showing a potential unemployment spike due to vaccine mandates.

Second, by the time the next jobs report comes out, we will have results from the Virginia gubernatorial election (which will happen November 2nd). All eyes are on that race. If Glenn Youngkin is able to upset Terry McAuliffe (as polls indicate is an actual possibility), then Joe Biden’s legislative agenda is dead. Remember that there has not yet been a vote in the House or the Senate on Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill of trillions of dollars of spending. The infrastructure bill was supposed to go first. The Senate passed that one, but the House Progressive Caucus (with Biden’s approval) threw a monkey wrench into the works. Should Youngkin win Virginia, a state that Biden won by 10 points in 2020, the moderates will run away screaming from both Biden and his “Build Back Better” bill. Biden’s sinking poll numbers could drag them all down, and the House moderate Democrats would like to keep their seats. To put it another way, by the time the next jobs report comes out, we will know whether or not Joe Biden is a legislative lame duck, and his agenda officially a “Build Back” bust.

And if he is, there will be no happy spin on whatever those job numbers are. There likely won’t even be a speech. Which would be nice, because frankly, it’s beyond rude that Biden’s handlers think it’s okay to be over an hour late while they get him camera ready.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click