Senator John McCain joined his fellow Republicans to vote to maintain a filibuster on the minimum wage hike. This is clearly a vote to win him financial backing and support from the elites, but it is one that should come back to haunt him in his Presidential bid.A hike in the minimum wage is supported by at least 75% of Americans -- that number includes a large percentage of Republicans. And it's an issue you can use to win -- as Sherrod Brown learned in Ohio, a state where I'm guessing McCain will want to perform well.
2008 will likely be the year when the rightwing economic vision and electoral reality collide into eachother. This vote is a clear example of how that will happen.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 11)
16. He was the only republican that I would have
considered voting for, he has just blown any chance
he to win the WHITE HOUSE.
DAN WILSON at 3:15PM on Jan 24th 2007
17. It seems very odd that congressmen can squash a bill to raise the minimum wage to help the lower income workers at least eat a decent meal every now and then but they get their raises each year and medical insurance. please keep track of your congressmen and vote them out next time they want a seat in your state if they vote against the hike in the minimum wage.
ray at 3:16PM on Jan 24th 2007
18. I wonder if these so called "concerned about you and yours" politicans would like it if their government stipend was tied to the rate of cost of living - oh yeah forgot!!! no worries for them - the added bonus of "campaign contributions" by fat cats would off set any downside - both morally and financially. Health benefits arn't too bad either
Tampa John at 3:27PM on Jan 24th 2007
19. The minimum wage will help workers. Prices will rise anyway. Jobs will not be cut. (Employers always threaten this; but, it never happens after a minimum wage increase.) The question is whether workers' wages will keep up with the cost of living. The minimum wage has not increased in 10 years. So, the value of the minimum wage has been decreasing (in real dollars) for 10 years. And employers have been enjoying that savings in decreased labor costs for 10 years at the entry-level wage.
Steve at 7:53PM on Jan 24th 2007
20. John McCain is nothing but a big talker who kisses up to whomever he feels can help him politically. If he were in a situation of living hand to mouth he would definitely want the minimum wage to go up. As for his being a war hero, "NO WAY". John McCain came back. The heroes of Viet Nam were the men and women of the United States who died for an unpopular and unjust war!
Susan Levine at 3:23PM on Jan 24th 2007
21. Mr. McCain you can't believe people can live on the minimum wage now. Get some guts and vote yes for raising the minimum wage for the working class people. I will never vote for you.
L. McKindley at 3:29PM on Jan 24th 2007
22. Matt, you have it well rationized. But without workers...we won't need managers. Bye-Bye. I am betting you are more of a "manager" than a "worker" by your thinking.
T Coyote at 3:51PM on Jan 24th 2007
23. I agree with Matt. There is a simple economic principle at work here. No matter what... the consumer pays the price. If taxes are raised on a corporation... the price of goods or services goes up and the consumer pays. The same is true with the mimimum wage increase. If the cost of payroll goes up, the corporations will raise the price of what they offer, and the consumer will pay the price again. Ironic isn't it. Give someone more money hourly and they just wind up spending more on the things they buy. Not much of a raise is it.
Brian V at 3:31PM on Jan 24th 2007
24. Matt is exactly right. I own a small business and currently have three employees. If they raise the minimum wage, someone will lose their job. Multilply that by millions of small businesses and you have millions of people added to the unemployment and welfare lines. And who is going to pay? All those taxpayers who wanted to raise the minimum wage. What do the democratic majority congress care? Notta! They will just vote themselves a raise and increase our taxes to pay for it.
Sharon at 4:24PM on Jan 24th 2007
25. WITH HOUSING COSTS SKYROCKETING, THE MINIMUM WAGE SHOULD BE TWICE AS MUCH AS CONGRESS IS ASKING FOR.
FORGET YOU, MC CAIN!
V.
v. at 5:31PM on Jan 24th 2007
26. Anyone who is against raising the minimum wage should have to live (exist) on a minimum wage budget for at least 3 months. (If they could last that long). If our congressional and senate representatives and our president had to exist on this type of wage, they would vote in an increase so fast it would make our heads spin.
Donna Peeler at 3:26PM on Jan 24th 2007
27. Senator McCain continues to disappoint -- and continues to be a virtual "puppet" of the same people who have treated him so dreadfully in the past. While I oppose a number of his positions on issues (abortion among them) which he has taken as a matter of his personal conviction, I can understand them. But he campaigned for the Bush Administration, which sullied his and his wife's personal honor to an extent which a man of honor should have held unforgivable, and he has obviously forced himself to take positions on issues (like minimum wage and even support for the Iraq invasion, war, and continued chaos) which are clearly not based on any deep moral conviction. He is no longer a viable candidate -- and, sadly for the dialogue our nation needs, leaves the field to various extremists in his party, and a monumental putz like Rudy Giuliani. It is time for both parties to present candidates who represent the best visions of a future based upon their traditional core principles. "Lower taxes for the rich" and "Laissez-faire for corporate power" does not equal freedom from governmental excess which "conservatives" used to fight for. And, for my party, pandering to racist demagogues who advocate granting power, influence, money, and the right to be in the country based solely on race is not even close to "equal protection of the laws," or protection from discrimination.
Joseph Myers at 3:29PM on Jan 24th 2007
28. Shame on John McCain. The rich get richer, the poor have medicaid and food stamps. The working class need minimum wage hikes more than ever. I'd be interested in knowing if he voted against his congressional wage increase.
A. Sellers at 3:43PM on Jan 24th 2007
29. Because of McCain's sponsorship of campaign financing reform, we mistakenly concluded that he was an independent-minded Republican-- an attractive alternative to the toe-the-mark apprearance of Republican spokesmen. But all his votes and oral positions since then have been knee-jerk Republican/ Bush conservative party-line. Now his minimum wage position spotlights his traditional party-line conforming. Good-bye to him as a viable presidential candidate.
R. Gellman at 3:31PM on Jan 24th 2007
30. I would like to add, however, that there should have been an inflation-tied increase in the minimum wage built into previous minimum wage law. I understand that the wages should increase with inflation, but what congress is doing now, with arbitrary increases at random intervals, will hurt the economy and the very people it is trying to help. Perhaps if the new law had this inflation-tied increase, it would be better in the long run.
Brian V. at 3:37PM on Jan 24th 2007