Sununu, Gregg vote for minimum wage change

The good news (0.00 / 0)

If you make $0.00 an hour, they don't take out FICA and Medicare.

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by: elwood @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 14:48:29 PM CST

common ground (4.00 / 1)

Bwaaah Ha Ha!!!

Finally, something the very rich and very poor have in common.

Not as smart as I think I am, but not as dumb as I look.

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by: epm @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 19:27:41 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Congrats, Elwood! (4.00 / 2)

Your post made it to a HuffPost post which in turn was crossposted to a YahooNews Opinion piece, which results in people seeing it when they do a Google News search on "Sununu".

Blue Hampshire warned its Senators Judd Gregg (news, bio, voting record) and John Sununu (news, bio, voting record), "These guys are so out of touch with their constituents they should consider just resigning now and keeping their campaign warchests. They're dead, Jim."

Excellent.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Jan 27, 2007 at 10:16:54 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Who's Jim? (0.00 / 0)

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 15:06:23 PM CST

Star Trek reference (4.00 / 1)

Dr. 'Bones' McCoy gave the verdict to Commander James T. Kirk in episode after episode, following a crew member's encounter with some alien: "He's dead, Jim."

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by: elwood @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 15:09:53 PM CST

[ Parent ]

In a way, I respect this more. (0.00 / 0)

Because it is a naked expression of Gregg and Sununu's radical  free market extremism.  At least it's an honest vote on how they really feel.

Only extremists would go for the elimination of all regulations on business.

I also think that Johnny voted the way he did because he got the A-OK from Straight Talk.  I really think the elder John owns the younger.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 18:47:22 PM CST

I edited the E. out of your Sununu tag (4.00 / 2)

as we have only reserved by custom the middle initial H. for the father.

I'll have to do a tag post and clean-up sometime soon.  I had no idea this site would take off as quickly as it has, and the tags are getting a bit unruly.

Can I get paid $0.00 for the job?

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 18:51:20 PM CST

I liked the 'E' (4.00 / 1)

I never would have remembered his middle initial if it weren't for your referring to him as "Johnny Sununu" and realizing that "John E. Sununu" maps to that.

Of course, when I then started calling him Johnny, it was based entirely on that -- not on any effort to highlight inexperience, immaturity, and reliance on daddy.

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by: elwood @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 21:19:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]

off topic..... (0.00 / 0)

but there has been a lot of discussion about how the candidate should not be Hillary b/c peple are sick of Bush-Clinton-Bush and we brike free of England to end dynasties.
For me this isn't exactly true- Hillaary is a whole different animal she is not a daddy's boy running solley on Daddy's name , money and connections.  Of course she is who she due due to Bill, but the whole old money priviledge thing is not there with her-

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by: Kathleen O'Donnell @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 21:30:44 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I was thinking along the same lines (0.00 / 0)

Post a diary and let's discuss it.

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by: elwood @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 21:32:32 PM CST

[ Parent ]

okay (4.00 / 2)

I'll write a diary tomorrow and will actually check my typos before I hit post.

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by: Kathleen O'Donnell @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 21:44:13 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I saw something similar to this somewhere (0.00 / 0)

The falseness of the "Clinton dynasty" -- dynasties are where power is inherited. Hillary worked for it all and was handed nothing.

Saying it's equivalent to Bush is just crap.

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by: Mike Caulfield @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 22:38:15 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Have you no shame? Nope. (0.00 / 0)

"John, Charlie. Charlie, John"

- John Sununu being introduced at the Club for Deposed Incumbents on 12 Nov 2008

Now he's just pissed me off.

Not as smart as I think I am, but not as dumb as I look.

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by: epm @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 19:25:43 PM CST

The subtleties (4.00 / 1)

This was positioned as something like, "An amendment to give states flexibility in worker compensation." If the federal minimum wage were eliminated, state minimum wages would prevail.

Some states have a minimum wage under $3.00 an hour today, but federal law trumps them. Under the GOP plan -- over half the Republican caucus supported it -- those state minimums would take effect. (Other states have higher minimums, which 'trump' the federal rate -- that's the point of 'minimum.' So we already have state flexibility -- what Sununu, Gregg, McCain, and Brownback wanted was state flexibility to drive wages down.)

The probable result: a "race to the bottom" as neighboring states keep lowering the minimum wage, competing for businesses to re-locate.

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by: elwood @ Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 20:55:59 PM CST

asdf (0.00 / 0)

I heard an interesting argument for the Democrat's Minimum Wage legislation today that I hadn't heard before:

No one should be opposed to this because it doesn't really raise wages.  All the raise would to would be to set the federal minimum at levels that the labor market has already set as the minimum.

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by: Nicholas Gunn @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 10:08:27 AM CST

Dean's post says otherwise (0.00 / 0)

He quotes an NHDP press release saying there are 19,000 workers earning below $7.25 / hour in NH.

But yes, minimum wage hikes generally lag the vast majority of employers...

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by: elwood @ Sat Jan 27, 2007 at 09:23:52 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Sununu the Elder and minimum wage (4.00 / 2)

Senator Sununu has always opposed a minimum wage, but his father twice raised the NH minimum wage above the federal minimum wage in the 19080's. He did it with a Republican-controlled legislature. Raising the minimum wage was not always something Republicans fought, not until the right wingnuts took over.

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by: saratogaway @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 18:49:17 PM CST

That's really interesting. (0.00 / 0)

Johnny's to the right of his father on something.  Amazing.

Thanks for coming to BH.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 19:18:26 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Not really. (0.00 / 0)

Johnny went along with the crowd: 27 other Senators in the Republican caucus voted for it, what was poor Johnny to do?

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by: elwood @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 19:37:18 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Sen. Kennedy (4.00 / 2)

I think Sen. Kennedy hit on something in the Republican psyche regarding the working class. In a speech on Thursday (1/25/07) he tore into the Republicans "filibuster by amendment" tactics. In what may have been an impromtu, throw-away line, I think he hit on the nut of the minimum wage issue...

"What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"

I really believe Sununu and Gregg see the working class as a subjugated service class -- a class that is to be patronized and used as campaign props. At the end of the day, certain independently wealthy, self incorporated senators truly do disdain those who simply try to make a living working for others. The working class is a necessary evil -- even a parasite -- to corporate America.

Not as smart as I think I am, but not as dumb as I look.

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by: epm @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 19:29:49 PM CST

I saw that on C-SPAN! (0.00 / 0)

Earlier, they were working on the order of the consideration of speakers and amendments, and Kennedy said he wanted to get out of there by 5:30 to accomodate the travel schedule of the other senators. If I recall correctly, Kennedy's scolding came around 5:15 because the Republicans were using the amendments to try to run out the clock.

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 19:40:34 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Clip on YouTube (4.00 / 1)

Here's a link to the Kennedy clip on YouTube: http://youtube.com/w...

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 20:29:47 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I saw that too, and it will be the basis (4.00 / 1)

of my next Sununu post.  Kennedy essentially revealed the the Repubs are killing legislation by delaying it ad infinitum by endless unrelated amendments.

And just guess who claimed he couldn't vote for the minimum wage bill because his amendment hadn't been considered?  I'll give you a hint.  He's got three U's in his name.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 20:38:52 PM CST

[ Parent ]