We all know about the obstructionism and left-leaning ways of
Olympia Snowe ,
Arlen Specter,
Lincoln Chaffee and others residing in that very special club known otherwise as Club
RINO (
Republican
In
Name
Only). Club RINO has heretofore been a relatively small and exclusive club, with frequent visits by
John McCain. The Ice Palace has it on good authority that Club RINO will soon be accepting another into its ranks, and it turns out to be one of our own from Minnesota. It has taken awhile for
Senator Coleman, a former democrat, to achieve RINO status. The first hint to come was Norm's insistence on re-joining the other side of the aisle with his opposition to moving the U.S. toward energy independence in opposing the opening of
ANWR to oil exploration. Now yesterday Coleman again crosses the aisle (with three other RINOs) to vote with the likes of
this clown in favor of hiking the minimum wage more than $2.00 per hour, saying that "
McDonald's currently pays more than the minimum wage." Okayyy.... where is the disconnect in that? If entry level jobs such as those found at McDonald's are paying
more than the stated minimum wage, does that not make the minimum wage irrelevant? Does that not say that the marketplace is doing its own job of determining wages? Why even the need for a state- or federally-mandated minimum wage? This last statement by Coleman alone was the final tip-off that he may indeed be a RINO. A disconnect from critical, logical thinking is expected from the democrat side of the aisle. But when it creeps onto the right side of the aisle it truly becomes a concern.
Admittedly, however, those on the Republican side (Rick Santorum, PA) yesterday did propose a version of "minimum wage light." In this very strange
twist,
Santorum urged his colleagues to vote against his amendment, saying on the Senate floor that he believed both his and Kennedy's amendments should be defeated. An aide later explained that Santorum believed no minimum-wage amendment should be added to the bankruptcy bill, but decided that if Democrats offered one, Republicans should propose an alternative. (emphasis mine)
(Sooo... if the democrats propose a law that states everybody should be spoon fed arsenic Republicans should propose an alternative to feed everybody ricin?)
Coleman voted yea on both bills.
One
could hope, in one's heart of hearts, that Coleman knew ahead of time that both bills were doomed to failure, and that his affirmative vote on both noxious measures would give him insurance against any future rival accusing him of voting against higher wages for poorer Minnesotans (and at the same time giving him the ability to state the corollary on his future campaign literature). But with Coleman being a former democrat, one cannot help but entertain the possibility that the disconnect from logic and common sense that so often accompanies that side of the aisle pays an encore visit to ol' Norm's psyche every once in a while, and that Norm's RINO tendencies all too frequently rear their ugly heads for the liking of those who voted him into office.
|