[jamesrichards]

Are the small business owners in montana and virginia now happy that they voted for tester and webb?

Gop didn't campaign against what the dems would do.

No funding for the fence.

Conyers wants to make racial profiling against arabs illegal.

Do the people in virginia know about john conyers.

Leahy wants terrorists to get habeus corpus rights.

And damn Bush. The dems blocked his whole agenda through filibuster now he couldn't wait one second to run to the mike with tony snow and talk about passing their liberal agenda.

That is what the message people missed.

It is one thing to kick out the congress with a conservative congress.

But you kicked out the only conservative firewall.

Now major league RINO Bush is already giving the dems two bills to pass amnesty and minimum wage. And the whole party will be blamed for Bush.

Dems purposefully blocked all the gop bills to make them look bad but with bush the dems have their rino to pass their liberal agenda.

It would be one thing if cheney was in office but this white house is so rinoish it is scary.

The last few months seeing how they have dealt with israel I finally realized what rinos they are. Bush wants to give weapons to the plo.

This is like the dems having all three branches of govt.

It would have been better to have a dem president and a gop congress than a liberal congress and a rino to pass their whole agenda.

Bush now with his political tone deafness kicked out our congress now he is in full destruction mode of what is left of the party.

So far we have amnesty and minimum wage what else can we look forward too.

These are going to be a long next two years.

We have the liberal agenda coming.

[jrooney]

I take offense to your title calling GW a Rhino President. He has not abadoned us in the GOP, some cowards whom voted donk or failed to vote did.

Your add on to the title should be removed.

[concerned about politics]

The biggest winners in last week's congressional elections may be workers currently earning the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Democrats have made a top priority to boosting the federal minimum wage for the first time in almost a decade — and President Bush has signaled he will go along.

So everyone will have to get a raise, and the gap will be the same. If the unskilled get a freebie, those who are skilled will need their wages increased. It's only fair.
The higher cost of wages will be passed on to the consumer. All the democrats are doing is making it harder for everyone. They just can't do anything right.

[monkeywrench]

"But, Bush said, he wants to ensure that any wage increase has “compensation for the small businesses” — a sign he still wants to see a some kind of tax cut tied into a wage hike."

I heard John Mccain saying the same thing today on russert's show. No hike without a cut.

[NapkinUser]

This looks to be a very, very bad two years.

Minimum wage increases, amnesties for illegal aliens, "moderate" judges (code for left-of-center), even more gun control and God only knows what else.

As long as the far-left's demands are met, everything will be "smooth" and "bipartisan." The second the conservatives ask for anything, it will be "Bush is dividing the country" garbage. Bush, please, grow a spine and veto, veto and veto some more.

[concerned about politics]

No funding for the fence....... Conyers wants to make racial profiling against arabs illegal........ Leahy wants terrorists to get habeus .........

And when the nuke goes off, they'll try to blame Bush for it.
Democrats are deadly. The MSM propaganda worked, and America lost.

[MichiganConservative]

The biggest winners in last week's congressional elections may be workers currently earning the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.

Or maybe the biggest winners will be the union thugs who have their wages indexed to the minimum wage. (For example: minimum wage + $25.)

How is this so hard to understand? When the minimum wage increases, unemployment increases. The minimum wage should be abolished at all levels of government.

[b4its2late]

According to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal non-partisan research group, an estimated 6.6 million workers would immediately benefit if the federal minimum wage jumped to $7.25 by 2008.

Whatever. But I wonder if the "Institute" factored in the number of those jobs that are going to be lost due to soemthing other than the market dictating what a non skilled laborer is paid. Small business will not raise prices as the first option. They'll cut costs and the most expensive cost is the cost of labor. It'll be incremental as the wage is ratcheted up over the years....

[gotribe]

RINO - I'll second that.

[meyer]

Minimum wage hike will be followed within 6 months with an inflationary rise in prices as the new wage trickles throughout the economy.

[R_Kangel]

Minimum Wage Hike = Instant Inflation

[meyer]

"...a liberal non-partisan research group...

What on earth is a liberal non partisan research group? If they're liberal, then they are, by definition, partisan. And not partisan in a realistic way!

[TankerKC]

I'm doing fine, but I'm really worried about anyone who makes less than I do. How on earth do they make it?

I think everyone should make what I do, so I don't have to worry about them.

Then, my pay will have to be increased appropriately...since I can't make what these minimum wage lowlifes make.

Then, I'll be worried about anyone making less that me...

[Lancey Howard]

Republicans had hoped the popularity of a minimum wage increase would buy support for the tax cuts, but Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Senate objected to tying the issues together and blocked the package after it had won House approval.

Want to know who stood in the way of the conservative agenda?
Want to know who cost Republicans the election last Tuesday?

Here, again, is your answer.

[ziravan]

It's not the end of the world. I'm opposed to MW for all the reasons y'all know about, inflationary and ultimately, meaningless. But, as a lagging indicator of a minimum salary floor, it's not that bad a deal(really, how many people make minimum wage now? I think I read somewhere that for non-teens, the number is like 2%), and would go far to assuage the misinformed vote. The real scare is the indexing for the inflation it would create, as some of the states did with their versions. I'm not opposed to letting useless legislation pass so long as the compound damage of 'indexing' it isn't included. I don't think Pres. Bush is FOR this so much as he weighs the political cost for 08 being 'against' it. And besides, having a voice at the table will hopefully KEEP the concept at the floor level and prevent the indexing damage that such legislation could do. I know, I know, there's that Daddy Bush pragmatism that cost the '92 election. But, I disagree, at least on this.

[Tamzee]

No, we gave up having a say in setting the agenda when we spent the last few years attacking and purging moderates out of the GOP even when they represented liberal states.

Right or left... the side that forms a stronger coalition with the moderate center wins and gets to run the show. We turned up our snooty noses at such a thought and gave Congress and our troops to the hard left.

The GOP is not a religion, it is simply the right-side coalition... the Demo-rats are the left-side coalition, currently under the claws of the hate-America Chomsky-sect.

But we are too intellectually pure and proud to caucus with imperfect conservatives or non-conservative centrists so we walked away and handed the whole ball of wax to the Cindy Sheehag sect.

Yippee...

[szweig]

Sure would be a treat if SOMEONE would pick up the charts and graphs and buy a little time on the TEEVEEE and explain to the idiots in the trailer parks that the minimum wage is a sham and deleterious to ALL Americans. It's so simple, so ECON 101, yet people still buy into the 'free lunch' aspect of it. It's enough to make me want to shave my head and climb a tower somewhere...and all you who voted for the Demokrats...thanks a lot!! Bush was bad enough, but bow??!? SSZ

[Beagle8U]

"According to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal non-partisan research group, an estimated 6.6 million workers would immediately benefit if the federal minimum wage jumped to $7.25 by 2008."

I think the communists in that group flunked econ-101.

Raise min wage to $7.25 hr. and the ones that don't lose there job will lose there food stamps and gov. funded housing, perhaps their Medicaid.
Now the increase in unemployment will throw more on a welfare program that will have to be income adjusted to allow those poor people making the new min wage back on the gov dole. The qualification adjustment for the new wage will allow more people to qualify.

More inflation, unemployment, and jobs to Mexico or China.

Don't forget the Gang-Green branch of the RAT party that will see to it that oil prices go through the roof.

Any of the dumba$$ voters too young to remember the Carter years are about to learn what they were like.

[raybbr]

The dems blocked his whole agenda through filibuster ...

The dems never filibustered one bill. All they did was whisper "filibuster" and the pubbies ran for their holes.

[camas]

slow down. look back to 1998 1999 and what happened to the FReepers then. "don't cut off your nose to spite your face"

[Don W]

but Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Senate objected

ANYONE who thinks that conservatives lost on Tuesday is about as sharp as jello. HELLO! If you're gonna legislate like a DIMRAT when we voted for a CONSERVATIVE, we'll just elect the consarned DIMRAT next time. At least we'll KNOW what we're in for!