State Repubs grasping for straws

By Lee Russ

Monday, September 11, 2006 at 04:09 PM

It isn't easy being Red (Republican red) in today's political atmosphere.  Just ask the Republican party in my own state, Vermont.

In the absence of real issues, it looks like all they have is carping.  And not very rational carping, at that.

At the end of August, three prominent Vermont Democrats--U.S. Senator Pat Leahy, Candidate for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, and Candidate for the U.S. House Peter Welch--held a press conference advocating an increase in the federal minimum wage to Vermont's level (currently $7/hr I believe).  They held it at the Radio Deli in Burlington, VT, an establishment managed by a fellow Democrat, State Rep. Jim Condon.

At the conference, the three dems took the U.S. congress to task for its refusal to raise the fed minimum, and said lots of things about fairness.

Well, the Vermont Republicans are having none of this.  "Democrat Hypocrisy On Minimum Wage" is the headline on their web site.  And why is it hypocrisy?  Have some or all of these three men actually opposed the wage hike they now support?  No. Have some or all of these 3 men somehow taken advantage of the low fed wage they now oppose?  No.  Have some or all of these 3 men opposed the Vermont minimum wage in the past?  No.

Well, good grief, where's the hypocrisy?

Seems that the manager of the deli where they held the conference did oppose the most recent efforts to hike the Vermont minimum to $7.25.

The manager of the deli where the press conference was held.  Think about that.  Can you say desperately reaching?  Come on, that's like calling Bush a hypocrite for giving a speech on the need to privatize Social Security in a hotel managed by a man who once voted against Social Security privatization.

Hey, Vermont GOP, come back when you get an issue.  Come back when you get some sense, some perspective, or even a dictionary, for God's sake, so you can tell what the damn word "hypocrisy" means before flinging it around like a temperamental 5-year old at a restaurant.

With judgment and ethics like that, no wonder they're desperate for an issue.