Keith Ellison And Barack Rex
By Mitch Berg
There are two ways to look at Rep. Keith Ellison’s statement to a group of minimum wage protesters last week; emphasis added by me:
“We in Congress will try to raise the minimum wage. We got opponents on the other side of the aisle who say that there shouldn’t be no minimum wage. So, we are in difficulty fighting these guys.
“But, we know, at the executive level, an executive order can change the situation. We demand it, right now. Mr. President, sign the executive order. We demand this federal worker work reform, federal contractors. Give the pay raise, the livable, fair wage. Let’s do it now. I gave him a letter to this effect, yesterday.”
As Ellison walked off stage, the crowd chanted: “Sign the executive order!”
Either Ellison thinks Obama is a King, with absolute control over this country, or he has very little respect for his audience and thinks he can trick them into believing so.
I’m going to lean toward “has very little respect, and thinks he can trick them”; that a graduate of a Jesuit high school, Wayne State University and a Tier 1 law school thinks saying things like “shouldn’t be no minimum wage” is authentic reeks of distilled cynicism.
December 9th, 2013 at 12:30 pm
If we see Ellison’s rant as distilled cynicism instead of “not knowing better”, would we then need to see Ellison’s support of an increased minimum wage as the same?
If those are our choices, we have to assume that Ellison is not just wrong, but evil. The only way out is to admit the possibility that he (and the President he likes) have never bothered thinking it through.
In which case the media are evil for not pointing this out, except for the fact that they don’t understand economics or the Constition, either. Sigh.
December 9th, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Hakim X knows what Barry’s limitations are, he’s reaching for the “low hanging fruit” with his rhetoric. Without them his ilk wouldn’t survive at the pols.
December 9th, 2013 at 1:26 pm
I’m with you, Mitch! But I don’t think that he needed much trickery with his constituents. After all, they’ve re-elected him how many times now? They are exercising the true definition of insanity, but didn’t learn a thing after the second time.
December 9th, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Geez, just how difficult can it be to ask these bozos why we don’t make the minimum wage $100/hour, so we could all be rich?
December 9th, 2013 at 2:20 pm
Don’t be a cheapskate, $100/hour, pah! $500/hour! Then we can all be millionaires!
What could go wrong?
December 9th, 2013 at 3:03 pm
I’m surprised he didn’t tell them he “ain’t in no ways tired”. They’d really have gone nuts.
December 9th, 2013 at 3:30 pm
This issue may be the invigoration that the national occupy movement needs to get back in the news again. Maybe after Christmas, once mom and dad have sprung for the celebration and whatever else they need. Wait … then Spring Break will be here and Mexico is awfully nice then. May as well wait until it’s warmer. Perhaps Keith spoke too soon.
I bet President Obama could speech-ify a pretty good round of “civil disobedience” using this issue. Might be wise to keep it simmering for use at a later, more urgent time. Like when more Obamacare reality sets in.
December 9th, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Instead of doubling the minimum wage, just double everybody’s wages!
Support across the board! Given the progressive nature of the income tax, government receipts will skyrocket! It’s win-win-win! Nothing but blue skies and clover, no matter which way you look!
December 9th, 2013 at 4:24 pm
This Administration’s Executive Order fetish has gotten out of hand because they realize low information voters not only don’t understand the delegated powers concept of government, they don’t care. People who want to be able to do good, should be allowed to do it, especially where “good” means “give me free stuff.”
The President doesn’t have the authority to do this. But he’s the President! Yeah, but his power is defined by the Constitution and it doesn’t include this. But he’s the President! We won! Obama is Awesome! Hope and Change, you racist hater.
Truly . . . we are doomed.
December 9th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
“Shouldn’t be no minimum wage..” But did he pass English in that Jesuit high school?
December 9th, 2013 at 7:05 pm
The U of MN is a Tier 1 Law School? According to who?
December 10th, 2013 at 4:10 am
The whole country is going towards “graft-ism.” It’s all about corporatism, lobbying, redistribution, demagoguery, political power, and propaganda. Too much central government doing too much. It’s killing opportunity and productivity, so the cycle will feedback on it’s self until it collapses.
Must read short article on the origins: http://bit.ly/1d9mlQN
December 10th, 2013 at 6:58 am
“The U of MN is a Tier 1 Law School? According to who?”
According to pretty much anybody who knows about such things.
December 10th, 2013 at 7:42 am
LearnedFoot: Is UMN considered better than Iowa? I don’t know jack about it.
December 10th, 2013 at 7:48 am
TFS,
I’m not so up on law school rankings, but a friend of mine told me the Big Ten schools are all Tier 1, and generally considered good. I’m not sure how they compare with each other, but they’re both in the same basic league.
December 10th, 2013 at 8:19 am
Thanks. Iowa used to be very, very, high but I don’t know about now. I saw a notoriously stupid person say UMN > Iowa over on stribpol. Just wondering.
December 10th, 2013 at 8:39 am
U of M and Iowa are both very good law schools and on a par with each other.
December 10th, 2013 at 9:57 am
Minneapolis must be so proud to have a representative of such intellect to use a double negative, “shouldn’t be no minimum wage”. Perhaps it’s simply reflective of his constituency.
And, again, if you expect executive order to implement policies you favor that, for some reason, you can’t seem to get through the normal constitutional processes then you would have to accept the same if an opposing administration were in place…unless, of course, you’re morally bankrupt.
December 10th, 2013 at 10:44 am
Perhaps we ought to simply point out that there is always a minimum wage; zero. And when we try to pretend it’s not zero, that’s when we run into problems.
December 10th, 2013 at 10:50 am
As a night-school wonder, I’m exempt from law school ranking rivalries so I can point out the ranking system is highly subjective and easy to manipulate (Google Brian Leiter’s excellent take on it).
I wonder if ol’ Keith owes his law school success to affirmative action as much as The Big O seems to? Maybe Uncle Joe was onto something:
“I mean, you got [a] mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy . . . I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
.
December 10th, 2013 at 12:29 pm
Keith strikes me as breathtakingly stupid, sometimes. Very stupid or deluded to say some of the things he says. Horrible leadership, in any case
I think these guys hate practicing law so they become political demagogues.
December 10th, 2013 at 2:24 pm
TFS; anyone despicable enough to call their political opponent a “low life scum bag”, not once, but twice, definitely illustrates his stupidity. Had you or I done that to Ellison, he and his left wing nut ilk, would be calling us racists.
December 10th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
I can see Mr. Ellison getting into, and through, law school due to affirmative action, but I would have to guess that he would run into some problems on the bar exam if he were so clearly incompetent, no? Or is there special dispensation for minorities in grading the bar exam?
(Foot, would love to hear your take on this)
My guess is “no”, and hence I have to attribute the foolishness of Mr. Ellison and Mr. Obama to either willful ignorance or malice.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:40 am
Wikipedia on Ellison:
Ellison and his former wife had four children.
“All genders.”? No, this is not a satire.
December 11th, 2013 at 10:37 am
OK, so Ellison apparently divorced his wife while she was suffering with MS? I’m moving to “cold hearted bastard” (pardon my French) with regards to his actions now.