Keith Ellison And Barack Rex

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.

25 thoughts on “Keith Ellison And Barack Rex

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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?

  5. Don’t be a cheapskate, $100/hour, pah! $500/hour! Then we can all be millionaires!

    What could go wrong?

  6. I’m surprised he didn’t tell them he “ain’t in no ways tired”. They’d really have gone nuts.

  7. 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.

  8. 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!

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. “The U of MN is a Tier 1 Law School? According to who?”

    According to pretty much anybody who knows about such things.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. 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.

  16. 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.”

    .

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

  19. 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.

  20. Wikipedia on Ellison:

    Ellison and his former wife Kim, a high-school mathematics teacher,[15] had four children between 1989 and 1997:[16] a daughter, Amirah, and three sons, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Isaiah.[15] Kim Ellison is not Muslim, but their four children have been raised in that faith.[17] During Ellison’s 2006 campaign, Kim Ellison revealed that she had been living with moderate multiple sclerosis for several years.[18] Ellison filed for a legal separation from Kim in 2010,[19] and their divorce was finalized on May 2, 2012.[20]
    After law school, Ellison worked for three years at the firm of Lindquist & Vennum, where he was a litigator specializing in civil rights, employment, and criminal defense law.[13][16] Ellison then became executive director of the nonprofit Legal Rights Center in Minneapolis, which specializes in the defense of indigent clients.[16] Upon leaving the Legal Rights Center, Ellison entered private practice with the law firm Hassan & Reed Ltd, specializing in trial practice.[21] Ellison has also been regularly involved in community service. He served as the unpaid host of a public affairs talk program at KMOJ radio,[16] and has also often volunteered as a track coach for several organizations, working with youth between the ages of 5 and 18. He said, “It’s a great community-building device because it’s for all ages and all genders. Everyone can find a way to fit in.”[16]

    Ellison and his former wife had four children.
    “All genders.”? No, this is not a satire.

  21. 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.

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