South Carolina Senator- Will Legislate for Food

Bizarre and out of touch fail to even remotely describe the comments uttered recently by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) during the debate on whether or not the minimum wage should be raised. Senator DeMint said that he doubted whether or not he made minimum wage if you count the hours. Leave it to a reporter to actually do some research and come to a realistic conclusion( ahemmm ugh hmmm Iraq gack ufgh ahem...excuse me).

As it turns out, when you divide a senators annual salary ($165,200) by the total number of hours in one year (8,760) it turns out, surprisingly ;) , that indeed, a United States Senator doing nothing but working, day and night, every day of the year, kind of like a Malaysian 12 year old making clothes for Wal-Mart, makes almost $19 per hour. Minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. When Senator DeMint was informed of the fact that he made over 3 times the minimum wage (if he worked every hour of every day) his reply was about as callous, un-compassionate and ignorant as you'd expect from a corporate shill politician.

"If I didn't work in two places, I'd be rich", said Senator DeMint when a reporter informed him of this basic math function. Perhaps we should all call our legislators and call for a "Leave No Senator Behind Bill"..then not fund it properly. By the way, Members of Congress also receive a cost of living bonus to help pay for a place to live away from their respective home states. The fact that he doesn't consider himself rich while making almost $170 K per year is another story we should hope the good working families of South Carolina figure out and help put an end to the next time DeMint is up for re-election.

The moral of the story is this: Too many Members of Congress are completely out of touch with the day-to-day challenges facing the average American. The litmus test should be this: Any Member of Congress who: (click links below)

1) Claims that inclusion of tax breaks for companies is necessary to pass an increase in the minimum wage.

and/or

2) Votes against a clean minimum wage bill

Does not deserve your vote in 2008. Next up- more crazy comments and weird rationalizations from more Members of Congress.