Whoops! Mrs. McMahon Learns Republicans in Connecticut Don’t Talk Minimum Wage.

It was inevitable that United States Senate hopeful Linda McMahon would slip on some conservative dogma offered up to the news hounds in the Connecticut press corps.  The Republican nominee accepted the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) at a small business in East Hartford.  On paper, it provided the opportunity to demonstrate that the professional wrestling maven and first time candidate represents the aspirations of millions of striving entrepreneurs.  Much singing from the small business hymnal would be followed by some questions with answers from the same pages.

Then they had to go and spoil it all by asking about the history, state and future of the minimum wage.  Every party has trouble with certain topics.  Barack Obama, for instance, gets tongue-tied when confronted with the notion of American exceptionalism.  That’s what the minimum wage is for Republicans running on a platform of less government. It’s an ideological land mine. Political orthodoxy in Connecticut says a higher minimum wage is always good, no matter what the economic weather.  The chattering classes have no interest in any discussion of the price some (teenagers looking for part-time jobs) pay to purchase the benefits of the minimum wage for others (unskilled adults with little education).  The only review of the minimum wage permitted in polite circles, even during a grinding downturn, is to determine when (soon) and how much (as big as possible) the next increase will be.

Mrs. McMahon, practice this: “We’d like everyone earning the minimum wage to be making more money. I know what it means to struggle.  The best way to lift everyone who works or wants to work is to create the conditions that allow opportunity and economic growth to flourish. We can do that if we [insert a few sentences from the theme of the day].”