In August, when Linda McMahon won the Republican primary for Senate in Connecticut, she trailed Attorney General Richard Blumenthal by ten points. By early September, that shrank to a six points, and now -- with the election thirty days away -- McMahon has narrowed the gap to three points. Blumenthal is still the favorite, but McMahon's willingness to spend cash -- and campaign -- could change that. What would the Senate look like with McMahon in its chambers? Well, to begin, it would be even more unfriendly to the interests of working class Americans. For instance, here is McMahon on the minimum wage:
Most notably, McMahon said she believed Congress should consider lowering the federal minimum wage in times of economic distress for small businesses, such as the current recession.“The minimum wage now in our country, I think we've set that and a lot of people have benefited from it in our country, but I think we ought to review how much it ought to be, and whether or not we ought to have increases in the minimum wage,” McMahon said. [...]
This is boneheaded, to say the least; lowering the minimum wage would take money out of the hands of long-income workers -- the people most likely to spend it -- and damage the economy, while doing very little to help small businesses. A minimum wage cut would do nothing more than push the economy further away from recovery, to the benefit of no one. At the risk of being overly charitable, my guess is that most Republicans know this, which is why they haven't proposed anything this stupid. That said, if McMahon-- makes it to the Senate (along with her fellow-travelers across the country), I'm sure we can expect more of this nonsense.
-- Jamelle Bouie
