More Republican Mudslinging - In Defense of Pelosi and the Minimum Wage

The Democratic House, as part of its first 100 hours agenda, passed a minimum wage increase, taking the Federal Minimum Wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour. Strongly opposed by the now fallen Republican Party throughout the 2006 election, the minimum wage increase garnered the expected response from the disenfranchised Right.

But the Washington Times took it a step further. While most Americans expect the Republican Party to object loudly to even the consideration of the faintest speculation of raising the minimum wage, the allegations of hypocrisy and favoritism heaped upon Speaker Pelosi by the Washington Times is, in a word, absurd.

The Times alleges that the Minimum Wage Bill is "fishy" because "it exempts American Samoa" which provides the overwhelming majority of tuna for the StarKist Tuna company, a subsidiary of Del Monte Corp. Because Del Monte's corporate offices are in Pelosi's home district, the House Republicans and the Washington Times allege, the fact that the Minimum Wage increase doesn't affect American Samoa constitutes an act of hypocrisy by the Speaker.

But as usual, matters are slightly more complicated than the politicians, spin-doctors, and pundits would pretend.