The war on poverty

Here’s a laugh. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton are fighting (h/t: Bryan at Hot Air) over who has the bigger “anti-poverty” creds:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Just one day after a challenge from presidential rival John Edwards to commit to raising the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton announced that she had already introduced legislation to do just that.

“With stagnant wages and skyrocketing costs for healthcare, energy and college, working families in America need a break. That is why yesterday I introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011, and link the minimum wage to Congressional pay raises after that” said Clinton in a Thursday statement. The senator said the measure was “the first bill ever to call for a $9.50 minimum wage.”

In her statement, Clinton said the new legislation had been introduced Wednesday, although her campaign did not release that information until late Thursday.

How about that? Clinton cares about “the poor” so much she introduces a minimum wage bill the day John Edwards issues his challenge, a bill that would raise the wage so high that it would put a lot of lower wage employees out of a job because the small businesses wouldn’t be able to keep them on staff.

Rob Port at Say Anything makes a good point:

Here’s a question: If the minimum wage is such a wonderful thing that can cure poverty, why not just raise it to $100/hour? People like Edwards and Hillary claim that the minimum wage is good for our economy because it raises everyone’s wages. So if that’s true, why not put wages at $100/hour?

Why not indeed?

Continuing from the CNN piece:

Clinton and Edwards have spent the past few days in a verbal tug-of-war over their respective anti-poverty credentials. At a New Hampshire campaign stop Wednesday, Edwards reacted angrily to comments that he said questioned his commitment to ending poverty.

“She said something about ‘People are talking about poverty, but, you know, what are we going to do about it?'” characterizing the remarks as a “veiled reference” to him. “Let me just be clear,” said Edwards. “Ending poverty in this country is the cause of my life, and I am completely committed to it.”

What.a.crock. The only “cause” John Edwards is “completely committed to” is John Edwards. Don’t let that Southern charm and $400 haircut fool ya.