Minimum wage politics. Republicans need to wake up.

By Bill King | March 1, 2013 | Updated: March 1, 2013 8:47pm

... It turns out the president's proposal is overwhelming supported by the American people. A number of polls have confirmed that something in the 60 to 70 percent range support the increase. Of course, among Democrats it's even higher at about 90 percent. Independents are at about the national average and even about half of Republicans think it is a good idea.

Yet, even though the proposal probably does not have much effect on the economy as a whole and it has the support of a wide majority of the American public, virtually every Republican congressional leader has knee-jerk condemned the increase. In fact, they have literally rushed to the microphone to trumpet the evils of the minimum wage. They have done so because there is only one group that opposes the increase, the tea party. By an almost 2 to 1 margin, self-identified tea party members say the increase in the minimum wage is a bad idea.The problem for Republicans in Congress is that tea party members represent a large bloc of, and in some cases, a majority of Republican primary voters. As a result, congressional Republicans are literally caught between a rock and a hard spot.

If they acquiesce to what a majority of Americans want, they risk alienating the folks who decide who their party's nominees will be. So instead, congressional Republicans go in front of the cameras and tell the American people their opinion about the minimum wage does not matter because they are wrong which, not surprisingly, further alienates most voters.

Of course, being the masterful political tacticians they are, the Obama political team knew exactly how a proposal to increase the minimum wage would play out. In issue after issue, the president has laid the same trap for the Republicans, forcing them to thumb their noses at the majority of the American public to placate their base. And every time, the Republicans fall for it, rushing over the cliff like a herd of lemmings ...

http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Minimum-wage-politics-Republicans-need-to-wake-4322055.php