McCain: Americans wouldn't pick lettuce even for $50/hour.

[Eric J in MN]

From http://thismodernworld.com/2811

Murmurs from the crowd turned to booing. “Pay a decent wage!” one audience member shouted.

“I’ve heard that statement before,” McCain said before threatening to leave.
. . .
But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan.

McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain’s job offer.

“I’ll take it!” one man shouted.

McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. “You can’t do it, my friends.”

Some in the crowd said they didn’t appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic.

[marmar]

1. He's really losing it...

He's going to be in a straight jacket before 2008.

[Kahuna]

33. LOL! I agree. He needs a good old fashioned political beat down..

I hope most Dems realize this. I know Biden doesn't. He told Imus last month that he would vote for him. :puke:

[EVDebs]

60. McCain lost it when he said this about Iraq...he's toast. Doesn't know it

"When asked this week on CNN how long the U.S. military is likely to remain in Iraq, Senator John McCain replied "probably" 10 or 20 years. "That's not so bad," he said"

Heads in sand
http://www.spectrumz.com/z/fair_use/2004/09_04.html

[barb162]

103. He's sounding like the "perfect" Republican...so rich and out of

the real world that he has completely lost touch

[KAT119]

173. McCain is just another lying republican....How sad!

[ausus]

176. The other sponsor to McCain's bill is TED KENNEDY. And FEINSTEIN is ...

sympathetic too. I called the offices of both these senators and expalined how McCains's proposal - and I am leaving aside the issue of amnesty for undocumented, I'm just talking about the proposal in the bill to enable business to bring in 400,000 guest works per year (this is just a start, the legislation enables this number to go higher) - is doom for the poorer American worker, and here are the responses that I got: From Kennedy's staff, "Why do you have to be so cynical. I hear a lot of anger in your voice. It is not a cliche, there simply are jobs that Americans won't do." From Feinstein's office, "What state do you live in? Shouldn't you be talking about this matter with the Senator from your state...?" In short, they refuse to discuss this issue with the American people. Despite all their pronouncemnts to the contrary, both these senators, along with many others, have complete contempt of the American worker, particularly that worker who is poorer, unskilled and has only his labor to offer up in exchange for sustenance.

It is obviously to me, that deep pocketed lobbyists have complete control over these two senators on this issue.

My friends, the American worker is in as much danger from the Democratic party as they are from the Republican party. If you doubt my accounts I welcome you to call the Washington offices of these two senators; raise the issue, and hear their response.

Whatever positions these two senators take on other issues, are not their positions on this issue so damaging to the general interest of the American worker that a decent respect for the sake of poorer Americans would lead one to withdraw all support from these two? I think it does.

[MichiganVote]

2. And this is the man who wants to be president?

[rodeodance]

3. what a stupid comment

[converted_democrat]

4. That was a really dumb thing to say.. n/t

[OhioChick]

5. What an ass n/t

[saltpoint]

6. Your last line there nails it down perfectly, Eric.

It does sound to me as if McCain was debasing the work ethic of U.S. citizens, many of whom are not enjoying the swank opulence of life under Bush's tax cuts.

McCain is usually sharper than that. 'Am a little surprised he dropped the ball like that.

Appreciate the post.

[Union Thug]

7. Holy shit...I'll take him up on that...

McCain is unbelievably out of touch with reality - as are most conservatives.

[file83]

14. No doubt, that works out to $104,000/year for pickin' lettuce!

Hells yes!

[Cobalt Violet]

51. And $75.00/ hr for overtime.

[Tinksrival]

75. I LOVE LETTUCE

Where do I sign up for that!

[Blue_Tires]

24. I'm ALL over that shit!

[SlavesandBulldozers]

96. no shit.

these senators and congressmen/women are paid waaaay too fucking much. they have really no clue how hard it is to get by. NO CLUE.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

90. Shoot. I'd do it for $20 an hour

in a heartbeat.

I can't go lower than $14 an hour though. I need $12.50 just to pay the bills. the other $1.50 is just cause I'm a lazy amerikan and that pickin lettuce is hard work.

[Lorien]

98. I'd do it too. Repugs don't know how much money that is to most of us

excercise and $50 and hour harvesting something worthwhile? Yep, sounds good!

[BlooInBloo]

8. This unemployed guy'll take him up on it!

What an idiot he is.

[jmowreader]

63. Most EMPLOYED people would take him up on it!

Let's overtime-exempt this one: if you pick lettuce from 6am to 7pm six days a week with an hour for lunch, and you pick lettuce from June 1 to August 31, you'll wind up with $46,800 before taxes. That's about twice what I made last year busting my ass in a lumberyard.

[BlooInBloo]

66. Outta my way! I saw it first!

:rofl:

[jmowreader]

93. Well, you can have it. I think I've got something better lined up...

Tomorrow I should get a yes/no decision on a position that at least LOOKS really good...

* It's at a factory that makes polyester chips for food-grade packaging

* The company that owns the factory is the world's second-largest producer of the main ingredient (it's called terephthalic acid, or TPA) in the polymer. They ship it from a plant on the coast to Fayetteville--it's made in very close proximity to an oil refinery because of what it is. TPA is a white powder; it looks like cornstarch and smells like vinegar. And everyone in the building has a jar of this shit on his or her desk as a reminder of what they do for a living.

* They pay $14 per hour to start, and that's not even in the production section. When you go down there (one guy went three months after he was hired, but the average is six to nine) you jump up to $22 and increase to $24 after a year. If you stay in the loading area for more than six months, you go to $15

* They got into the production of the polymer so as to use the "excess capacity" from their main business, which is TPA. They claim that this plant is a "minor player" in the industry. I have a hard time calling a plant whose daily production is one million pounds "minor."

* The TPA arrives on company-owned railcars and the polymer leaves on different company-owned cars. My function in life at this plant in the beginning will be a bit of a "rite of passage" deal: the entry-level worker transfers the TPA from the railcar to the TPA silos, and he puts the polymer into the railcars.

* They design special polymers for companies' unique needs. One they showed me: the bottle Dial liquid soap comes in. It seems that ultraviolet light will change the color of the soap. The special polymer filters out all UV and keeps the soap the same color it was when it rolled off the line.

* They are not worried about competition from the Chinese: while the Chinese make this polymer, the product they make is too contaminated for food packaging. Proof: the Chinese buy the polymer they package their own food in from this company.

* Part of the job is driving the locomotive that moves the railcars from the railhead to the load/unload building and back to the railhead. I don't know about you, but locomotive driving is good for major style points in my book.

* There is almost no turnover there. They're expanding, which is why they need more people. They've got two reactors now; one is not on and they want to start it. I talked to many of the people out there...let's just say this place will never need to be unionized. Lotsa job satisfaction in this company.

* The very best part (besides the shitload of money you make): the hours. It's 12 on/12 off for three days, then a break of two days, then two days on and three off...you only work 14 days a month but, because of the 12-hour shifts, you get more hours on the clock than you would at a 40-hour place.

And it's very, very computerized there. The only real manual operation in the whole place is loading the polymer into the railcar.

[spanone]

9. McCain is toast. Nobody's buying what he's got to sell.

[Warpy]

10. McCain is an elitist asshole

who wouldn't know what a working man wanted to do or didn't want to do even if he asked one. Which he won't. He wouldn't like the answer.

Union guys seem to be picking up on the elitist horse shit coming out of that party at last.

[file83]

11. Is he kidding? I'd totally pick lettuce for $50 an hour...

...as long as I only have to work for 15 hours a week! :rofl:

[htuttle]

23. Hell, I'd shovel shit for $50 an hour!

You can bet I'd take some vacations, though.

[Canuckistanian]

80. And frequent oxygen breaks, too

Me, I'd have business cards made up. "Biological Refuse Logistic Facilitator"

No Job too small.

[NickB79]

107. Hell, I shoveled pig shit AND cow shit as a kid for $5/hr

And I'm only 26, so this was the mid-90's, out on my dad's farm.

[ismnotwasm]

12. He really said that?

Damn.
he must be using bush's technique for stupid statements to get elected...

[me b zola]

89. Maybe the repugs will want to have a beer with him

:crazy:

How incredibly out of touch he is. They have no idea what it's like for most people to try to make a living.

[Cobalt Violet]

13. 104,000 a year.

No, no American would do that. :crazy:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

17. That's chump change.......

please don't bother my beautiful mind with that pittance.:sarcasm:

[ChromeFoundry]

20. you could even afford decent health care at that salary! n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

56. "You couldn't do it, my friend!" "Only Mexicans can do it!" Idjit.

[Cobalt Violet]

69. That would be nice in a campaign ad.

I wonder if anyone has a video?

[struggle4progress]

77. Don't need one. Just need volunteers, wherever he goes, to ask ..

.. "Can I get one of those $50/hr jobs you're offering?"

[Pirate Smile]

15. Talk about writing a TV ad against yourself with one condescending

speech.

[July]

112. He's the gift that keeps on giving.

This speech, the Bush-hugging picture, and his comment that we'll be in Iraq for 10-20 years (and his "that's not so bad") are all great material for the ads against him, don't you think?

[SofaKingLiberal]

16. It just goes to show how out of touch Republicans are with working America

At that price., I'd pick lettuce for 80 hours a week

[SmokingJacket]

18. Wow, is HE out of touch!!

I have a (admittedly mostly useless) master's degree and I'd leap at the chance to earn $50 an hour picking lettuce.

Would I do it for $5.25 an hour, though? No, not now, though I might have a few years ago.

[Blue_Tires]

28. master's degree here as well

unemployed...Will pick lettuce for $50/hr...where do i sign up?

[hfojvt]

83. hey we could just about form a club

As a $12 an hour janitor I still wish the University of Nebraska would send me my MA in cloth so I could get some use out of it - wiping down urinals. The paper and cardboard one did not make a very good dartboard.

But it is not so bad now that I have good health insurance. Ten years ago I was doing basically the same job for $5.5 an hour and no benefits - no holidays, no days off, no vacation, no sick leave.

[Sapphire Blue]

I propose we start the McCain Lettuce Pickers' Union, w/$50/hr wages!

[outraged19]

34. If its a 40 hour work week...

I'll take the job provided there's no high health risk from exposure to chemicals. No job is worth dying for. Dying isn't even a goal for the military. I love the outdoors and gardening. It's more than I earn now & I should be able to afford health insurance as well.

[FloridaPat]

39. Do the math: 10 hours = $500 - almost a week a min wage.

20 hours = $1000 - that's $52,000 a year more than most Americans.
30 hours = $1500 - 78,000. How many years at min wage is that?
40 hours = $2000

[KurtNYC]

138. Take a look...

That's lettuce picking. McCain didn't even choose one of the tougher farm jobs!

[bluem]

19. wanna know what's funny?

It's funny that after numerous times of running for president and getting nowhere conservatives are finally ready for a different type of "conservative" and now he's is turning into Bushie Jr. I would think that it would be smart to stick with what he always supposedly "stood" for, isn't that the reason everyone is drooling over him now? Jeez, I truly don't get republicans... at all! I thought that the bush model of conservatism has been debunked? What gives? All of this is good news for us though, good news indeed!

[liberaltrucker]

30. Welcome to DU

:toast:

[verdalaven]

21. Where do I apply for that job?

Fresh air, exercise, sunshine and $50 and hour? Count me in!

[FloridaPat]

41. Me too! I need a good paying job. Where's the sign up list.

[Initech]

22. $50 an hour for picking lettuce? Sign me up!

Beats working a desk job, fuck it!

[Jigarotta]

100. Everyone should flood his fax machine with Applications.

I kid you not.

I don't buy the 'americans won't do it' line at all. Especially when it passes through lieing repug lips so frequently. That is just so insulting to Everyone. To Americans, to immigrant workers, to our heritage of hard bone grinding work.

I just do not like people looking down on other peoples work and getting all elitist and crap and looking down their noses at others. Tomato pickers do a more honest, productive and meaningful job than that piece of McCain shit does in his fancy suits.

I have a tomato picking story if anyone is interested.

[bush_is_wacko]

145. Got his fax number? I emailed him but I'd really love to send over my

resume! What fun would it be to write that cover letter?

[Jigarotta]

157. sorry, I do not. Anyone here know his Fax Number?

that would be a bit more annoying than phone messages, no?
tee hee.

Address it to The McCain Tomato Plantation

[Heywood J]

161. Yes.

http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Contact.Offices

241 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg.
United States Senate
Washington DC 20510
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Phoenix
5353 North 16th Street
Suite 105
Phoenix, Arizona 85016
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Tempe
4703 S. Lakeshore Drive
Suite 1
Tempe, Arizona 85282
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Tucson
407 W. Congress Street
Suite 103
Tucson, Arizona 85701
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

As far as I read it, it was an unsolicited job offer and you can feel free to reply - the same as if someone offered you a job on the street.

[liberaltrucker]

25. I'd hang up my truck keys and pick lettuce

or ANY agricultural product for 50 bucks an hour.
Where do I sign up?

[lovuian]

26. I'm so tired of the myth of the lazy American when

we are one of the most productive workers in the world!!!

MCCain is toast!!!

[clyrc]

85. I hate that too

I have so many relatives and know so many other people who work really hard, but have never made much money. Americans are not lazy!

[Marie26]

27. I'd do it.

McCain really isn't helping to sell this to Americans.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. I dare McCain to put an ad in the paper for lettuce pickers, $50/hr.

and just see how many American workers show up. I'm thinking a whole lot of them --probably including me.

[Cobalt Violet]

42. No loans, no college needed.

I think he would get a lot of takers.

[tblue37]

59. Whenever a new McDonald's or Wal-Mart opens up in

a depressed area, hundreds of people stand in line to apply for the few available jobs. Those jobs are crap and they pay poorly, yet people are desperate to have them. If they could earn a decent living--not even $50/hr, but a decent living--picking lettuce, they would jump at the chance.

Hell, I would jump at the chance to pick lettuce for $50/hr--and I am a 55-year-old teacher of college English!

[SOS]

149. UPS in NYC

offers temp jobs every Christmas. One year I went down to apply. The line was about a quarter of a mile long.
The crowd was absolutely amazing. Thousands lined up.
At $50 an hour a million people would have been there.
McCain is truly an idiot.

[ewoden]

31. He seems to forget what many of us VOLUNTEERED to do

in little known places around the globe for a couple of hundred a month, three squares, and a $7000 death benefit to our assigned beneficiary.

Hell most folks I know don't make $50 and hour !!

[nonconformist]

32. Hell, I'd do it for half of that!

McCain is completely out of touch.

[Flabbergasted]

35. This thing is Bullshit. Never Happened.....

[July]

113. ??? See link in post #62. nt

[Flabbergasted]

133. Ok, I thought for sure this was B.S. Can't believe he said that......?

[BeFree]

164. Well...

...you are flabbergasted, right? Makes sense, perfect sense. Carry on.

McCain would have been better off smacking a cop, eh?

[Flabbergasted]

169. What an arrogant Jerk!

[BeFree]

170. Take it easy fella

... it was a joke. Gosh. You gotta be thick skinned on DU. Welcome.

[Flabbergasted]

171. NOT YOU! M.C. cain!

[chaumont58]

36. I have grown up in California, and I remember the bracero program

coming to California in the mid 50s. Prior to that, the grower made do with the existing population. What does McCain think made up the population of the Salinas Valley?

As far as running for president, McCain ought to hire Rove. Rove was able to make a real nice pigskin purse out of the sow's ear that was George Bush. He ought to be able to do something McCain. I think McCain can already speak Englisth, so Rove would be miles ahead of his previous creation.

[rockymountaindem]

37. That says two things: "Americans are lazy" & "Only foreigners sink so low"

It's nice to know I'm too dignified to make 100k a year for a job that requires no skills. Better let all those other people from other countries with no dignity but a better work ethic handle the job for me :sarcasm:

On the other hand, I hope McCain trumpets this message far and wide so the voters know where he really stands.

[HawkerHurricane]

70. With apologies to Tom Lehrer...

Should Americans pick crops? John says "No,
'Cause no one but a Mexican would stoop so low."
And after all, even in Egypt, the pharaohs
Had to import
Hebrew braceros.

The original is at...
http://www.casualhacker.net/tom.lehrer/the_year.html#murphy

[renate]

38. so much for McCain 2008

That's got to be the death knell of his candidacy. I hope so, anyway.

Doesn't he know what nurses' aides in nursing homes, for example, have to do for $9 an hour (if they're lucky)? He should--some of them are his constituents.

How can he be that unaware of what real life is like outside Washington and still think he's got a chance?

[DenaliDemocrat]

40. Sign my ass up!

$50 an hour for picking lettuce. Consider it done Johnnie Boy

[Cobalt Violet]

48. $75.00 Overtime.

You'd never do that.

[Cobalt Violet]

43. Maybe we could run an ad for him.

Get Americans to sign up. Call him on it.

[Mz Pip]

44. My kid would

He'd pick lettuce in the summer so he could continue to work as a teacher for about half that for the rest of the year.

McCain is an idiot.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Qanisqineq]

45. What? I picked weeds out of a bean field for $7/hour

I'm sure picking lettuce is a helluva lot easier than pulling weeds that are often only a few inches shorter than you. It was over 90 degrees. I had nightmares about weeds for weeks. I also forgot to bring gloves one day -- ouch.

McCain, what an ass.

[bush_is_wacko]

158. It's 119 degrees in the shade in Arizona, but I would sell off everything

I own and relocate to Arizona for that job!

What's available in the winter in Arizona? I guess with that kind of money socked away for a few months work I could do whatever I wanted for the rest of the year!

[K-W]

46. Perhaps we should all start sending him resume's? EOM

[Sapphire Blue]

52. Send them to:

http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Contact.Offices

[GRLMGC]

47. That's beyond silly

I'd do it for 50 an hour. I'd do a lot for 50 an hour, haha.

[Acebass]

49. How about using illigals in factories!...

They've taken many good jobs, and it's unscrupulous business men who lure them that should be on the hot seat. I know first hand, don't bs me John. Where the hells that lettuce...

[Justice Is Comin]

50. Another tape to save for 08

and play repeatedly. Follow that with the refusal by Republicans for seven years to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour .

[BlueStater]

53. McCain better damn well get his act together before 2008

Otherwise he can forget about winning the nomination, much less the presidency.

I used to think very highly of the man and he was pretty much the first Republican in my life I ever would've considered voting for. To see him meltdown like this is beyond painful.

[Slit Skirt]

54. $50 bucks an hour?

where do I sign up?
does it include health insurance?

[file83]

55. 401k?

[Cobalt Violet]

58. How many weeks vacation?

[file83]

71. Do I get an "auto allowance"? Expense account?

:rofl:

[Kurovski]

57. That poor Mr. McCain. So fucked in the head.

And how about his making a promise to the people and breaking it all in the course of three seconds? That's gotta be a record for a politician, and it's all there on tape.

What a bullshit artist. I'm genuinely disappointed, because I was one of those dim-fucks who once fell for his line.

Go cuddle with Shrub, John M. You deserve each other.

[bloom]

61. If he had said $5. an hour - I might have agreed with him. n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

62. Here's the AP/Yahoo link for this.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/mccain_booed

[iamthebandfanman]

64. ill do it!

i hope mccain opens a lettuce farm soon ;)

[politicat]

65. I'd pick strawberries for that much...

And strawberry harvesting makes lettuce look like a walk in the park.

I've done both. And yeah, there are Americans who do it. The problem is that they're the first ones fired because the growers can't threaten them with calling La Migra if they don't pick faster, hustle, or let the boss screw you (literally or figuratively).

The reason that growers prefer illegal labor is that it gives them a way to coerce the worker that Americans won't put up with.

[Generic Other]

87. Yeah, I picked berries for 5 cents a box as a kid

By the time I was in highschool, I was able to make as much as $10.00 a day.

I don't believe for a second that you couldn't get Americans to pick any old crops for $50.00 an hour even minus benefits. The trouble with farmers is they want to pay their workers under the table to avoid fair labor laws. No Labor and Industries, no social security, no Unemployment Compensation, and no work record. Fuck you McCain.

[dave502d]

67. They would pick lettuce for less then $50/hour.

Come to think of it,McCain's head looks like a head of lettuce.

[incapsulated]

68. This makes me very happy!

It would be sweet if McClown could implode before he even has a chance to run!

:D

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

72. If McCain were the 08 nominee, this would be a sweet campaign image:

His office, flooded with "resumes" of people seeking the $50/hr lettuce picking positions.

[Kittycat]

74. We should send him our Resumes, anyway

LOL. What a trip that would be :rofl: He returns from the stump to an office flooded with resumes begging for $50/hour jobs. Hell, I know there are plenty of IT/IS guys that might be interested in that, these days.

[progressoid]

73. Sign me up!!

[fooj]

76. Besides selling his soul (as if that's not bad enough)

he has COMPLETELY lost it. He disgusts me.

Peace

[Porcupine]

78. For half that I'd gladly become a full time farmer

with hand tools only. It's been proven that you can grow a very nice truck garden's worth of food wit just hand tools and smarts by several Permaculture types.

Hey John, I'll take that offer. Of course I would want to grow lettuce in Coastal California where it LOVES to grow. Mmmmm, foggy lettuce field.

[leesa]

79. Man, he's dumber than I thought to stand up there and say that!

Many, many Americans would pick lettuce in Arizona for $50 bucks an hour...these people are so out of touch with the realities of life.

[hopeisaplace]

81. I'm in. Booking the flight.

:)


Edit: What Could Happen *ahem*

k.
Lets say 100 workers, 2 months work. 6/wk, 10/wk. $50/hour per worker=$300,000 Cost/wk

Total Cost to pick Lettuce: $2.4 Million.

New Price of Lettuce: $28,000 a head.

Lettuce Stock sky rises! The rich still got richer.

Becomes the new gold.

Ebay sales of lettuce through the roof.

Infomercials on how to make a million dollars selling lettuce online, so popular
appearing at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Paris Hilton wearing lettuce dresses. Also edible.

The new toilet paper. "Let-uc do the wiping"

Scientific breakthrough: eating Paris Hilton dresses, found to
contain anti-aging properties.



:spank: sorry I'm having too much fun.

[hfojvt]

82. At $50 an hour

I could make my current yearly income in about 13 weeks. So, yeah, Mr. McCain, I would love to pick lettuce for $50 an hour about ten weeks every year. Heck I would even work two more weeks for another $4,000 to donate to progressive causes.
Sign me the fu$% up!

[Zookeeper]

84. I will never, ever trust McCain, regardless of what he says...

simply because he has kissed Smirk's tush even after Smirk and Rove completely trashed and humiliated him. There is something very, very wrong with McCain.

[Jamison]

86. Jeez, I'd pick lettuce for half that amount!

$25 an hour would still be a lot more than I make now!

[tuvor]

88. Perhaps McCain's simply out of touch.

Maybe he thinks minimum wage is $40/hr.

[Peter Frank]

91. I Wished McCain Well (against Bush in the 2000 primaries)...

...because he didn't sleep with the "big dogs" & wasn't infested with the inevitable "big fleas."

Now he's beginning to creep me out. I saw him on Stewart tonight; and he didn't get that no matter what he has to say in his commencement address to the graduates of Falwell's "Liberty University" -- by appearing there at all, a big flea will suck more of his blood than he can ever regain by playing the appeasement game.

He needs to fire his political advisers.

[LisaL]

92. Who is he kidding?

For 50 $ an hour, he would have more people willing to pick lettuce than he would know what to do with.
Good god, for 50 $ an hour, I would be more than happy to do it.
That's 8,000$ a month, for crying out loud.

[devilgrrl]

94. “You can’t do it, my friends.” ???????????

:wtf:

:wtf:

Un-fucking-real!

:puke:

[cartach]

95. McCain/lettuce picking

"You can't do it, my friends" How the hell would he know?Probably never did a stick of real manual labor in his life.And since when is picking lettuce,other vegetables and fruit the only job illegal immigrants do?Much of that work has been mechanized over the years and immigrants have moved up the chain,performing cleaner,less strenuous work,you name it.Much of it for upper middle class or wealthy baby boomers who are either too lazy or busy to do it themselves.And they can get it done cheap!.God,politicians give me a pain in the ass.

[MaraJade]

97. $20 an hour would have me out in the field too.

Especially if health care benefits were thrown in. . .

[Yollam]

99. Hell, I'd scrub toilets, pick lettuce...

... do a hell of a lot of things for that kind of money. What an ass.

And I know a lot of people who would pick lettuce for $50/day...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

101. Where is the lettuce farm?

Because I am fucking there for $50 an hour. I'm fine with physical labor. I've done it for far less than $50/hr. Bring me to the farm!

[deadparrot]

102. I'll do it.

Sounds like a hefty sum, and you get exercise to boot.

What the hell am I doing slaving away in college? Sign me up.

[Nailzberg]

104. The Hell I wouldn't.

Twice as much as I make now,and none of the stress.

[Broken_Hero]

105. damn...

I gutted fish for 7 bucks!!! I will definately pick lettuce for 50 bucks!!! Yay!!! where the hell do i sign up? Oh wait, McCain, talking outta his ass again...in truth, i would pick lettuce for 10 bucks an hour, gutting fish is bad...I never worked at a chicken plant, but I assume chicken plants are just as bad, if not worse...im' sure their are worse jobs than picking lettuce...:)

[cboy4]

106. I'd like to call him a jackass, but I wouldn't want to insult our

mascot:

[earth mom]

108. Is he hiring? Because our family could certainly use that kind of cash!

$50 bucks an hour is chump change to McCain-and his asinine statement just proves that none of these rethugs have a clue or care what most people are working for in this country-like anywhere from less than a third of that 50 bucks all the way down to 10% of it!

What a Mean Nasty Old Bastard! :grr:

[B Calm]

109. I hope the democrats have the video of this elitist assholes remarks.

[Disturbed]

110. Maybe McLame doesn't really want to be Prez.

He seems to be sabotoging himself a lot as of late.

[July]

111. I'd like him to say that to my mother's face.

She, her parents, and her many siblings picked fruits and vegetables for many summers. They're all Americans.

[0007]

114. This goes to show that people in government haven't the slightest

idea about people and their needs.

[salin]

117. I bet a couple of things...

1) that he has used this as a one-liner before to rich GOPers and got a laugh/nod of approval;

thus caught off guard by the reaction

2) that he reevaluates using this particular one-liner.

Idiot.

[Vinca]

115. Wow - McCain's losing it.

I've got a bum hip, but for $50 an hour I'd be on the next plane west. What's bothering me about this discussion - "they'll do jobs Americans won't do" - is that it's creating a class of people who are essentially slaves and the people promoting this don't seem to recognize that fact. No one calls the people promoting this way of thinking "racist" and, IMHO, that's exactly what it is. Have the brown people come in and clean the hotel toilets on the cheap. It's disgusting. If immigrants are going to be allowed in, they need to be paid a fair wage. And it wouldn't hurt for Americans to be paid a fair wage, either.

[laruemtt]

116. lettuce grows in arizona?

i'd have thought it was too water intensive to grow in such an arid area. :shrug:

[Fleshdancer]

118. He is COMPLETELY out of touch with the American people

First he says Americans wouldn't pick Arizona lettuce for $50/hr and then he says Americans "couldn't" do it? Talk about living in an elitist bubble. This man has no freakin' clue.

[BiggJawn]

119. I de-tasseled corn for $2 an hour, picked beans for $1.50 a bushel...

And worked in a warehouse for $3.20.

Hell, McCain, I'd even FUCK your WIFE for $50 an hour!

Rove was right, he went stark-raving fuck-nuts in the Hanoi Hilton...

[patricia92243]

120. For $50 an hour, I'll clean your outhouse. n/t

[LostinVA]

121. Oh yes,I would....

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

122. If there is tape of this remark - he's done

This is the classic "out-of-touch" Republican a la Bush 1 buying socks to stimulate the economy only multiplied 100 fold. If there is no tape and if it is not more widely reported I guess it will die a quiet death and turn into the "taken out of context" or "my remarks were distorted" or the other blah blah blah excuses.

McCain has been quite Faustian this year. He is no "maverick" or "straight talker" anymore, if he ever was.

[4 t 4]

123. I'd quit my current job

that I'm about to lose anyway to pick lettuce for 50$ an hour!!!

[suegeo]

124. Get maimed in Iraq, or...

Get maimed in Iraq, or make $50 an hour picking lettuce? McCain's out of touch.

I walked beans for way less than that, just to save money for school.

What a toad John is. But when your daddy is (was) a powerful admiral, how in touch with the common folk can one be.

ON EDIT: Speaking of school, how well did John do at the academy?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

125. Ok, this is now on the AP and msnbc

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12155322

This is getting full coverage and this will come back to haunt him and haunt him. Both the GOP AND the Dems are going to just hammer him for his really really stupid $50.00 remark.

[atomic-fly]

126. I'll quit my job right now for 20 bucks an hour

picking crops. but they have to do away with the pesticides also.

[Jose Diablo]

127. Hey, $50/hr, I'd take that job.

Hmmm, 50 a hour, say 11-12 hours a day, that works out to, let me see, time and half over 8, uh hmmm, 400 plus 3 hours at 75 is 225, yep, thats around 625 a day, and say 6 days a week, hmmm, $3750/week and say 50 weeks a year, that works out to....holy shit..thats $187,500/year.

You bet I'd work for $50 per hour.

Edit:McCane, you're an idjit, an idiot. Not only that, but your contempt for Americans...how did this guy get elected anyway.

[Fla Dem]

128. What a freakin idiot. There's lot of Americans doing worse jobs

for minimum wage. John McCain doesn't have a clue.

[E-Z-B]

129. What a sellout to the right. First, he softens his stance on Jerry Falwel

Now, he shills for Dubya's talking points.

[Norquist Nemesis]

130. He "thinks" he's running for President; the powers that nominate

will put him on the ticket as VP

JMHO

[CottonBear]

131. Sign me up.

I shovel horse shit for free everyday in exchange for part of the food and board for my beast. This is in addition to my full-time career in which I make no where near $50 an hour.

Hell yeah. I'd pick lettuce. Can we grow it in GA? I've grown lettuce here before in the late wnter and spring.

[DemonGoddess]

162. hey Cottonbear, I did that too for a long time, in exchange for

food and board for my mares. I cleaned up after two other horses and 15 alpacas, as well as 20ish chickens. Cleaning a henhouse is NASTY work. LOL.

Considering the kinds of jobs I know many of us have taken on for SOOOOO much less than $50/hr, you BET I'd pick lettuce for $50 an hour.

[CottonBear]

174. Hi DemonGoddess! So you're a member of the poop scooping club too?

I've never had to lean up after chickens. It sounds pretty icky! I have a friend who used to clean up pheasant and quail pens. She said she'd rather scoop horse poop any day!


Do you still have your mares? You know, composted horse poop would make a good soil ammendment for growing lettuce, among other crops! ;)

[Brazenly Liberal]

132. Egad! He's more disconnected than Bush is!

I can drive into town right now and of the first 10 people who walk by, at least half of them would do it for less than half of $50 an hour. And be grateful for it.

You have to wonder if some of these GOP lunatics have recently visited the country they're running into the ground.

[Horse with no Name]

134. Unreal.

Growing up in Arizona, there were plenty of job opportunities and there were white people that did them, although there were also migrant workers.
Chopping cotton for instance. They start at 4 am and finish at noon.
It's hard work but even back then it paid very well. My brother and I did that a couple of seasons.
My dad had a custom farming business back then and one of his clients was planting comphrey. It was another job that paid pretty good, but man it was hard work. You have to plant something like an inch apart with the bulbs facing up--or something equally as tedious.
We lasted until noon and had accomplished maybe an acre.
Personally, I have no problems with paying ANYONE a decent wage to pick lettuce or chop cotton or plant that godforsaken comphrey...the point is, people of all colors are capable of doing a hard day's work for decent pay and for McCain to insinuate otherwise, is nothing short of elitest (that's it--I am sending him my monogrammed towels).

[Blue Diadem]

135. McCain and his ilk are disconnected from reality..they obviously have

no idea what the people in the USA do for a living. Geesh..have they never watched Dirty Jobs?

McCain's comments are a slap in the face to American workers. Does he honestly believe that everyone works a job sitting down in air conditioning?

[DemonGoddess]

136. you know...

people who have been unemployed for awhile and can't get work really will take anything. I know I have.

[Boxerfan]

137. OOoooohh the turds are ALL circling the bowl...

May he slam headfirst into the concrete wall of reality.....

[HootieMcBoob]

139. He's totally out of touch with most of America

How many people have lost good paying jobs in the last six years and are either unemployed or working for minimum wage with little or no benefits. I guarantee that if you offered $50 an hour or even $10 an hour with benefits you would have lines a mile long waiting to take those jobs. McCain is turning into a real horses ass.

[bush_is_wacko]

140. Mr. McCaine....My hand is raised... For $50 an hour I'd pick your nose

all day long!

Of course no Senator is going to work for a measly $50 an hour you idiot! They don't need the money!

On Edit: I am writing an email to McCaine applying for the lettuce picking job. I'll include this link!

[DuaneBidoux]

141. I would I would I would--where can I sign up

[rniel]

142. You'd see me putting in some long

12 hour days picking lettuce for $50 an hour.

I'd be a very happy lettuce picking sob.

[Greyskye]

143. frigging bullshit

My grandparents - who were poor, multi-generation Americans, were migrant farm workers. They followed the crops so much that my dad went to over a dozen elementary schools.

They worked hard for a pittance; and if it wasn't for my dad leaving home at a young age and putting himself through college (the only one of his 7 brothers and sisters to do so) I would have lived a very different life than I have.

They worked hard for less than minimum wage, and they died young. Fuck you McCain.

[Booster]

144. I absolutely loathe McCain, but I picked cotton when I was in high

school for just one afternoon, and McCain's right - I would not pick cotton for $50 an hour. I was a bloody mess by the time I quit and only had 1/4 of a bag.

[smoogatz]

146. What a racist moron.

The subtext of this remark is that Mexicans are somehow better suited for menial labor than white Americans. Unbelievable.

[Strangefire]

147. Well...

Considering that at my current job, a full 8 hour day gets me around $60 after taxes, I'd have to say that picking that lettuce is sounding like a pretty sweet deal.

[electron_blue]

148. LOL! that's great money.

He has no idea what most people do for a living, and how hard they work.

[norml]

150. His salad days are over. He's tossed now.

Gimme dat lettuce!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettuce

[leftstreet]

154. LOL - maybe he can get a job picking lettuce for $50 an hour

[michaelwb]

151. Well, here's his disconnect

At $50/hr on a 40 hour work week that's around $100,000/year for physical labor.

Senator's & members of Congress get $162,000/year, with benefits, perks and vacation plans that most Americans would kill - all that for less than backbreaking work.

So for his peers it's a step down to just get $50/hr to do actual work.

I say tie the salaries and benefits of Senator's & Representatives to what the average salary and benefits are for Americans.

Then lets see what they think about the issues of minimum wage, health care reform, etc.

[norml]

152. Results 1 - 10 of about 131 for $50-an-hour-to-pick-lettuce.

Results 1 - 10 of about 131 for $50-an-hour-to-pick-lettuce. (0.25 seconds)


McCain booed by labor activists on immigration, Iraq
KVOA.com, AZ - 1 hour ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

'Questions, comments . . . insults?'
Tucson Citizen, AZ - 4 hours ago
... McCain finished his speech and asked whether anybody had "questions, comments or insults.". He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce. ...

Union Leaders Boo McCain on Immigration
Frankfort Times, IN - 4 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

McCain's Straight-Talking Image Questioned
Town Hall, DC - 5 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

Union leaders heckle McCain
Gainesville Sun, FL - 6 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

McCain's straight-talking image questioned
Contra Costa Times, CA - 7 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

McCain's straight-talking image questioned
Sacramento Bee, USA - 8 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

Unionists jeer McCain on immigration, labor, Iraq
AZ Central.com, AZ - 8 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

McCain's Straight-Talking Image Questioned
phillyBurbs.com, PA - 8 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...

McCain's Straight-Talking Image Questioned
CBS News - 8 hours ago
... McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. ...


New! Get the latest news on $50-an-hour-to-pick-lettuce with Google Alerts.


http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&q=%22%2450+an+hour+to+pick+lettuce%22&btnG=Search+News

[bettyellen]

153. everyone he knows is lazy and fucking spoiled, so he can't even imagine

them doing much at all for $50/hr.
i guess he forgot there's a lot of people who already do work hard, for much less, every day.
what an asshole.
this ought to haunt him for the rest of his career.

[DanCa]

155. Hey Mccain I want one of these frackin' jobs

I have young onset parkinsons and I have been turned down for ever frackin job we have in this podunk town. Pick lettuce hell yeah i'd do it for minimum wage too. What a poc party the gop has become.

[Tsiyu]

156. I grow and pick it for free

so I can eat.

McCain lost most of America with that comment. Nearly everyone I know, given the state of the economy, would jump at the chance to pick lettuce for $50 an hour.

Where do we sign up?

[Klukie]

159. Lets start a fund to bombard his office with 1000 heads of lettuce!

What a jerk.

[klook]

160. Hey, I'll pick lettuce for only $40 an hour!

Thus under-cutting those country club $50-an-hour lettuce pickers who drive their Lexuses to the vegetable patch every day!

What a dumbass. And they like to say the Democrats are "out of touch with mainstream America"??

Man, sometimes the comedy routines just write themselves.

[nicknameless]

163. What an arrogant, dishonest SOB.

Ya payin' attention, Mother Jones?

:eyes:

[Zhade]

165. Shit, that's like twice what I make.

I'd totally do it for that. Is McCain NUTS?

Yeah, yeah, rhetorical question...

[Deja Q]

166. McCain. We wouldn't pick your NOSE for $50/hour. There's a difference.

And, hell yeah, I'd pick lettuce for $50/hr.

Or $25/hr.

Or $20/hr.

It's a handsome wage that keeps one physically fit.

[Nikki Stone 1]

167. Hell, yeah, I'd take it! (McCain is an idiot, like his beloved Junior)

:kick:

[Deja Q]

168. WHY DOES MCCAIN HATE AMERICA?

Let him answer that one.

These laws being supported are dismantling America. Only people who who hate America wish to dismantle it.

[philosophie_en_rose]

172. B.S. - I pick lettuce for free.

Every year, I pick vegetables and fruit for free. If someone paid me $50 per hour, I'd pick all day.

[Neil Lisst]

175. he's out of his friggin' mind!!

That just shows how far removed he is from real, live hardworking Americans.