Obama doesn't believe in equal pay!!1!1!

[sniffa]

Visited my mother today, and picked up her copy of the Boston Herald, and there was an Opinion piece by Derrick Murdoch about Obama and how his call for equal pay is a farce; according to him, Obama pays his female employees less than his male employees (i think it was 83 or 88 cents on the dollar) so he shouldn't be taken seriously or something. I can't trust anything by the Herald, and I don't trust this. I'm assuming it's just some juggling of numbers to make his case. I only made it over halfway through his piece, and he didn't actually match up equal roles of males and females, so I'm guessing he's playing with the numbers.

I doubt this is true, but is this a coming attack on Obama? This is the first I've seen this angle (and would never have seen it without the family visit) as I haven't noticed it on DU, which usually beats anything I read in the print media, or see on tv.

Oh, BOR also had an Opinion piece in today's globe, but he's never worth reading, nor watching, so I can't even guess what it was about.

[RazBerryBeret]

1. doubtful...

watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MGdMazrInw

[madaboutharry]

2. This is bullshit.

What employees are they talking about? His senate staff is on a government salary. He doesn't determine their pay.

Do you honestly believe that he is paying woman on the campaign staff less than men?

[sniffa]

3. No, I don't obviously

I just rolled my eyes and stopped reading his piece over halfway through as he didn't list any proof (or even how he came to his numbers). However, will this be a new attack; and if so, we should be prepared. By prepared, I mean just being able to bludgeon anyone who says it, with the truth.

[roseBudd]

13. Actually PUMAs were spreading this awhile ago, I find it highly unlikely anyone has actual data that

corresponds with actual jobs & I hate to sound sexist as I'm female, but programmers and other web centric workers (think Flash, Final Cut Pro etc.) have skills that command higher salaries. I am in IT & there are a lot more guys than girls.

[NYC_SKP]

4. I suspect, and a more knowledgable DUer will correct me if I'm wrong...

I've seen that talking point mentioned and I'll be the figures were arrived at in this fashion.

Take all the paid congressional staffers and any others under Senator Obama.

These all work at government set scales, the Senator doesn't set their pay.

If it happens that there are more women among the lower paid staff and more men among the higher paid staff, then crunching the numbers would reveal what looks like unfair pay to the women.

Whatever it is, it must have been debunked somewhere and I look forward to the details later in this thread.

:patriot:

[ibegurpard]

5. What he or she said

And, yes, the Boston Herald is right-wing rag.

[and-justice-for-all]

6. WRONG!

Desperation piece.

[RBInMaine]

7. Wipe your butt with the Herald and flush it. Right wing rag.

[sniffa]

12. My mother has been lashing out at me lately about the Herald

and the fact that I'm an elitist or something, because I read the Globe.

She muttered something about it today as she was trying to give me today's Herald to take home with me. I told her I won't read it, and she started muttering something with a nasty look as she walked away.

When I visit, I usually pick up the paper to flip through for their sensational cover story (today was about Neil Entwistle's skinhead do), and I always go to their OP/ED section for a brief, enraging.

[Overseas]

8. Did you just check the Fight the Smears site of Obama's?

That equal pay thing has probably flown around a few times before.

[sniffa]

11. No, I didn't

I come to DU first.

[pdxmom]

9. They are lumping all staff together, and just looking at male/female, regardless

of the job they are doing on his staff. So they would be comparing apples and oranges. There is a disparity because of his top 5 advisors, only one is a woman. You might have a problem that he only has one woman in his top 5 advisors, but the pay issue can't be addressed that way.

Here is where the data comes from: http://www.legistorm.com/member/76/Sen_Barack_Obama/48.html

But the data isn't complete. For example, it doesn't say whether a person is full time or part time. Right off, I see two people, both with the title "Staff Assistant" and one make $9K and the other $14K. For all we can tell, one or even both, only work part time.

The claim isn't valid, from what I can tell, based on the data they are supposedly using. There are too many variables missing.

[sniffa]

10. I'm fairly confident this charge is bogus

However, this is the first time I've seen this charge (and usually, DU is ahead of the curve. Granted, I'm not always here, and may have missed it) so I was pissed (as I always am whenever I visit and pick up the Herald to read what I don't want to read) and finally figured I'd start a thread to hash it out, and if need be, get info I may need to throw at my parents (even though we do not talk politics, as they know it doesn't end well).

[RollWithIt]

14. BS argument... depends on what position they hold....

Utter crap.

[cliffordu]

15. You think that's bad, he ain't paying ME shit.