Florida Gov. Rick Scott really had a bang-up debate Tuesday. In addition to energetically dodging the question of whether he knew that he delayed an execution so that Attorney General Pam Bondi could attend a political fundraiser, he showed off his concern for low-wage workers and in-depth knowledge of economic issues. Or, more specifically, he showed off his total lack of concern and in-depth knowledge.
The question was "Do you support the concept of a minimum wage?" Which is a question that has to be asked of Republican politicians, since many of them don't. Scott's answer was a glib "sure." It looked like he was ready to keep talking, but the follow-up question beat him to the punch: "What should it be?"
How would I know? I mean, the private sector decides wages.Answering this, Scott briefly let his debate face drop in his sheer irritation at being asked what the minimum wage should be. "How would I know?" Gosh, I don't know, you're the governor, you do have a say in these things. It's not crazy to expect you to have an opinion, possibly even an informed one.
Also, "sure," Scott supports the concept of a minimum wage, but the reason he doesn't know what the minimum wage should be is that "the private sector decides wages." Except that in the case of the minimum wage, the private sector does not decide, so it seems like Scott may have been missing the point here. Or, more likely, was knocked off his talking points by an unexpected framing of the minimum wage question, and didn't bother making a whole lot of sense as he scrambled to get back to the talking points.
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