On Tuesday’s “Hannity,” Daily Caller editor and Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson argued that the reason Tea Party upstart Dave Brat won over a much better funded opponent in House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) wasn’t solely because of his position on immigration, but the broader implications of immigration policy.
Host Sean Hannity suggested Republicans had been “timid and afraid” and they could learn from this primary result. But Carlson said it was the content of the message as well.
“I think you’re right,” Carlson said. “And also, unable to connect with the middle class. I mean, if you look at what Brat was saying, he wasn’t making the case against amnesty – lots of people do that. He was making a case for better wages. His point was, look you import immigrants, you’ve got a labor shortage. We have persistent high unemployment. This will inevitably depress wages for middle class workers. Making that case connects with the exact group of voters Republicans need in order to win, which is the broad middle of the country. People are really hurting in the middle of the recession. And that’s why he won. Look, the guy spent $250,000 to Cantor’s $5 million and crushed him. So, what does that tell you? That tells you the message is what resonated. That is what he won – because his ideas were more appealing — a middle class message.”
Hannity maintained across the country, the success of the Republican Party was something else that candidates could learn from. But Carlson said it still comes down the basic economics, as Brat had shown Tuesday.
“I think that’s true,” he added. “But when it gets down to the actual issues, it’s very hard to convince people that are working making minimum wage or $50,000 a year that massively increasing the number of immigrants and guest workers is good for them. Just as a pure economic matter, it’s not. In Washington we pretend it will grow the economy. The Wall Street Journal is for it, the Chamber of Commerce is for it. But the average person is not for it, as we’ve just learned.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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