Posted on 06/11/2014 10:48:29 PM PDT by chessplayer
And while tea party groups and talk radio hosts are celebrating the downfall of a Republican member of Congress who came to symbolize the “establishment,” there are indications that this enthusiasm is misplaced.
In the wake of his victory, Brat joined MSNBC host Chuck Todd on Wednesday where he received a gentle grilling and was asked for his position on a variety of policy matters. Brat seemed entirely unprepared to have to speak on issues of substance. In fact, he suggested – perhaps (hopefully) jokingly – that he thought Todd invited him on the program merely to celebrate his victory.
“Where are you on the minimum wage?” Todd began, starting off with a question right in this economics expert’s wheelhouse.
Brat railed against unspecific distorting effects on the market before he was prompted to say whether or not he thought a minimum wage should even exist? “I don’t have a well-crafted response on that one,” Brat replied.
…Okay. So, how about foreign policy?
“Would you be in favor of arming the Syrian rebels?” Todd asked.
“Hey, Chuck, I thought we were just going to chat today about the celebratory aspect,” Brat replied. “I’d love to go through all this, but my mind is just, uh, I didn’t get much sleep.”
“I love the policy questions, I’m happy to do more, but I just wanted to talk about the victory here,” he continued.
Sure, sleep deprivation will dull anyone’s wit. But any competent Republican campaigner should be able to endure the rendition tactics depicted in Zero Dark Thirty and emerge aware of the fact that MSNBC is not the place insurgent tea partiers go for softballs.
Maybe Brat was, as he said, merely exhausted from a long night following his primary victory. However, as The Washington Examiner’s Ashe Schow noted, “he’s going to have to get it together real quick now that he’s been thrust into the national spotlight.”
“Not off to a good start.”
PERFECT START. Rather than risk putting his foot in his mouth, he chose to keep quiet on policy stuff. If other Republicans COULD LEARN THAT we would have won the Senate in 2012.
But, as I say, it doesn’t even matter - CANTOR LOST!!!!
I hope that is a joke.
That is a problem with political inexperience. The media are pros at tripping them up. Learn fast, Brat. Stay away from the MSM.
Then you didn’t read the transcript. These are exceptional answers, contrary to the lying headline. He definitely knows his stuff on all the issues.
Brat is articulating what I and now Jeff Sessions have been advocating, i.e., link jobs and wages to immigration, legal and illegal. He went after the Chamber of Commerce and the corporate class. Brat is really the first one to do that effectively. I am very excited about Dave Brat. He is bright, articulate, and provides the template to defeat the Dems and attract minority voters.
And despite the chattering class views on why Cantor lost, the issue that resonated was amnesty and Cantor's support of his version (Kids Act, which he never provided any details) of Obama's unconstitutional DACA and Cantor's comment a few days before election day that he could work with Obama on certain immigration reform efforts while the flood of unaccompanied children from Central America was streaming across the border. And Cantor also supported Jeff Denham's illegal aliens in the military, the ENLIST Act, at a time when the military is downsizing and forcing tens of thousands from active duty.
Jeff Sessions article, Becoming the Party of Work--How the GOP can help struggling Americans, and itself" should be required reading for any Rep in office or seeking office.
FYI: I should have been more clear on my comment. I was referring to the foreign policy question on Syria, which Brat skillfully avoided.
Good start...... he handled the MSNBC (comcast ass hole) deviant by not telling him anything
MSNBC failed
Ok, yes. I thought with the one exception of the (in essence) “let me think about that” comment it was an excellent interview. I like the guy. Inspires me, as a prof, to run for office-—except Mike Turner is BOTH an entrenched guy and votes the right way almost all the time. He grilled Hagel yesterday. I’m never sure his heart is in it, but as I say here so often, all that matters is the votes, and so far, he’s solid. I wish he were more like Jim Jordan, but their votes count the same.
Nothing major. Just a little tweaking.
“When an MSNBC host asks if you will arm rebels (al-qaaaeda)in Syria, and you say you’re too tired to answer such a “hard” question, you’re not off to a good start.”
********************************************************************
Perhaps you’re just a bit bitter about Cantor’s loss? Sorry, but that’s one GOPe candidate for whom the base has pressed the level of the toilet. It’s just unfortunate that the Cantor flush will take until January ‘15 to completely play out. The flush has been unleashed, is unstoppable and its completion is inevitable.
Say goodbye to the poseur conservative (but real turd) as he goes down the drain into the cesspool of history. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as a resident “conservative” on MSNBC.
Mistake number one: you don't walk into the enemy camp unarmed, even under a flag of truce.
The correct answer: "Let the U.N. decide what to do about Syria; Muslims killing Muslims is none of our business".
The problem being that Biblical thing about bearing false witness. But speaking the truth about most liberals should be sufficiently outrageous!
Brat was fine. What’s the hubub about?
“Neither of them was “my guy.” Deal with that.”
Then why did you bother to post this misleading article?
Thanks for the link. That article deserves it’s own thread.
Disagree. He answered the minimum wage subject extremely well, but he host refused to hear it. He said that it’s insane not to tie wages to productivity, that arbitrarily setting wage levels is nutso.
So, whasisname either couldn’t or wouldn’t listen.
So far as arming Syrian rebels, Brat didn’t want to get into that stuff. He wanted to talk about winning the race. The host wanted to dampen the joy of the win for the 55% that had voted for Brat. Brat wouldn’t let him go there. Seems ok to me.
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