Despite the ‘Cantor’s loss is only reflective of local VA district politics’ meme, this NRO piece on “Ingraham’s Insurrection” is instructive. With respect to immigration being the #1 issue our national future faces, Ingraham, Coulter (who, in the past couple of years, has fervently made this her #1 issue), Malkin, and Levin, are on board. Of course, no one will yet say the word ‘white’ in this context, but hey, it’s a one more baby step in the right direction.
It is as much a victory for conservative media — voices like Ingraham, her fellow radio-talk-show host Mark Levin, columnist Ann Coulter, and Internet provocateur Matt Drudge — as it is for Brat. Although national tea-party groups were quick to claim credit for the turn of events (Tea Party Patriots president Jenny Beth Martin congratulated the “local tea-party activists who helped propel him over the top”), they did little to boost his candidacy. It was conservative-media figures, Ingraham chief among them, who helped amplify his message beyond what his limited campaign budget allowed…
The vast majority of Republicans are treating Obamacare as the dominant issue of the midterm election, but Ingraham has framed matters differently, arguing that immigration is the most important issue facing Americans today. “If conservatives go the wrong way on this issue,” she says, “all the other issues that we care about are academic.”…
In her endorsement of Brat, Ann Coulter denounced Cantor as a “maniacal amnesty supporter.” Levin celebrated Brat’s “ass-kicking” victory and denounced members of the Republican leadership as “paper tigers.”…
Now Ingraham is setting her sights on 2016: In particular, she wants to ensure that the Republican nominee is not cut from Cantor’s cloth. Brat’s victory, she says, is a step in the right direction: “Everybody that’s hoping and praying for a Jeb Bush run, they should spend a lot of time focusing on what just happened in Virginia.”
