In 1988, “Saturday Night Live” had a bit in which George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, both portrayed by actors, engaged in a debate. After an especially incoherent, run-on answer from the Republican, Dukakis, portrayed by Jon Lovitz, said, “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.”
After seeing David Brat interviewed by msnbc’s Chuck Todd this morning, I can imagine House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) saying, “I can’t believe I lost to this guy.”
Todd asked the Republican congressional nominee, for example, about his position on arming Syrian rebels. “Hey Chuck,” Brat said, “I thought we were just going to chat today about the celebratory aspects. I’d love to go through all of this, but my mind is just, I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”
Brat added, “I’m happy to take policy issues at any time.” Apparently, however, “at any time” does not include today.
Asked if he considers himself an interventionist or isolationist on foreign policy, the Virginia Republican said he has a “PhD in economics,” which means he “analyzes every situation uniquely.”
The msnbc host then asked whether he supports an increase in the minimum wage. Brat responded, “Um, I don’t have a well-crafted response on that one.”
Got that? The PhD in economics, who’s running for Congress and yesterday defeated an incumbent, isn’t quite sure how to answer a question about raising the minimum wage.
Igor Volsky added, “Though Brat ran significantly to the right of Eric Cantor, blasting the 7-term Congressman for supporting “amnesty” and being too closely associated with “crony capitalism,” the ‘issues’ section of his website is just as vague as his MSNBC interview. Stretching just 871 words, the site is filled with generalities about restoring ‘the relationship between doctor and patient,’ ‘broad-spectrum energy approach that relies on the free market’ and ‘ending our reliance on foreign oil.’”
It looks like his mastery of the issues probably isn’t what put Brat over the top.
Jane Timm has more.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."