Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Monday immigration policy should be American-worker centered, apparently striking a nerve with the liberal media, who called it extreme and used tweets from a disgruntled former employee to criticize the move.
The Washington Post, MSNBC, and Huffington Post said the stance is a dumb move politically, because only a small number of right-wing extremists question the economic value of legal immigration.
“It’s not clear whether he understands that immigration is one way to boost economic growth,” Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin wrote condescendingly. “(There is replete evidence that immigration boosts revenue, growth and does not take jobs away from native-born workers.)”
“We have remarked that the temptation in the GOP primary is to play to the loudest voices and the staunchest segment of the party, even though they do not represent a majority of voters in the party, let alone in the general electorate,” Rubin added.
Walker said Monday in an interview with Glenn Beck that the first priority in considering legal immigration policy should be the wages and jobs of American workers. “In terms of legal immigration… it is a fundamentally lost issue by many in elected positions today, is what is this doing for American workers looking for jobs, what is this doing to wages,” he said, according to Breitbart News.
Although the economic problems posed by an open border policy are obvious, and in spite of polls that consistently show the vast majority of Americans are concerned about immigration, the outlets insisted Walker’s stance is extreme.
The Huffington Post ran the headline: “Scott Walker Tacks Far Right On Immigration.”
Walker is “going to the extreme right in the GOP,” reported the Washington Post.
In his remarks Walker expressly aligned himself with the work of Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who was recently slammed by liberal outlets for making the case that legal immigration should be moderated for the sake of American jobs and wage growth in a Washington Post op-ed. (RELATED: Harvard Lawyer Destroys NYT Editorial On Immigration)
“For Walker to affiliate himself with Sessions and his allies is evidence of the top-tier presidential hopeful adopting a very conservative posture on one of the cycle’s biggest issues,” reported MSNBC.
Mentioning Sessions by name “is a red flag to those who see a know-nothing aversion to immigration that defies reality,” Rubin added in The Washington Post. “It would be hard to understand why Walker might go the Sessions route. His standing in the polls remains solid.”
Several liberal outlets also seized on critical tweets from Liz Mair, who Walker fired her first day on the job, to imply the stance is a flip-flop.
Mair accused Walker of committing an “Olympics-quality flip-flop,” reported the Huffington Post, which noted she is proof “[a]t least one conservative” didn’t like his comments. Mother Jones also picked up the story.
Sad to see the full, Olympics-quality flip-flop by a former boss today. I guess some people think they can do what Romney did in 08 + win.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) April 20, 2015
The Washington Post ran the headline: “Scott Walker’s Monday: A semi-endorsement, paired with an ‘Olympics-quality flip-flop.” But in Rubin’s later post she acknowledged: “It is not clear whether Walker is doing a 180 on legal immigration because he has not yet come out with a complete plan of his own.”
Walker was recently criticized after admitting he’s changed his views on illegal immigration in a Fox News interview with Chris Wallace.
“I think the American people not only want people who stand firm on issues, but people who listen to folks who have got rational thoughts,” he told Glenn Beck Monday, referring to the admission. “And for me a lot of it was talking not just to citizens all across the country but to governors in border states who face real serious concerns about what’s happening on our border and elsewhere.”
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