NASHVILLE, TN — Talk radio show host Laura Ingraham skewered Sen. Lamar Alexander during a rally this evening in support of his primary challenger Joe Carr, comparing him to an “old sweater” that had become full of moths, with faded colors.
The crowd of over 600 people at the Nashville Millenium Maxwell House hotel delightedly cheered as Ingraham took numerous shots at Alexander’s moderate record and personality in the Senate.
Alexander has a long political career in Tennessee, running for a third term as Senator after already serving as a successful governor of the state. But Ingraham, who painted Alexander as an out of touch politician of a different era, has trained her focus on the race in the manner she did to Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s race, helping produce the shocking upset there.
Ingraham visited with Carr and his supporters before the event while chatting with reporters, as a bluegrass band played crowd favorites such as “Man of Constant Sorrow” and “He’s In the Jailhouse Now.”
But the polite, old time feeling of the event quickly dissipated as Ingraham fired up the crowd.
On amnesty, she explained, Alexander was wrong on the number one issue in the country, citing the recent Gallup poll showing that the issue was at the top of voters’ concerns. She criticized Alexander for supporting the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, working with Senate Democrats like Sens. Chuck Schumer (NY) and Dick Durbin (IL).
Ingraham noted that the modern left was filled with “utter distain” for conservatives and their values, and said today’s Democrats weren’t the moderate Democrats of Alexander’s era.
Ingraham encouraged all voters in Tennessee to work hard for Carr in the remaining days of the election to send a loud message to the Washington establishment.
Ingraham praised Joe Carr for listening to the people and standing up for conservative principles.
Carr took the stage, making Alexander’s record on immigration reform the center of his speech.
Carr blasted the Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of Alexander, pointing out that the organization supported immigration reform for the sake of getting more cheap labor. That, he explained, was part of the war on the American worker.
Carr told the crowd that, as their Senator, he would go to Washington to help conservative senators like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Jeff Sessions.
Carr immediately endorsed Cruz’s bill, co-sponsored by Sessions, to stop President Obama’s use of executive authority to give amnesty to children of illegal immigrants.
But most of all, Carr criticized Alexander for working with Democrats.
During the rally, both Ingraham and Carr mocked Alexander’s endorsements from former Republican politicians, highlighting Carr’s support from local Tea Party groups.
Ingraham criticized Alexander for hiding behind his endorsements and issuing press releases, and she joked about Mike Huckabee’s preference for private jets.
Carr opened his speech by mocking Alexander’s most recent endorsement from former Sen. Fred Thompson. Carr reminded the crowd that Thompson was the “father of reverse mortgages.”
When asked for comments in reaction to the rally, the Alexander campaign responded to Breitbart News with the following statement: