During an interview with Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd appeared visibly shocked when his guest argued that Democrats support amnesty because “they can win more elections.”
In response to Santorum, Todd acted indignant and interjected to ask: “You think that the Democrats are for immigration, for more immigration, simply for politics, for votes, they’re looking for votes?”
Earlier in the segment, the former Pennsylvania senator insisted that Democrats have a purely political motive for supporting more immigration in the United States when they should be focused on helping the American worker:
They want to bring in more people into this country who are primarily unskilled and have them compete so we can keep those wages down. And for one reason the Democrats want to do that, because they believe it's politically good for them and they can win more elections. That is not in the interest of the American public.
After Todd seemed to reject the idea that liberals would ever endorse amnesty simply to secure more votes, Santorum shot back and explained that Democrats have never had a history of supporting immigration reform until it recently became politically advantageous:
If you go back and look at the history of the Democratic Party Chuck, they have not been the party of pro-immigration. I mean, you can go back to the latest immigration report, Barbara Jordan, not a rock-ribbed conservative said that our immigration policy should be in the national interest and we should have controls on immigration because of that.
We have to look at the interest of American workers. And for decades Democrats looked at the interest of the American workers until it became important for them to be on this other side because of the politics of it. No one is standing for American workers unfortunately in either party. Big business wants cheap labor cost. Hillary Clinton wants more votes. I want to make sure that the American worker has an opportunity to see their wages rise and their incomes increase.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Meet the Press
May 31, 2015
CHUCK TODD: Obviously you're known more as an economic populist really than any other Republican in the field. And it's interesting to me while a majority of the country favors a candidate who supports say, raising taxes on the wealthy or raising the minimum wage, the Republican Party itself isn't there. Do you worry that you're out of step with the Republican primary voters even if you're in step with general election voters?
RICK SANTORUM: I just worry about what's doing best for America and American workers who have really been left behind by both political parties but particularly by this administration. The wealth gap as Bernie Sanders says has risen. It's not like we've been passing a whole bunch of conservative policies here in the last six years. I mean the bottom line is that these liberal policies end up helping those who have resources. If you're an investor, if you’re someone who’s owner, you've done very well under President Obama.
If you're someone who’s a worker, you've seen wages flat line. And so what does this president want to do and even Bernie Sanders? They want to bring in more people into this country who are primarily unskilled and have them compete so we can keep those wages down. And for one reason the Democrats want to do that, because they believe it's politically good for them and they can win more elections. That is not in the interest of the American public.
TODD: Wait a minute, you think that the Democrats are for immigration, for more immigration, simply for politics, for votes, they’re looking for votes?
SANTORUM: If you go back and look at the history of the Democratic Party Chuck, they have not been the party of pro-immigration. I mean, you can go back to the latest report, Barbara Jordan, not a rock group conservative said that our immigration policy should be in the national interest and we should have controls on immigration because of that. We have to look at the interest of American workers.
And for decades Democrats looked at the interest of the American workers until it became important for them to be on this other side because of the politics of it. No one is standing for American workers unfortunately in either party. Big business wants cheap labor cost. Hillary Clinton wants more votes. I want to make sure that the American worker has an opportunity to see their wages rise and their incomes increase.
