Out-going House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) called conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's recent attacks on him “not a serious contribution to any public policy” and added that Ingraham's recent commentary, which included suggesting he be traded to the Taliban, “cheapens the debate.”

On June 10, Cantor was defeated in a primary election by tea party Republican candidate David Brat. The surprising outcome was cheered by Ingraham and other conservative talk radio hosts who had backed Brat and attacked Cantor over his position on immigration reform.

In the lead up to Election Day, Ingraham -- also a contributor for Fox News and ABC News -- repeatedly touted Brat, urging listeners to vote for him and even appearing at Brat's campaign rallies. At one rally, Ingraham said she wished President Obama would have traded Cantor to Afghani militants instead of the five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay who were exchanged for captive soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

Cantor responded to Ingraham's Bergdahl dig on the June 15 edition of ABC's This Week, stating, “I would say that the suggestion that I should have been traded to the Taliban for Sergeant Bergdahl really is not a serious contribution to any public policy debate, and frankly I don't think that it reflects on the people who self-identify as tea partiers. I think they reject that kind of notion, and it's just not serious, and frankly it cheapens the debate.”

Later on the ABC program, Ingraham fired back, stating that Cantor “can't take a joke about the prisoner swap.” She went on: “He has no sense of humor. That's why he lost, perhaps.”

Ingraham has spent the days after Cantor's defeat gloating on her radio show, touting “the power of conservative media to link good candidates with their constituents,” adding, “There were a few pieces written a couple of years ago about how talk radio was dead. I have three words for you. In your face.”