The American Spectator : DeMint Before Dinner

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DeMint Before Dinner

A conversation with the Senate's top conservative on the rising conservative tide.

TAMPA -- A fairly good writer once said: There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads, God knows where. Or words to that effect.

The tide in 2010, in Florida and across the nation, appears to be a conservative reaction to the leftward lurch in Washington. We see this among Republicans, independents, even among a limited number of sentient Democrats. The late enchantment with the little hustler from Chicago appears to have largely dissipated. Buyers' remorse has set in.

Considering the prevailing mood, when the Hillsborough County (Tampa) Republican Executive Committee was looking for a keynote speaker for their Lincoln Day dinner last Saturday, they landed no less than South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, a national conservative leader.

DeMint established the Senate Conservatives Fund to help U.S. Senate candidates willing to fight for limited government, a strong national defense, and family values. He's active in recruiting conservative Senate candidates, and has strongly backed conservative former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio over moderate-to-liberal Florida governor Charlie Crist for the nomination to the Senate seat Mel Martinez resigned from last summer.

Before the dinner I visited with DeMint. Below is part of our conversation:

The American Spectator: I wonder if you're seeing what I believe I'm seeing in Florida and across the nation. It appears that in 2010 the goals of the Republican Party and those of the conservative movement are more aligned than they've been for decades.

Jim DeMint: I think so -- I believe what's happening is we're seeing more and more Republicans embracing the energy and passion that you see in the Tea Party movement. A lot of that certainly has a conservative flavor -- less government, less spending, less debt. So there's an accountability being imposed on the party by more activist voters.

I think it's a very positive thing. The Republican Party across the country has stayed conservative. But a lot of the old guard in Washington has drifted off in another direction. Now I think that's changing, probably in the House first -- you see more and more House members swearing off earmarks, focusing on spending caps. America wants us to make a commitment that if we get the majority again we're not going to continue spending and borrowing, we're going to swear off earmarks and balance the budget. So I think we're moving in the right direction.

TAS: Has the Republican Party learned the right lessons from the routs of '06 and '08?

JD: Yes. I certainly learned something. That's why I started the Senate Conservative Fund. That's why I'm out here trying to find candidates who can carry the banner inside the Senate. Many Republicans have learned something. There are still some who haven't, still some who'd say the only problems we had in '06 and '08 were George Bush and the Iraq war. It was obviously much deeper than that.

We had the opportunity of a lifetime with a Republican in the White House and a Republican majority in Congress and we just didn't do what we said we were going to do. We let some of the old guard there, because of the seniority system, spend us into oblivion. We have to change that. A lot of those guys are retired now, or might lose this time. So we're going to refresh the pool with some new thinking.

TAS: How much of the "old guard" problem is indicated by the fact so much of the party establishment backed moderate Florida Governor Charlie Crist against conservative Marco Rubio for nomination to the Senate seat Mel Martinez resigned from?

JD: Sure. That's indicative of what we've been seeing, that some of the old guard still wants to just find somebody that polls the best and can raise the most money. And what you're seeing from the grass-roots is they want someone who shares their principles. That's the big contrast in the Rubio race, and in the Pennsylvania race between Pat Toomey and Arlen Specter. I think you're going to see that around the country this year. Good primaries are good for the party. Because people feel like they have a choice, they can get engaged. Then it's more likely we can get everybody together in the general election.

TAS: The old guard certainly did jump in early in the Crist-Rubio race. Some endorsed Crist just hours after Crist announced.

JD: Yes. But I want to be clear. I'm not really critical of John Cornyn of the Senate committee. When he was recruiting at this time last year no one wanted to run as a Republican. Getting people to run was a challenge. But as things have developed and with the country starting to come our way, it's really important that we field candidates who can embrace what's going on across the country. All you have to is do look at the polls and add up those who say Republican and those who say Tea Party. If we get all those we add up to about 60 percent.

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topics:
U.S. Senate Races 2010, Marco Rubio, Jim DeMint

About the Author

Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (38) | Leave a comment

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.8.10 @ 6:27AM

Senator DeMint should quit wasting his time defending Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham is a lost cause dabbling his foot into politics like his weak sister, sidekick and friend Senator McCain.

Just last Sunday Lindsey Graham was highlighted for his efforts to close Guantanamo and bring the terrorists to American shores. In that sense he's just like the fruitcakes inside Eric Holder's Injustice Department.

http://thehill.com/homenews/se.....-tribunals

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said he would need the military’s support to get Republicans in Congress to agree to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison, as a sort of quid pro quo for the White House ensuring military trials for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Alan Brooks| 3.8.10 @ 9:42AM

"The republican party had better get aboard with the Conservatives or they too will be toast come 2010 and 2012"

They will be toast; you'll need a 3rd party-- but you wont get round to it until it is too late.

Doctor Right| 3.8.10 @ 2:08PM

Graham is being blackmailed...It's been going on for quite some time.

Regardless, he has to go.

...And you know what I'm talking about.

Ret. Marine| 3.8.10 @ 7:05AM

Anyone advocating the closing down of the GITMO facility should be considered a traitor and a failure in the politic's of the American way. Who do these people think they represent, the American or the enemy? Just like mclame, this idiot thinks if we just give into the demands of the islamist, (dhimmi's attitude) somehow the rest of barbaric class will just so-love us. I think these "old guard" members are toast, crispy and black with the devil's heart. The republican party had better get aboard with the Conservatives or they too will be toast come 2010 and 2012.
I sincerly hope the Republican's continue with the theme of being conservative and mean it this time around, if not the party is history and should be re-named the Conservative party. Let the old guard die off in life and elections. This could be the best thing to happen in future elections. They are not on our side, they continue to go-with-the-flow trying to get everyone aboard and that makes no sense whatsoever. Being a Conservative and a republican are two things entirely different from one another. You are either for limited government, strong on defense and for personal freedoms, or you are against us. It's as simple as that.
What is especially tasty right now is the other side is having buyers remorse and the rest of our side is begining to notice, what a country.

rdman| 3.8.10 @ 5:56PM

Forget about "themes"... if the GOP is going to be a conservative party, dump Steele, an inside-the-beltway moderate (moderate at best)) RINO and elect a true Conservative to lead the GOP. Its as simple as that and that will make a huge difference!!

rdman| 3.8.10 @ 6:09PM

Think about it folks... who is out there right now who would immediately "light a fire" in the GOP across the nation...

Tim| 3.8.10 @ 7:27AM

Tea Party Rebels support Jim DeMint ,the next President of the United States.

Alan Brooks| 3.8.10 @ 3:15PM

Maybe in 2017.

RavenS2xs| 3.8.10 @ 7:35AM

Mr. DeMint says the Republicans have learned the right lessons from getting trounced? I think not. It's easy to talk a big talk when they don't have much to lose, however I think they will go back to their lib-lite ways as soon as they get any power. Case in point, Mr. DeMint's S 3048 Pilot Professionalism Assurance Act (Introduced in Senate). Thank god Mr. DeMint and the rest of the RINO's are there to make sure that us pilots are professional in the cockpit. All those years in the military and commercial aviation sure haven't taught me anything. Maybe after they are through micromanaging the cockpit then they could tell me how to fly the plane. This bill will be massively abused by the FAA and the Airlines. We need to watch how these monkeys vote and what bills they push before they can claim their conservative title. Apparently the concept of limited government still hasn't caught on with some of these guys yet. People who think that more regulations and a thicker FAR will prevent planes from crashing are kidding themselves.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.8.10 @ 11:51AM

Raven,
8265Romeo here.
Some of you are professional...some ain't. Those guys who missed their destination airport BY AN HOUR... need a refresher course don't they?
(Actually, they should be put in jail.)

I've been a pilot since 1971. There are some serious stupids flying passengers these days.

AirBill| 3.8.10 @ 3:54PM

And how many times does an airliner overfly its destination airport? So much that we need an act of Congress to take care of it? Seems like there are more "stupids" posting on Web pages than there are flying passengers.

Left Seat FO| 3.9.10 @ 7:52PM

You get what you pay for.

Melvin| 3.8.10 @ 7:36AM

Liberals, Atheists Are More Highly Evolved?
Smarter people more inclined to nontraditional values, National Geographic study suggests.
Well...So much for the girls of Tahiti isn't it?
I remember when the National Geographic was a respected magazine. Now it has turned into the Huffington Post with pictures.
Just gives the Liberals more ammunition to say, that they are smarter than us Neanderthal
Conservatives.
Damn, I really used to like that magazine.

Longplay| 3.8.10 @ 8:17AM

DeMint and Obama both say that Americans have to make sacrifices but there's an enormous difference between the two. Obama is coercing us to sacrifice the fruits of our labor to fund an intrusive form of government that destroys our liberty. DeMint's saying that the process of restoring our freedoms and reducing the size of government will produce hard times for awhile and for many. The latter type of sacrifice is one I think true Americans can bear because it offers true hope of a better future. Obama's promises offer only an enending equality of misery.

Michael L. Hauschild| 3.8.10 @ 8:18AM

The United States desperately needs two things; first a “Institute of Constitutional Learning” to send and groom candidates, and an “Old Politicians Home” with an insanity wing to send all the incumbent clowns that defend and propagate the status quo of their partners in crime. Say what you may but for defending Grahamnesty DeMint is now a discredited buffoon. To the dung heap with him, the redundancy challenged “tea party rebels” and those dysfunctional loons with a drawl and Ross Perot bumper stickers in the kitchen drawer.

George F.| 3.8.10 @ 12:25PM

You, sir, are a tad off base with your recipe for whom we should be getting rid of. There are lots of corruptocrats in congress that aren't on the right.

Cris Worth| 3.8.10 @ 8:27AM

Unbeatable GOP ticket in 2012:
Willard "Mitt" Romney (R-Mass., N.H., Mich., UT, Cal.) and Lindsey Grahamnesty (R, S.C.)

Tim| 3.8.10 @ 8:28AM

DeMint, a Republican in his first term, is the leader of a movement to pull the party in the opposite direction from Mr. Graham’s conciliatory approach. The political action committee he founded, called the Senate Conservatives Fund, backs only candidates who are rock-solid conservatives, and adherents to his views have led the efforts to censure Mr. Graham.

The two senators say they are friends whose differences are exaggerated by the news media, and DeMint has not personally criticized Mr. Graham or called for his censure.

But their contrasting strategies have brought home to South Carolina the struggle over the future of the Republican Party and have put them on opposite sides of important Senate primaries in states like Florida, where Mr. DeMint supports a vocal conservative, Marco Rubio, and Mr. Graham supports Gov. Charlie Crist.

In California, Mr. DeMint supports Chuck DeVore, in defiance of the national party leadership and Mr. Graham, who said he would campaign for Carly Fiorina.

Cris Worth| 3.8.10 @ 8:35AM

I'm suspicious of Palmetto State Republicans...Lindsey Grahamnesty, Mark "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" Sanford...Hmmm

loulou| 3.8.10 @ 10:46AM

Little Lindsey needs to switch to the Democrat Party. We don't need grovelling bootlickers like him.

DeMint was too generous to John Cornyn. Cornyn is nothing but a Kay Bailey in pants. Cornyn is clueless--Crist, Scozzafava, Fiorina. All RINOs.

Charles Stevens| 3.8.10 @ 10:36AM

Whether the GOP gets back in power or not, they will have the same systemic problem they always have: political dynamics are rigged against them from the outset, because the basic idea of Conservativism is to NOT be always changing the status quo as per progressivism. This means Conservatives are always playing defense, which is not the way to win. To paraphrase the IRA as applied to progressivism: "...remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always."

Copyleft| 3.8.10 @ 10:51AM

DeMint is, of course, DeRanged.

He supports mandatory school prayer and the outlawing of abortion in ALL CASES, including rape.

He tried to cripple attempts at corporate transparency and accountability, such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

He defied a federal ban on private meetings with the dictator of Honduras.

He famously declared that gay people shouldn't be allowed to work as schoolteachers... before backing away to a more "nuanced position" when his bigotry was exposed.

He opposed the Patient Protection Act, the Families in Bankruptcy Act, the Fraud Enforcement Act, the CHIP Reauthorization, and the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Every time he had a chance to support workers against corporate criminals, DeMint has done the opposite.

So naturally, he's a hero to the fringe right. Which, by definition, makes him an enemy of REAL Americans.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.8.10 @ 11:56AM

Heh!
Copyleft definition of Real American: "One who supported by the gubmint", as is copyleft.

HOO Haa!

Margie| 3.8.10 @ 12:34PM

CopyLeftistTalkingPoints,
I hope you are at least getting that government enforced minimum wage for your time here. I'm curious~do you also get a commission, say according to how many vehement rebuttals you get to your comments? Oops, no you wouldn't. Commission would be "unfair" to the rest of your self same buddies! Gotta have that level playing field, right?

davelnaf| 3.8.10 @ 10:53AM

Democrats are vigorously self-spinning themselves away from the likely consequences of voting for Obamacare. So, it's their funeral. But once republicans are in control of Congress and the WH in 2012 will they put end to the spending madness that has grown government so big it threatens our democracy? If they fail they will also go down like the democrats are going down. Then, what if the new parties that will occupy Congress after that also fail? Well, Congress is already enough of a horror story without going there.

RavenS2XS| 3.8.10 @ 11:50AM

Didn't the Republicans fail at making the government smaller, among other things, the last 8 years? Soo, now we give them another chance to disappoint us? I'm not convinced the Republicans have changed.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.8.10 @ 12:01PM

Raven,
8265 Romeo back with you. See prior transmission above.
Answer here.
We gotta' get fresh Republicans. Turn right 180 degrees.

Sean| 3.8.10 @ 12:10PM

Take a look at Bunning in the Senate. Did you see how many Senators supported his stand? Not one.

George F.| 3.8.10 @ 12:45PM

We have to give the Repubs a chance because we can no longer vote for Socialist-Communist policies are are now the major push of the Dems.

Northern Rebel| 3.8.10 @ 11:45AM

It is people like that doddering old fool McCain, and his sycophant boyfriend Flimsy Graham, that got republicans in trouble in the first place.

In '94, we thought we'd won the hearts of Americans, and stoppoed teaching constitutional conservatism. We won't proceed, (notice I didn't use the word "progress") until Americans understand the difference between our beliefs and the socialist progressives.We are fortunate in this country, that we don't have to think about politics all the time, like you do in socialist, and fascist countries, so it is easy for the normal (notice I didn't say (average") Americans to disengage.

We have to fight harder to get our message out, because the drive by media are by and large mouthpieces for the socialist progressives.

Margie| 3.8.10 @ 12:42PM

Flimsy flim-flam Graham. An apt description. Too bad he doesn't care a wit about what the people think of him. I think the sooner he makes his jump to the Democrat party, the better. Why take years to do it like Specter? He should put the people out of their misery and make a clean break.

Northern Rebel| 3.8.10 @ 11:49AM

BTW C-Left, do you know any real Americans?

heh

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.8.10 @ 12:05PM

Rebel,
heh...he might know his parents ...who finance him being able to be a loony whack job divorced from reality.

Northern Rebel| 3.8.10 @ 12:44PM

Ken:

He might know them, but if they are truly real Americans, he probably doesn't know WHERE TO FIND THEM! ;o)

John3| 3.8.10 @ 6:45PM

That's a great prescription for conservatives: limited government, a strong national defense, and family values.

Pat Noonan| 3.9.10 @ 7:55AM

Intellectual Ammo:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?.....amp;ref=nf

desuz| 3.24.10 @ 7:48AM

Are you kidding me!! DeMint for President!! He is a racist and does not care about anything but hating the President. The republican party will never get a vote from me again! They used to sit down and get things done but now all they do is say my way or the highway. Get with it! Your job is to work for all americans not just white racist!!!