Washington — Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) is cheering on the Tea Party’s efforts to play hardball with Democrats on spending cuts. “I just hope that we are not so afraid of a government shutdown that we are not willing to make the right decisions,” he says in an interview with National Review Online. “That is what the Tea Party is for.”
On Thursday, Tea Party groups will rally outside of the Capitol, urging lawmakers to pass a continuing resolution that includes more than $60 billion in spending cuts for the remainder of the fiscal year along with controversial legislative ‘riders’ to defund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood, among other federal programs.
DeMint is pleased that the Tea Party is shaking up the spending debate and looks forward to joining the rally, if his schedule permits. “I am glad they are having it,” he smiles. “If it all possible, I will be there. I really appreciate that pressure. Already, too many people are forgetting that we were elected to get control of our spending and debt, and now we are arguing about cutting enough spending for a week’s worth of borrowing.”
DeMint met with House conservative leaders earlier today and advised them on how to frame their argument as Senate Democrats push for a deal. “I spoke with them about being more aggressive and bolder,” he says. “Unless the Tea Party stays active, we will wilt.”
DeMint rejects the idea that $20 billion in cuts, the rumored Democratic proposal, will be sufficient. “That’s about what we borrow in a week,” he says. “That is a ridiculously low amount of money.” Conservatives, he advises, should dig in their heels. “The riders are as important as the amount. We can’t fund Obamacare. Funding things like Planned Parenthood in this kind of environment is ridiculous.”
“Democrats have been sending signals for several months that all Republicans want to shut down the government, and we keep saying, ‘No, we don’t want to do that.’ But if Democrats shut it down over Planned Parenthood or public broadcasting, or something like that, that is an argument that we can win,” he concludes. “To hold the government hostage to continue this reckless spending is irresponsible.”
I cannot attend on Thursday, but I hope thousands do. Regrettably, the weather is projected to be cold and possibly wet, as well. Low turnout will really unnerve GOP.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSenator DeMint is getting close to using words that I think are suited to winning the PR war on spending. As much as I appreciate Larry Kudlow's "pro-growth agenda," "free-market focus," and "a strong dollar policy," because I agree completely, those aren't words that are going to appeal to independents. They are wonky, and worse, they come across as pandering to fat-cat greed. Believe me, I know that's not what he means at all, but we're talking to people who don't follow this stuff. BUT: regular people know their own household budgeting, and they know that it's absurd to shut down the government over public broadcasting. They know it's absurd to dither here and there pinching pennies. They understand on a personal level what "reckless spending" means. That's an argument that can be made to win.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSenator DeMint, I love you and support your PAC every year. Please go out and find more candidates who will actually act on their campaign promises without having to be forced to it by angry crowds rallying on their doorstep every month.
Mr. DeMint, you acted on your principles before there were Tea Party rallies. Why can't the rest of the people who campaigned with the same promises you did? Is it too much to ask that our leaders have the integrity to mean what they say and keep their word? Why are you and people like you so rare even in the Republican party?
Also Mr. DeMint, thank you for Mike Lee.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSenator DeMint, can we not persuade you to run for President? Surely you can see by now that you are needed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou know, us Tea Partiers went out and voted 4 months ago, and the GOP hasn't done a darn thing since. We are busy working and doing our jobs so that we don't lose them. It is time for the GOP to do their job. For crying out loud; we are expected to keep yelling and screaming month after month in order for the GOP to toughen up and do what they were elected to do? I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, GOP!!! GET TO WORK.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePretty sad statement that these politicians need to have constant prodding to do what is right. Are they not conservatives or just conservatives in name only? If it is in name only, they need to go.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat.Ever.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou bring up an important topic... winning the pr battle. For example, how many people realize that there isn't a dime in the soc sec trust fund? It's a small crowd that knows they got screwed. How do put it in terms that gets someone's attention?
I officially left the Republican Party when W invaded Iraq and I'm proud to say I have not rejoined it. I am a conservative, but not a "compassionate" big spending liberal Republican in the manner of the Bushes, Ford, Nixon, Dole and others. It's pathetic to watch senators such as Lugar and McCain brag about conservative values when they could care less about the fiscal crisis of our great, exceptional country. They are petrified that Hussein Obama and his mainstream media minion will criticize them and may even threaten their political class privileges. Many kudos to Senator DeMint for actually doing what he said he would. Think of it this way: with the government shutdown, at least they can't harm the taxpayers or do more damage to our country.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSenator DeMint and the Tea Party Conservatives, on behalf of Republicans who take their political inspiration from such great Republican Presidents as Lincoln, Grant, Roosevelt and Ike, a request.
Please leave. Go, do what ever you like, including starting your own party, but please leave the GOP. It's not yours. You act like you're the majority view in our Party, but you are not. So please, leave.
I would rather see the GOP loose elections than have it hijacked by people who represent a vanishing demographic.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJimD,
It is this mentality of appeasement that has brought us to this point. You say
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJim Demint or anyone who has his beliefs should leave the GOP because we do not espouse your beliefs. Let me remind you the Republican Party was started on principals of our founding fathers. If these are beliefs that you do not have perhaps it is you that should leave the party, might I recommend the No Labels Party. You know what they say about No Labels...
DeMint is smiling because he has no intention of being at that Tea Party rally. He is glad for the Tea Party to say what he won't because he only wants their $ and their votes.
Let's see some wealthy Americans and wealthy corporations pay their fair share of taxes before these politicians start cutting services to the poor, the senior citizens, public education, and healthcare.
When are the Republicans going to wake up and see that their leaders are just using them to line their pockets and preserve their selfish status quo?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseApparently we need to send several dozen wheelchairs to DC. Someone mysteriously went in and removed the spines of our vaunted team.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRicardo Q and others, time for a history lesson.
Let's travel back to the election of our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He and other Republicans were elected in-part on the following platform:
1. End slavery, which our Founding Fathers had not only permitted but allowed to grow.
2. Keep the nation together, even by the use of force.
As you can tell, not exactly "Conservative" principles.
During the Civil War, Lincoln and the Republican Party expanded the role, size and scope of the Federal Government. The weight given to states rights was diminished greatly.
Or was it. Now Conservatives like Perry and Demint want to resurrect "State's Rights". Certainly, we can all be thankful that "Conservatives" were not running the country in the 1950's - 1970's, because we'd still have Jim Crow laws and segregation, just to name a few of the "States Rights" issues fought during that time. What a fine legacy that would be for Conservatives...right?
So...I think we can say that the GOP was not founded on the principles of the Founding Fathers, unless one means those who supported abolishing slavery (Adams, Madison, Franklin, etc.) and a strong central government/bank (Madison, Adams, etc.).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDeMint is precisely what the country needs. Unfortunately, he, Marco Rubio, and Allen West are seem to be voices crying in the wilderness. Long live the Tea Party!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@JimD
Good points, though I do think you're being a bit too literal. The republican party of Lincoln's day is not really the same as the GOP.
When people say what the previous commenter said they usually are referring to some hazy notion they have of the Tea Party being really into the constitution, and focusing on a few narrow pieces of it. Once you bust out the 'like our Founding Fathers' language, I'm already yawning. Unless you REALLY have a strong grasp of the constitutional convention, all the players involved, all the federalist papers, etc., making any kind of attempt to broad-brush the principles of that group of people is folly. If anything there was more disagreement between the people involved with writing the constitution than with the two major parties in the country today.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuserelaxok, you're of course correct; the Republican Party of Lincoln, Grant, Roosevelt and Ike is not today's GOP. That is the sad part. Instead, the Party that once lead on issues that would today be considered "socialist" has gone to, as Eisenhower would say, "the roadside gutter, where the extremes of each party lay."
As you rightly point out, for every Founding Father who thought that small central government was the ideal, there was another who felt that America needed to move in the opposite direction. That grey area seems to be lost upon many Conservatives in their search for certainty that history is unable to yield up, to people like a former marketing consultant, Sen. DeMint.
In the meantime, it's time for Conservatives to realize that we RINO's are...we're just a drag on them. If Conservatives but break-away from the GOP, a vast mass of Conservative voting moles stand, waiting in the shadows for just the chance to vote for a Party supporting more tax cuts for billionaires, recision of science funding, cuts to education, dilapidated infrastructure, no unemployment coverage, and so on. And tho this silent, stealthy voting majority rarely...no, never shows up in the polls as more than 10% of voters, they are the majority. And they are just waiting. Trust me. Split-off from us "Big Gubment" RINO's and seize the politically Conservative destiny that awaits!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf the GOP wilts, then they will be replaced in less than 2 years by representatives with a backbone. Of course, it takes a few more years to replace senators.
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