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Jim DeMint Abandons the Sinking Tea Party Ship by Quitting the Senate
As the political winds continue to shift left even Jim DeMint can see the writing on the wall, which is why the outspoken and completely ineffective senator is bailing on the Senate for the safety of the Heritage Foundation.
DeMint’s decision to leave the Senate is a surprise only in terms of timing. Since he had already pledged not to run for a third term, Sen. DeMint was going to be out the door sooner rather than later.
In a statement, DeMint said,
My constituents know that being a Senator was never going to be my career. I came to Congress as a citizen legislator and I’ve always been determined to leave it as citizen legislator. South Carolina has a deep bench of conservative leaders and I know Governor Haley will select a great replacement.
One of the most rewarding things I’ve done in the Senate is work with the grassroots to help elect a new generation of leaders who have the courage to fight for the principles of freedom that make this country so great. I’m confident these senators will continue the legacy of conservative leaders before them.
For DeMint, the movement is all that matters. He doesn’t seem to care that the lack of good governance by many of the people that he helped champion into Congress got them booted out of office almost as quickly as they were elected. Jim DeMint and his fellow movement conservatives occupying seats in Congress are a huge part of the reason why our legislative process is so dysfunctional.
The increased Democratic presence in the Senate, along with Harry Reid’s new filibuster rules, would have left DeMint a neutered conservative Senate presence who was certain to be full of sound and fury while accomplishing nothing.
Sen. DeMint clashed with Democrats, Republicans, and everyone in between. He was a loud voice, but a completely ineffective senator. As soon as Barack Obama won reelection, and the Democrats strengthened their position in the Senate, the clock was ticking on DeMint. The country is moving left, and DeMint must realize that his tea party is dead and dying.
Heritage is a good outpost for his movement conservatism, but the move from a position of national power in the United States Senate to heading up a think tank symbolizes how quickly the Astroturfed tea party has come and gone.
Goodbye, Jim DeMint. The Senate will be a better place without you.
Image: Zaius Nation
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31 Responses to Jim DeMint Abandons the Sinking Tea Party Ship by Quitting the Senate
Jamie Sanderson
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 11:32 am
He’s not abandoning the tea party movement, he’s going to grow it bigger. He was never part of the Senate in the sense of doing the people’s work. He was building a platform for such a move. Now, he’ll work to destroy America from outside the chamber.
Jason Easley
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 11:35 am
With all due respect, Jamie,
He is abandoning the dying congressional tea party movement for sure, and he won’t grow anything at the already established and entrenched Heritage. He will have zero reach outside of the right at Heritage, so from a congressional point of view, a movement conservative is bailing on the tea party takeover of Congress. I think you are correct. He is going to transform Heritage into a very, very, very far right operation. DeMint did try to use his Senate position to elect a lot of tea party candidates, and even a tea party president. That move was a pretty big failure.
Jamie Sanderson
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Jason, Jim DeMint is an opportunist. And a capitalist. Not only will he cash a big paycheck, but he’ll work to undermine politics in many states. He is restricted in the Senate as far as what he wants to do with the tea party movement. With Freedomworks in somewhat disarray, he’s see the huge potential to cash in… and ruin America.
A Walkaway
Dec. 7th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Heritage is already about as far right as you can get, and I’m not sure he can push it any further.
Still, it’s good that he’s gone from the Senate, but anything that helps those right wing “Think Tanks” (we have to deal with their false “science” and propaganda all the time) is not good news. I’m not sure how good or bad this will be for the rest of us.
YellowDogYankee
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 11:49 am
Speculation already rife that Nicky Healy will appoint herself to serve out the term. The only plus is that, as a women, the Republicans will relegate her to a back bench.
djchefron
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Will not be a smart move on her part.First she has burned some bridges in the rethulican establishment.In other words they just dont like her.Second she would have to run for re-election in 2014 according to SC law.Third see number one.Now she may be daft but I think she sees what she would be up against with other tea party crazies figuring it would be alot easier running against her instead of miss lindsey who also would be up for re-election.In any case I got my popcorn ready.
itstimeforchange
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Now if Lindsay Graham would resign we would be on our way to a better state and country.
mjh
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
“I came to Congress as a citizen legislator and I’ve always been determined to leave it as citizen legislator.”
Unfortunately, you’re leaving it as an obstructor . . .
.
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
And a tea bag
LAC
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Or “… a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.”
That about sums up DeMint and that was written by a someone wayyyyy back when.
hedgewytch
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
The Heritage Center is already a far, far, right wing institution. DeMint’s abandoning his Senate seat is a big finger to the Tea Party he was supposedly so much in support of and the constituents that voted for him. This is yet another glaring example that the “leaders” of the Tea Party movement are nothing more than lobbyists for the Republican party.
Jamie Sanderson
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
I disagree. He sees dollar signs… and more opportunity to distract than help. Look at Grover Norquist, for example. DeMint wants to be one of them, not a U.S. senator doing the people’s work.
He now will have an unrestricted platform to throw down on in S.C. as well as across the country.
Do not overlook this move as an abandonment, friends. It’s reorganization. Plus, it’s being done to move around key players in the state of South Carolina.
Leah L Burton
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Jamie…you are on the right track. I was given some smart advice once by a seasoned lobbyist when I was asked to run for a statewide office. At the time I was a lobbyist on social justice issues and his advice to me was, “In there (the House Floor) you have one vote. Out here (in the halls as a lobbyist) you have 60 (referring to the number of lawmakers in the legislature in Alaska).
DeMint is well aware that his ability to influence just grew exponentially by resigning from the Senate and going to work for Heritage, aka Koch Bros et al. See sourcewatch.org/index.php...
They are determined to influence local and statewide offices for 2014, 2016 and beyond. This was a strategic move with a clear agenda. They are experts at re-branding…
SinghX
Dec. 7th, 2012 at 7:02 am
…”This was a strategic move with a clear agenda. They are experts at re-branding…”
Damn straight! We should really start calling DeMint the new “Count De’Money”. I’m very sure that he sees himself as a powerful charismatic leader who has been “over-looked” by the GOP. By bolting from his current responsibilities, he can re-brand himself in the image he sees himself…as you know, cult leaders are always real good at “re-branding” themselves, re-naming their groups and passing the “new” collection plate. He also sees that the shiv has been shoved in Grover’s/Army’s back(s) and he can grab power…he’s delusional and sees himself as “special”, like all aberrant charismatics.
Good luck, Count De’Money, we’re all “counting ” on ya!
montag
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Jim DeMint was was never a leader, he was all about spreading the poison of a failed ideology. At Heritage he will have the chance to explore the depths of the abyss of reactionary Conservatism and probably try to re-define ultramontane for the worse.
carol prudom
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
He will also be getting a very very big raise.
mjh
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
. . . which I suspect is the real reason he’s quitting.
{Along with “needing to spend time with family”}
.
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
When your only claim to fame is being a tea thug, you dont really get no respect
Debra Vermaas
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
ROTFLMAO!!!!! Looks like the Teaparty was HIS Waterloo!!!
Reynardine
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Yeah, well, at least somebody pulled the chain on the waterloo.
D. W. Skinner
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
The S.S. Teaparty Titanic goin down!
Bobloblaw
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
The Tea Party is a sign of conservative weakness and a sign conservatism is losing. The Tea Party is to conservatism what kamikaze was to Japan.
patty7025
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Thank you, Thank you DeMint for leaving the Senate! Every time I heard your voice my ears would start BLEEDING! Funny thing though my blood was orange….Gotta stop listening to BOEHNER!!!!
Paws
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
He’s moving on to a think tank that doesn’t actually THINK. He’ll fit right in then.
djchefron
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Hold the balloon drops,the confetti because even with the loon stepping down it will be worse.Read it and weep
5 Republicans Who Could Replace Jim DeMint In The Senate
thinkprogress.org/politic...
Reynardine
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
Bet it’s Wilson
majii
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Right djchefron,
Anyone who knows anything about the state of politics in S.C. would know that DeMented’s replacement will be as bad as, or worse, than him. They have to be. Whoever it is will have to run for the seat in 2014, and he/she will have to out-wingnut DeMented to stay in the Senate.
djchefron
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
“Demented” LMBAO will have to steal this,with your permission ofcourse.
mark2001
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
As soon as the Tea party gets their way and cuts Medicare and Medicaid….and half the tea party members (the percentage over 65) watch their free Viagra, Jazzies, Gym memberships, Retirement Home Medicaid dry up, they will scream like scalded lobsters and denounce the tax cuts.
BeeEss
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Stephen Colbert for Senate!
djchefron
Dec. 6th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Some of Dementeds “err”greatest hits.
1. DeMint says gay people and unmarried women having sex shouldn’t teach your children
According to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, DeMint said this at a South Carolina rally: “If someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn’t be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who’s sleeping with her boyfriend—she shouldn’t be in the classroom.”
2. DeMint says God doesn’t like big government
On a radio show in 2011, DeMint said: “I’ve said it often and I believe it – the bigger government gets, the smaller God gets. As people become more dependent on government, less dependent on God.”
3. Jim DeMint doesn’t want women talking about abortion on the Internet
In 2011, DeMint put an amendment into a totally non-related spending bill that attempted to ban discussion of abortion via satellite, video-conferencing, and the Internet (in other words, fully preventing women from speaking with their doctors remotely.)
4. DeMint says America turning into Iran after President Obama’s election (or maybe Germany?)
“Probably the most heart-wrenching experiences I’ve had over the last several days is when naturalized American citizens who have immigrated here from Germany, Iran and other countries, they come up to me and they say why are we doing what so many have fled from?” DeMint told a conservative radio host in 2009 “Why don’t Americans see what we’re doing?”
5. DeMint puts hold on National Women’s History Museum
In 2010, a proposed bill would have allowed a private group to buy property on Independence Avenue to build a women’s history museum (without costing taxpayers any money). DeMint was one of the bill’s chief opponents, and put a hold on it.
6. DeMint confuses Chicago teacher strike with violence in the Middle East
“On my way over, I was reading another story about a distant place where thugs had put 400,000 children out in the streets. And then I realized that was a…