Inside Jim DeMint's Alternative Universe of Political Discourse
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) gave a sharp response last night to a new Democratic National Committee attack ad against him, over his statement that Republicans can make health care into President Obama's "Waterloo," and that it would "break him." Demint said: "It's disappointing that President Obama has lowered the discourse of this important debate with false personal attacks," DeMint said in a statement." (Emphasis ours.)
So on that subject, let's look at DeMint's own contributions to the political discourse -- let's see what his idea of "raising" it has been over this past year.
• In January, DeMint said that the way to stop the stimulus was to "get people angry."
• "This bill is not a stimulus, ladies and gentlemen," he also said -- then ventured into some very interesting language. "It is a mugging. It is a fraud."
• In February, he denounced an unnamed author of a stimulus provision to prevent the use of funds for religious purposes, saying the person would "stand in the schoolhouse door, like the infamous George Wallace, to deny people of faith from entering any campus building renovated by this bill."
• In April, he accused President Obama of taking us into Orwellian 1984 territory. "When I read George Orwell's novel 1984, I would almost smile because I would think that could never happen," DeMint said. "But he [Obama] really is saying one thing and meaning the complete opposite. He is presenting a complete redefinition of words and ideas."
• In June, he said: "Freedom is dissolving. We don't even teach what it is anymore."
• He recently went after President Obama for opposing the coup in Honduras -- accusing Obama of siding with dictators throughout the world, against American values: "I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States' full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America."
• He further played rhetorical hardball with Democrats on the Honduras situation declaring that it was no more a coup than Al Franken's election to the Senate:
• He declared that America is "about where Germany was before World War II where they became a social democracy. You still had votes but the votes were just power grabs like you see in Iran, and other places in South America, like Chavez is running down in Venezuela."
And of course, we now have the Waterloo comment.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Hmmmm. I'm going to speculate that maybe Jimmie is catching some flak for those comments?
Or he's entirely clueless.
Or some combination of both.
And just because I still think it's hilarious, here's what a reader at Salon said of DeMint in 2007, after he blamed the Democrats for troop deaths:
July 23, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes macho talk is all they can do. But really what DeMint has proved is that the GOP is no longer a legitimate opposition party. It's really over.
July 23, 2009 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't this the guy who suggested $3 trillion or so in tax cuts as an alternative to the stimulus?
Yeah. We're best served by ignoring him, I think . . .
July 23, 2009 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
The longer as DeMint and his kind are the face of the GOP the better for the rest of us
July 23, 2009 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good comment. Dem's are trying to give him the publicity he deserves with that ad.
False personal attacks? WTF is he talking about?
July 23, 2009 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Projection. The GOP is all about projection. If you read DeMint's diatribes as a litany of the GOP's own sins, it makes perfect sense.
July 23, 2009 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, that's rich! Thanks! Ha-ha! :)
July 23, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has he said anything about Lindsay Graham's vote for the Wise Latina?
July 23, 2009 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
What we are seeing is that the racists can't hide anymore.
Obama has brought into the open all the hate that simmered along the surface of this country.
Why anyone would be shocked by it amazes me.
Did everyone think the only racist in this country was David Duke??
These politicians and media people must respond to their supporters and their audience who have become very noticeable and increasing verbal in their racist attacks against the first black man who is now the president of "their" country.
A country up till now that in their view belonged to white people who tolerated blacks, as long as they knew their place.
Their hate and how it moves them to actions should not be underestimated.
July 23, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are right on the money jadez. Everything was just fine until this black guy came around and messed up their little racist lives.
July 23, 2009 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
JadeZ--you are absolutely correct. The Republicans have been the party of the racists since the Nixon Southern Strategy. When Reagan gave his kickoff speech at Philadelphia, Mississippi, no one should have been surprised that that was the outreach of the Republican Party.
July 23, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
This guy is the new Rick Santorum.
July 23, 2009 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
we only just got shot of the old rick sanitation. do we really need a new one?
July 23, 2009 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now they wrap their racism in a flag and say President Obama is "shredding the Constitution". Even though no one seems to be able to actually articulate how.
July 23, 2009 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
The originalists probably figure that the framers never intended that black guys should hold high office; therefore, since no black man would have been elected president in 1787, it is unconstitutional for Obama to be president.
July 23, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is an old right-wing strategy -- be as belligerent and disrespectful as you want, because the media and your colleagues (and the Democrats) will never hold to accountable for it, but if anyone on the other side (or the media) says *anything* about you, no matter how mild, screech and scream like a rape victim and immediately declare that, unlike anything you might have said or done, what THEY did was "beyond the pale" and "lowering the discourse" and "out of bounds".
Examples: Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint
The media goes along with it, of course, because it's a wiser long-term strategy for profit (at the expense of journalism, of course, but that's a small price to pay for the odd defense contract or increased "access"...).
July 23, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
i agree with what you say, and have said it myself.
but i disagree about the motive.
its not about profit.
this was the point i was making.
you cant claim they appeal to racists intentionally but are not racists themselves.
buchanan is a racist.
hannity is a racist.
demint is a racist.
(the list is endless..imus...
failure to understand racism is obvious in politicians and the media is naive.
July 23, 2009 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't disagree with what you're saying here, but what's with the "like a rape victim"? That's really not helpful. I'm going to assume the best of you and decide that you're *not* trying to imply rape victims are like DeMint in that they declare what their rapists did was "beyond the pale" despite "anything they might have said or done." Because that's messed up.
This is supposed to be a progressive site, please live up to it.
July 23, 2009 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suspect that what he meant (at least, this is how I read it) was that rape is the ultimate violation, and that these guys are claiming extreme violation over the least criticism. In other words, that they were reacting to whatever was said as if they had been raped. I'm sure he meant no disrespect to actual victims of rape.
July 23, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obviously, hypersensitivity is not limited to those on the right.
July 24, 2009 7:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, that's no surprise to anyone who followed the Democratic primary last year.
July 25, 2009 2:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Scream like a rape victim?
Hello?
Could you maybe explain why you're equating ol' Creme de Minthe with rape victims?
July 23, 2009 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Scream like a rape victim?"
Are you implying rape victims are making it up? Have nothing to complain about? What the hell are you implying?
or was it poor word choice?
If so, please promise not to use that phrase again.
July 23, 2009 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe he means that Obama has caused him (DeMint) to lower the discourse; desperate times call for desperate measures, and nothing is more desperate than the GOP right now. So it's like "It's not MY fault! He MADE me do it simply by being president!!"
July 23, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah; just like a crime novel by Ruth Rendell that I just finished reading, in which the psychopath who is the central character keeps telling himself that the woman he murdered made him kill her, forced him to kill her, even. It's not his fault, not in the least. She made me do it. I had no choice.
July 23, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
It just goes to show Republicans believe they can do or say anything, break any law, engage in any immoral activity, make any false accusation, all without consequences.
If you call them on it you 'are lowering the discourse', 'hate America', are a 'socialist', 'surrender monkey', or (Les Ismore) 'shredding the Constitution' ....
July 23, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
(-GOP phrase also cited above by Les)
July 23, 2009 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't forget "trampling on their First Amendment rights."
The First Amendent means that they can say anything they want and you can't criticize it, doncha know?
July 23, 2009 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans have rights. You do not.
July 23, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I keep forgetting that part...
July 25, 2009 2:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
And it appears they were deliberately taught at C Street that they, like King David, are above the law.
July 25, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here is the time honored system for winning elections:
Go negative early and often, accuse your opponent of going negative, and deny that you are.
The problem now is the internet gets in the way, it used to be you could count on the 3 networks and CNN to give you whatever you asked for if you were a douchebag, now we all have our own sources and are able to discern truth from lie.
July 23, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems sort of based in C Street "The Family" type of religous righteuosness with a twist of classic pitiful GOP rhetoric. I'm sure there's some racism in there too.
July 23, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sometime in the early '70s, someone took a poll of U.S. Senate pages, and the headline result was that Sen. William Scott of Virginia was voted Least Bright. (He decided not to seek reelection to a second term.) DeMint reminds me of Scott, but because of the influence of evangelical Christians over the intervening years, the Least Bright category is a lot more competitive now.
July 23, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was a group tied to Ralph Nader, I believe. Scott went on to prove they were right by holding a press conference to deny it.
My father, an old-style Republican who never managed to bring himself to change his voting habits after the party went off the deep end, shook his head after that circus and said, "How did he ever get elected, anyway?" I looked at him. "Because you voted for him, that's how!"
(Truth to be told, Scott rode in on Nixon's coattails, and unfortunately ousted a very good man, William B. Spong.)
July 25, 2009 2:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just one of many shameless, ignorant, dishonest douche bags in their stable.
July 23, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are being too kind.
July 23, 2009 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Elected officials ought to be mindful that comments they make reflect their constituents. Those who elected him probably need to revisit their votes.
July 23, 2009 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yawn, another Republican clown. Does the Republican Party even have anybody left with class and integrity? Can't find one to save my life.
July 23, 2009 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is no doubt DeMint is feeding his constituents; so what does it say about his constituents?
July 23, 2009 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
To quote Bruce
"Just one of many shameless, ignorant, dishonest douche bags in their stable"
July 23, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
If only Fritz Hollings still held this seat instead of retiring in 2004. He was a great Senator who really cared about improving the country and people's lives. Fritz Hollings can't even begin to be compared to Jim DeMint, who, on the other hand, is irrational and only cares about his 15 minutes of fame.
July 23, 2009 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
The day's not complete until some Republican takes extreme umbrage at something that rings the bell of the narrower and narrower vortex that the base is becoming.
July 23, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
"There is no doubt DeMint is feeding his constituents; so what does it say about his constituents?"
I think Joe Klein described them best:
"Let me tell you what this is all about: The President of the United States is named Barack Hussein Obama. He is the first chief executive of this grand and good nation not to be melanin-deprived. There are a fair number of frightened, ignorant, idiot white folks still prowling the streets. They listen to right-wing talk radio. They show up at Republican town meetings. They can not believe that a man named Barack Hussein Obama could actually have been elected President. I must admit, I relish their discomfort. But I wish they'd go away."
Klein was speaking of the Birthers, but the line has blurred so much between them and the so-called "normal" righties there isn't a whole lot to distinguish one group from the other. They're all raving lunatics and racists.
July 23, 2009 9:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Poor DeMint and his Wingnutcakes.
Yes -the 2008 Presidential election was just like Nazi Germany in 1936.
The following Jim DeMint quote is from an unbroadcast portion of Meet The Press this past Sunday that could have happened. Below is the exclusive reprint of part of the transcript (as only I could recall it). We join the interview in progress:
David Gregory: "Senator DeMint, let's just take your word for it and assume the President was born in North Korea as you say. Still, what proof do you have that Mr. Obama wants to turn America into his home Country?"
Senator DeMint: "Well, to begin with Mr. Gregory, even if you believe he was born in Hawaii, and let's face it, Hawaii's not exactly a State, you still have to look at the election results."
David Gregory: "But Obama won the election, didn't he?"
Senator DeMint: "That's THEIR story, David - MY sources tell me the Republicans actually won the 2008 Presidential election with 69,456,897 votes to just 59,934,814 for the Obamunists. But those minimum wage-hugging Acorn foreigners pulled the old switcheroo on us so WE got Obama's total and HE got ours - simple as that.
David Gregory: "But Senat..."
Senator DeMint: And no way that boy got even 59 million votes, anyway. How could he? After all, he's a... you-know-what from you know where! And if you do some quick math, if he got just 40 Million votes, well that's more people than ever lived in all the Blue States combined going back to the beginning of time - some 6,000 years ago! And my sources also tell me at least 35 million of those votes came from the South Side of Chicago. Why isn't the Attorney General looking into THAT?
David Gregory: "I'm not really so sure of your numb..."
Senator DeMint: " And another thing, Dave. Why does Obama fly all over the place in Air Force One like he's the President if he's not and knows it?
David Gregory: Well he may dispute..."
Look D, Obama took off in AIR FORCE ONE to see that Socialist Sarkozy, and then he and his Baby Moma had the nerve to eat dinner in Paris - of all places. It just breaks my heart to know that boy is flyin' around in the same plane that Abraham Lincoln flew in - it's just not right. No sir! It's just not right!"
David Gregory: Well Senator, I'm afraid we're out of time, but we'll see if we can't help you frame this whole argument in a way that makes you look less like an ignorant pea-picker to the American public. And for fairness sake, I should also mention to our viewers that we did invite Kim Jung Il on today's show to refute Senator DeMint's comments, but he refused to return our calls.
Next week, our guest for a special one-hour long interview will be Delaware Obama Birther expert, 'Crazy Eileen.' Until then, I'm David Gregory, and if it's Sunday, it's no longer Meet the Press."
July 27, 2009 5:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Links to original article:
www.realclearpolitics.com/.../18/interview_with_senator_jim_demint_97954.html
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,540467,00.html
Oh wow. So much resounding support on the comments on this article. Odd that there aren't the populist cries of "Amen Jim!" and "You show em' Jimbo!" filling this amazingly huge and silent space. Allow me to posit a theory on why: Nobody cares about what Jim Demint says, except perhaps the illiterate and misinformed voters of South Carolina who put him in his place. For shame, South Carolina, for allowing this snake oil salesman to represent you. You do yourself no favors. Before you discount this comment as a rant from someone who isn't "Pro-America" or a "Real" American let me remind you we are brothers: On December 20th, 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union and in an odd way, it was the most patriotic and truly "American" act any state ever committed. Even though misguided (when looked at through the lens of history), South Carolina stood up for its rights and took that step off of the cliff alone and unprotected, ready to die to defend itself and its residents from what it considered tyranny. Less than a month later, in perhaps your darkest hour, when no one else would come to your aid and facing certain defeat and destruction did we, the people of Mississippi join your cause, give of ourselves and lay down our lives and the lives of our children to defend our similar ways of life. As someone who can trace his family back to both sides of the civil war I feel I can counsel you on this as our states share similar problems still to this day: those of poverty, equality, and education. Even as the rest of the Southeast's uninsured population has dropped, South Carolina's is on the rise (http://www.ipspr.sc.edu/scip/pubhealth/afford.asp), and yet you still elect an official like Demint, who would laugh as all your residents were dying in a fire because he is assured of adequate campaign contributions anyway, seeing the 14+ million Jim and his colleagues have taken from the healthcare/health-insurance industry over the years. Wake up brothers and sound the alarm! The fox is in the henhouse! I can do no more but to make a passionate plea for South Carolinians to elect someone who is going to look out for their best interests and not those of his fatcat, health insurance industry campaign donors.
Eye-popping bullsh1t spouted by Jimbo just in this article:
"People will lose their private health insurance."
-^^^^^^^^^^^horsesh1t^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"There will be higher taxes. We will cut Medicare."
-^^^^^^^^^^fear mongering^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"People don't want a government-run plan."
-This is just patently not true. When polled over 70% of _AMERICANS_ want universal healthcare. France has it. England and Denmark have it. Why is America playing 2nd fiddle? Are we not as good as France? Are England's citizens more deserving? No. They aren't. 14,000 people lost thier health insurance today. The absolute NUMBER 1 REASON AMERICANS FILE BANKRUPTCY is ****MEDICAL BILLS****!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We pay more for health care, and get less, than any other industrialized first-world country. We rank 37th in the world in healthcare. 37th! Where are the chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A!"??? Where are the d4mn voices of the patriots now?
"Well, it works now to a large degree."
-This just bought Jim Demint's campaign an undisclosed amount of tv ad buytime from the healthcare industry. Each word in that sentence will probably equate to several hundred thousand dollars worth of campaign donations.
"they want government control of health care. And if they'll back off of that, we can fix the problems with health insurance and health care within a few weeks, and we can do it in a bipartisan way."
-My grandmother used to say, "Scratch a liar, find a thief" and it's so true. From the first second this all got under way, the Dems knew that the public option and single payer weren't even ON THE TABLE. They backed off of that IMMEDIATELY, and you know why? Because they knew there was no way the Repubs would vote for it. Ok, Dems said, no pub-option and no single-payer, and you know what that did? Not a D@MN thing! Even if the Dems could make a healthcare reform bill that didn't increase the deficit, didn't have single payer/public option and insured every SINGLE american completely it WOULD NOT GET A SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTE! Stop the Lies!
I don't know why the Dems are trying anymore to appease Repubs, because their whole agenda is to prevent healthcare reform. They think if they can derail this, then it will be just like it was in '93-94 when they defeated Clinton on healthcare and then won majorities in congress. Let's all scream "Death Panels!" together over and over loud as we can!
South Carolina, realize corporations don't care about you, Jim Demint doesn't care about you, but your brothers and sisters in the South who fought alongside you and share your background and your way of life do. Hear our plea.
-Matt from Mississippi
August 20, 2009 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink