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WASHINGTON - An outspoken critic of the Obama administration's handling of the crisis in Honduras dropped his opposition to two State Department nominees late Thursday, saying the administration has reversed course. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said on the Senate floor that he'd spoken with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told him that the administration would recognize the election Nov. 29 in Honduras "regardless of whether former President Manuel Zelaya is returned to office." "I am happy to report the Obama administration has finally reversed its misguided Honduran policy and will fully recognize the Nov. 29 elections," DeMint said, noting...

Over the past few months, I have been testing the waters with numerous articles advocating Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination to be our Presidential candidate in under three years. The response from readers of this blog, and folks who ran upon the articles that I had written, has been amazing. I have received at least three emails asking me what can I do? How can we start a draft Senator DeMint for President 2012 organization? Will this lead into a Nation-wide third party movement? Not to mention numerous comments in support of...

Carly Fiorina (R) on Thursday announced the endorsements of eight Republican senators for her just-launched California Senate campaign. After primary opponent Chuck DeVore annonced the backing of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) this week, Fiorina fought back with Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), John McCain (Ariz.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine).

We are proud to endorse Chuck DeVore for U.S. Senate in California. Chuck DeVore is a proven, tested conservative who is gaining momentum. He’s the kind of leader we can count on to stand up for common sense conservative principles in the United States Senate. The Senate Conservatives Fund recently conducted an online poll of our members to see which candidate in California they supported. With 2,688 total votes cast, Chuck DeVore was the clear winner with 90% of the vote. We’ve examined DeVore’s record and interviewed him in person. We are confident that Chuck DeVore is ready to come...

The morning after Republicans lost an upstate New York House seat, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned that conservative activists will bring destruction to the Republican Party if they drive out moderate candidates across the country. “To those people who are pursuing purity, you’ll become a club not a party,” Graham told POLITICO in the Capitol Wednesday. “Those people who are trying to embrace conservatism in a thoughtful way that fits the region and the state and the district are going to do well. Conservativism is an asset. Blind ideology is not.” Graham, who has sparred with his party’s right wing...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) endorsed conservative California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R) Tuesday, once again going against the wishes of his party. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has made no endorsement in the California Senate race, but party leaders favor former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina (R), a wealthy centrist whom many believe could give Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) a strong challenge. Later this month, Fiorina will be the guest of honor at a Washington fundraiser featuring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and three others,...

"You know the thing I think that makes us different from other people around the world, is I think Americans still have a strong streak of independence. And an even stronger streak of independence from government. And attempts to control things by government, tend to nettle Americans, and to draw resistance. And the liberals and democrats continue to think that the desire for security, and for comfort, and for assurance – all the things that you’re supposed to get from a socialistic system, that those factors are going to outweigh those streaks of independence and self reliance. And I think...

The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees—Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif) and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass), respectively—are demanding the librarians at the Law Library of Congress to suppress a report on the Honduran crisis. The problem with the report is that it concludes that the removal of former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was carried out in accordance with that country’s constitution. “This report directly contradicts the President’s position on this crisis,” Berman pointed out. “It creates an air of confusion regarding US policy on this matter. On matters of foreign policy, this nation must speak with one voice...

WASHINGTON -- The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees are asking the Law Library of Congress to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that they charge is flawed and “has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks” the country. The request, by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., has sparked cries of censorship from Republicans who say the Democrats don't like what the August report said: that the government of Honduras had the authority to remove President Manuel Zelaya from office. Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian embassy...

Vote in Our Poll: Would You Support Jim Demint for President if Nominated by the GOP in 2012?

Three Republican lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed Doug Hoffman's third-party campaign for the special House election in New York -- a slap in the face to the party's leadership and the current top brass at the National Republican Congressional Committee. Endorsing Hoffman in the 23rd District contest were Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of California and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who also served as NRCC chairman from 2006 to 2008. The party's preferred candidate is GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava. Hoffman's name will appear on the upstate ballots as the Conservative Party nominee. The nods from the three...

Senior congressional Democrats want a report on the ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to be retracted. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) made the demand in a letter dated Tuesday to James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. They asked the Law Library of Congress to withdraw and correct the August 2009 report titled “Honduras: Constitutional Issues.” “The report, which has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks Honduras, contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis that has been refuted by experts from the United States, the Organization of American States, and...

It's the Democrats who won't tolerate a diversity of views. BY JIM DEMINT Sen. Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic Party this week is no reason for Republicans to cheer. But his reason for leaving -- he faced an unwinnable primary election next year -- is no cause for soul searching. There is a question Republicans do need to ask: What is it that binds our party together? In the wake of two successive electoral defeats and the likelihood of a 60-vote Democrat majority in the Senate, what does it even mean to be a Republican today? Moderate Republicans are...

WASHINGTON -- The national debate among Republicans over their party's future is nowhere sharper than in South Carolina, where Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint pursue distinctly different visions for restoring GOP primacy at the polls. Graham and DeMint, who profess to be friends and live within an hour's drive of each other in the conservative Upstate, prescribe conflicting cures for the Republican ailments that led to sweeping defeats in the last two national elections. Graham, a Seneca Republican elected to his second term last year, says the party must stop alienating young people and Hispanics and start promoting pragmatic,...

A "hate crimes" plan that opponents have warned will be used to crack down on Christian speech, even the reading of the Bible, is poised to be signed by President Obama, a longtime proponent of the plan to give homosexuals and those with other alternative lifestyles special protections not provided other classes of citizens. The Senate approved the "hate crimes" plan 68-29 today after Democrats strategically attached it to a "must-pass" $680 billion defense appropriations plan. Most Republicans, although normally strong supporters of the U.S. military, opposed the plan. "The inclusion of the controversial language of the hate crimes legislation,...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will appear as the special guest at a fundraiser next week to benefit South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's 2010 re-election, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by the Fix. The event, which will be held on Monday in Charleston at the home of Sheila and Bill Prezzano, features a number of power players in Palmetto State politics including money men Dick Coen, Bill Hewitt and O.L. Thompson as well as former Gov. Jim Edwards, former Rep. Tommy Hartnett and Republican National Committeewoman Cindy Costa. Hosts for the event are expected to donate...

Two Republican county chairmen in South Carolina wrote an op-ed in support of one of our greatest Senators, Senator Jim DeMint. In their op-ed, they innocently used the argument of the frugality purportedly displayed by some Jews as a role model for sound economic policy. Their choice of words was open to misinterpretation, but their well meaning and intentions were not. Democrats pounced on one line in the op-ed and even a great Jewish conservative organization, afraid of what this would do to Republican recruitment, wrongly chastised the writers. To be fair, the organization stated that the intentions behind the...

VANITY TO MY BLOG...The children in the White House declare war on Fox news. Paying homage to a great wrestler, an update on the new Czar of Pickles, the quip of the week, gays and game shows, slutty Halloween costumes, a great video, a new prize for Obama, and a serious lament about the situation in Honduras. All in this weeks THOUGHTS.

n Honduras the Obama administration seeks the restoration to power of a lawfully deposed Chavista thug. Among other things, in pursuit of this objective, the administration has cut off aid and yanked visas from Honduran officials who supported the thug Manuel Zelaya's removal. These officials (reportedly include) the fifteen justices of the Honduran Supreme Court and Jose Alfredo Saavedra, president of the Honduran Congress. According to (Mary Anastasia O'Grady:) "The lesson, presumably, is that judges in small foreign nations are required to accept America's interpretation of their own laws." O'Grady rightly observed: "The upshot is that the U.S. is trying...

COLUMBIA, S.C. U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint launched a bid for a second term Monday with no GOP primary opponent, $2.8 million in hand and a growing national profile. But he'll likely need the cash since his profile has grown as he famously said Republicans can make the national health care overhaul debate a Waterloo for President Barack Obama.

1. Tegicugalpa From the Air 2. DeMint Meets With Honduran Supreme Court President 3. DeMint Meets With All 14 Honduran Supreme Court Justices 4. DeMint Talks With Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister 5. DeMint Meets Honduran Foreign Minister 6. DeMint Meets With President Micheletti 7. Congressional Delegation With President Micheletti 8. Congressional Delegation Talks With U.S. Ambassador Llorens 9. Congressional Delegation Photo Op With U.S. Ambassador Llorens

After visiting Tegucigalpa last week and meeting with a cross section of leaders from Honduras's government, business community, and civil society, I can report there is no chaos there. There is, however, chaos to spare in the Obama administration's policy toward our poor and loyal allies in Honduras. In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya's ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.

Soon after Former President Zelaya was deposed for trying to go around the countries constitution, the "Nobel Peace Prize winner" took a position against democracy, contra to the Honduras Constitution and on the wrong side of history. “America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies,” the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow’s New Economic School. “We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we...

Jim DeMint is one of my favorite Republicans. The senator's unwavering opposition to government spending — from "stimulus" and national healthcare to auditing the Federal Reserve — just warms my conservative heart. That is until he breaks it again, as he always does, by going back to supporting the biggest government program of them all. On the day before DeMint appeared on Fox News in support of the tens of thousands of anti-government protesters who gathered on 9/12 in Washington, D.C., he gave the following comments on the Senate floor: "Today marks the eighth anniversary of America's war on terror...

If you watch C-Span for a while, you’re sure to hear a politician or pundit criticizing some idea by comparing it to “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” It’s a vivid illustration of the short-sightedness and futility of so much of what Washington does superficially to improve failed programs. In Washington today, however, we are witnessing an unprecedented extension of the Titanic analogy: Both parties and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are focused on rearranging our deck chairs while there is still time to steer around the iceberg, if only someone would grab the wheel...

More like ‘DeMint *schools* Kerry over Honduras.’ Posted by Moe Lane Saturday, October 3rd at 4:47PM EDT (Via Jen Rubin) Let’s review (I almost did this using an extended metaphor of a fencing match, but I didn’t want actual fencers wincing): Sen. John Kerry is the Democratic point man in Foreign Relations for this administration’s messed-up Honduras policy.  He is, in fact, the Foreign Relations chair… which tells you how seriously the Democrats take this committee (i.e., they don’t).Sen. Jim DeMint is the Republican determined to wreck Sen. Kerry’s day - both on this administration’s messed-up Honduras policy, and on...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Honduras' coup-installed president told a U.S. congressional delegation Friday that full civil liberties would be restored within days, a spokesman for one of the lawmakers said following a meeting that challenged Washington's attempts to isolate the interim government. Interim President Roberto Micheletti said an emergency decree limiting civil liberties, including freedom of the press and assembly, would be lifted no later than Monday, said Wesley Denton, a spokesman for South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint. The Republican lawmakers received the assurances in a private meeting with Micheletti earlier at the presidential palace, said Denton, who spoke to the...

While some Republicans saw the move as a disturbing use of power by Kerry, who became chairman of the influential committee earlier this year, several Democratic aides described the move as an attempt to rein in one of the Senate’s most obstructive members. DeMint has irked many in Congress over the years, including members of his own party, for blocking legislation, including a massive 2006 omnibus spending bill that he felt had too many earmarks. In recent months, DeMint, whom some have likened to the late conservative icon Jesse Helms, has been a particular thorn in the side of Democrats....

Congress: Banana republic politics aren't just confined to Honduras these days. On Thursday, Sen. John Kerry tried to halt Sen. Jim DeMint's trip there in a tit-for-tat slap. And he thinks it's Hondurans who need dialogue? Kerry's unprecedented bid to keep South Carolina's Republican senator out of Honduras shows how much spite there is in the party line of Democrats. The senior senator from Massachusetts leads the Foreign Relations Committee and seems to agree with the current nonsense that Honduras' legal ouster of its rogue president was a "coup" that deserves "punishment." DeMint disagrees, as do many others. He sought...

A spokesman for a U.S. Senator says the interim president of Honduras vowed that civil liberties would be restored in the troubled Central American country no later than Monday. Wesley Denton tells The Associated Press that South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint received the assurance in a meeting in Honduras with interim President Roberto Micheletti. DeMint led a congressional delegation that met with Micheletti on Friday. Denton says the delegation raised concerns with Micheletti's special decree limiting civil liberties including the right to assemble. He said the interim president said the freedoms would be restored by or on Monday. THIS IS...

U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam was in Honduras Friday to meet with the torn nation's interim president as part of a Republican fact-finding mission that flew in the face of current U.S. foreign policy. Roskam, as part of a contingent headed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, met with interim President Roberto Micheletti. But President Barack Obama's administration is seeking to isolate Micheletti and other architects of the military coup that ousted the nation's president for allegedly trying to defy term limits. The U.S. and European Union, among many nations around the world, have condemned the ouster of Honduras President Manuel...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Four U.S. Republican lawmakers met with Honduras' interim president on Friday in a challenge to Washington's condemnation of the coup that brought him to power. The brief, amicable visit with the leaders of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya highlights a divide in Washington, where the Obama administration is working to reinstate Zelaya but many conservatives side with the government installed after soldiers arrested the president in his pajamas and flew him into exile. South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, the leader of the delegation, said before the trip that even calling Zelaya's overthrow a coup is...

Collection of anti-semitic and Hitler-praising quotes from the ousted Zelaya regime: "In an interview with The Miami Herald, Zelaya says that he sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and "Israeli mercenaries'' are torturing him with high-frequency radiation." "We are being threatened with death,'' adding that mercenaries were likely to storm the Brazilian embassy. Zelaya said that he was being subjected to toxic gases and radiation that alter his physical and mental state." "Yes. They have installed devices that interfere with the telephone lines. We have denounced this and it is possible that they...

Senate foreign relations committee Chairman John Kerry and the State Department have canceled Sen. Jim DeMint's plans to meet interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti on Friday. The trip, which DeMint was going to make with three members of the House, would have flouted a White House ban against direct contact with the leaders of the June military coup. While the White House seeks to pressure the interim government through isolation, DeMint and other conservatives have defended the coup, which the Honduran miltary claims was necessary to prevent then-President Manuel Zelaya from rewriting the country's constitution. DeMint, R-S.C., and his fellow...

A simmering feud over U.S. policy toward Latin America burst into the open Thursday when Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) tried to prevent a fact-finding trip to Honduras by a Republican senator who is blocking two important diplomatic appointments. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) denounced Kerry's move on the Senate floor and sought the intervention of the minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The Republican leader appealed to the Defense Department to provide an aircraft for DeMint's trip and the Pentagon agreed to do so, according to the South Carolina senator's office.

While the Department of Defense apparently is still attempting to block Senator Jim DeMint's fact finding trip to Honduras, he told Mark Levin this evening that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell interceded to lift the stop placed by John Kerry. ... Update: "They're telling me if I will just let a couple of their nominations go through without debate or a vote, then they will let me go on the trip," said Senator DeMint. Sounds like John Kerry learned a lot from then Senator Al Gore, who on the Senate floor asked for the highest bidder for his vote, one way...

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has blocked Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) trip to Honduras slated to begin Friday, according to DeMint's office. DeMint’s office informed The Hill of Kerry’s decision Thursday afternoon. On Thursday morning, the freshman Republican announced that he would lead a congressional delegation to Honduras on Friday ahead of the country’s Nov. 29 elections. The U.S. State Department, which acknowledges ousted President Manuel Zelaya as the legitimate ruler of the Central American nation, has said it will not recognize the contests because of ongoing political turmoil. “No U.S. Senator has...

During a recent visit to The King’s College in New York, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., didn’t apologize for the firestorm he created in the national debate on healthcare. In fact, he came close to apologizing for the “gentle nudging” that had been his style in the past. His comment—“If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will become his Waterloo”—has become a battle cry for conservatives opposed to the president’s plan. And DeMint’s words match his growing fear that America “is on the edge of a cliff.” That’s why, DeMint said, he has resorted to high profile, inflammatory comments—even...

Dear Fellow Conservative: If it concerns you that America is sliding toward socialism, I hope you will join me in supporting a group I am leading to elect true conservatives to the U.S. Senate who will stand up and fight to save freedom. Saving Freedom Fighting for freedom is the reason I ran for the Senate and it's also why I wrote a new book called Saving Freedom that I would like to send you. I'll tell you more about that in a minute... But first, I need you to CLICK HERE at https://secure.giveworks.net/www/senateconservatives.com/index.php?c=WF6WI if you agree that we need...

Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt. (snip) The Senate rejected the amendment by a largely party-line 61-36 margin, with Feinstein opposing the restoration of water deliveries to farmers. The California senator claimed she was blindsided by the amendment to the bill she was managing in the Senate, bizarrely comparing the move to a "Pearl Harbor." "No one from California has called, written or indicated they wanted this on the calendar," Feinstein protested.

Delta smelts: Preferred over humans. Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt.There was a time when the San Joaquin Valley was the most productive agricultural region in the world. It was a large part of what made the Golden State golden.Now it's a place where farmers no longer farm, but instead line up at food banks to feed the families of those who once fed the rest of the country and a good chunk of the...

The Obama administration and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) are squaring off in a foreign policy dispute that has stymied the nominations of two senior diplomatic officials. Foreign policy experts see the standoff as a proxy fight between conservative Republicans and the Obama administration on how to deal with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s socialist president. DeMint has blocked the nominations of Thomas Shannon, President Barack Obama’s pick to serve as ambassador to Brazil, and Arturo Valenzuela, the choice for the post of assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. Richard Verma, the State Department’s assistant secretary of legislative affairs, approached DeMint...

Here is a poll question as to whom Freepers prefer to be the POTUS. The list is fairly extensive, but even at that there will be those who's choice is not listed. It does however have the usual suspects and category for other. Interesting thing about this poll is John McCain is not on the list. Doe anyone really think he will even attempt top run? Whom do Freepers Prefer For president

DeMint to Force Vote to End Taxpayer Subsidies for Murtha ‘Air-Pork’Airport received $200 million in tax dollars, averages only 20 passengers and 3 flights dailySeptember 16, 2009 - Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), chairman of the Senate Steering Committee and Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee, announced he will offer an amendment to end taxpayer subsidies for the John Murtha Airport, a little used 650-acre facility in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that has received at least $200 million in taxpayer funding. U.S. Congressman John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania), who the airport was named after, has personally directed $150 million...

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking before a massive crowd of cheering protestors attending the “Taxpayer March on Washington” at the West front of the U.S. Capitol today, Sen. Jim DeMint (R.-S.C.) issued a challenge to President Barack Obama and Congress.“I think you all know that the president has warned us that if we disagree with him, he is going to call us out,” said DeMint. “Okay, Mr. President, we are out. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Waterloo.” DeMint was alluding to a remark he made in July during a conference call with people involved in the “tea party” protests that were then...

By Mike Soraghan - 09/12/09 03:57 PM ET Rep. Joe Wilson's home-state senator says he doesn't expect the South Carolina congressman to apologize on the House floor, as House Democrats are demanding. "I don't think he's going to do any more apologizing," Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said in an interview at the Taxpayer March on Washington. "They just don't want to talk about the bill." DeMint said he has talked to Wilson, and he defended the conservative Congressman for shouting "You lie!" at President Obama during his address to a joint session of Congress this week. "I'm glad he apologized...

DeMint Calls Out Obama and Congress: ‘Americans Are Awake, They’re Informed, And They’re Outraged’ Saturday, September 12, 2009 By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief (CNSNews.com) - Speaking before a massive crowd of cheering protestors attending the “Taxpayer March on Washington” at the West front of the U.S. Capitol today, Sen. Jim DeMint (R.-S.C.) issued a challenge to President Barack Obama and Congress. “I think you all know that the president has warned us that if we disagree with him, he is going to call us out,” said DeMint. “Okay, Mr. President, we are out. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Waterloo.” DeMint...

Here is video of South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint talking with Fox News' Brian Wilson today from the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where the 9/12 "Taxpayers March on Washington was taking place. Wilson characterized the crowd as being "tens of thousands," but when DeMint began speaking, he immediately corrected Wilson by saying there were "hundreds of thousands" of people in attendance. DeMint said the huge crowd present were "average Americans" who had come to Washington to tell their Government they "want their country back." He said they are "tired of being lectured to," and they "want to be listened to."...

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint urged Aiken County Republicans to step up to the plate and fight for this country's freedom Friday. "The debate now is between socialism and those who believe in freedom," DeMint said to the crowd gathered at the Aiken Municipal Building. "This is a unique country we need to fight for. We don't need to send people to fight and be killed and maimed if we don't fight here." DeMint, R-S.C., was the featured speaker at the Aiken County Republican Party's Bronze Elephant Reception, capping off his statewide South Carolina on the Move Tour. Several Aiken City...

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who predicted that President Obama’s effort to overhaul the health care system would become his “Waterloo,” is doing his best to make that happen. Taking questions from a friendly crowd of 500 people here the other day, Mr. DeMint reinforced their worst fears about health care in particular and the government in general. When one man said the major House bill on health care would give the government electronic access to bank accounts, Mr. DeMint told him that the bill was never about health care. “This is about more government...