Free Republic

As the United States Senate began debating Sen. Marco Rubio’s, R-Fla., immigration reform bill today, The Heritage Foundation launched an unprecedented online advertising campaign against the legislation. “The bill is an amnesty proposal dressed up in feel-good ‘pathway to citizenship’ rhetoric,” Heritage marketing vice president Genevieve Wood said. The Heritage Foundation’s $100,000 campaign is designed to “cut through the spin and show the proposal for what it really is—a rehashed version of the 1986 reforms that proved to be an abysmal failure,” she continued. One Heritage image features a picture of Rubio and his recent promise to Univision: “First comes...

Former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint argued on Sunday that implementing immigration reform as proposed by the “Gang of Eight” would “cost Americans trillions of dollars.” “The study you’ll see from Heritage this week presents a staggering cost of another amnesty in our country and the detrimental effects long term that that will have,” Mr. DeMint, president of the Heritage Foundation, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

With just four months under his belt in Washington, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has made clear he isn’t easing into his new job. What’s more, he increasingly appears to have his eye on the next rung up the ladder. Just about everyone in the nation’s capital already has a fully formed opinion of the first-term Republican, who is viewed as either a breath of fresh air for challenging the status quo or a grandstanding iconoclast who favors bombast over legislative achievement. For his part, Cruz seems relatively unconcerned about making friends among his Senate colleagues or deferring to the pleasantries...

Both the process and the content of the current immigration bill violate America’s core principles and legacy of immigration, according to Heritage President Jim DeMint. “This whole process is not really American, to take a few people and go behind closed doors and then come out and suddenly have it on the floor of the Senate for debate,” said DeMint on “The Mike Huckabee Show” earlier this week. (Listen here) “Instead of incomprehensible, comprehensive bills that are thousands of pages, we need to take a step-by-step approach so people know what we’re doing, and with immigration, the obvious priority is...

Nearly four years ago, in June 2009, then senator Jim DeMint endorsed Marco Rubio, an unknown, 38-year-old attorney, in Florida’s Republican Senate primary. It was huge news. Then GOP governor Charlie Crist was expected to waltz to the nomination, since he had the backing of most of the Republican establishment. DeMint’s endorsement led to a flurry of conservative interest in Rubio, who eventually landed on the cover of National Review and, of course, in the Senate. These days, however, that relationship is fraying, at least politically. DeMint is now president of the Heritage Foundation and he’s battling Rubio’s push for...

Grover Norquist, champion of Islamism infiltration, is working to advance the cause of tax reform by backing an illegal alien amnesty that will impose a whopping economic burden on the country… leading to higher taxes. The contradiction is obvious. If you’re going to legalize 12 million undocumented Democrats plus all their family members then you are tremendously boosting the welfare state on the receiving end and the voting end. The only way that the pro-amnesty side can win the amnesty debate is by not having it. And that means going after any sources of facts and taking them down. The...

Sen. Rubio defends emerging immigration deal as ‘not amnesty’ By Cameron Joseph - 04/14/13 09:38 AM ET Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) blitzed all five Sunday shows in his most public pitch yet for the emerging immigration reform bill, arguing that it would control the border, and rejecting conservative criticisms that it provided “amnesty” for illegal immigrants in the country. "This is not amnesty. Amnesty is the forgiveness of something. Amnesty is anything that says 'do it illegally, it'll be cheaper and easier,'" Rubio, a member of the bipartisan ‘Gang of Eight’ senators set to unveil their immigration bill on Tuesday,...

Former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint continues sending shock waves through the Washington establishment in his new post atop the conservative Heritage Foundation, this time calling on the grassroots citizenry to rise up and replace the mainstream media when it comes to their blackout of coverage of the atrocities of Kermit Gosnell. “The murder trial of Kermit Gosnell has touched all Americans who have heard about it and brought home to them the unspeakable cruelties that have happened at abortion clinics in our own nation,” DeMint said in a Friday statement. “The trial is now nearing its first solid month...

Ted Cruz (R., Texas) has been a United States senator for only 34 days, but already he is making his mark on national politics. His conspicuous presence and aggressive tone have thrilled his conservative cheerleaders, while inducing fits of rage in liberal detractors and Joe Scarborough. In the past week alone, Cruz has tangled with veteran Democratic spin-master Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Meet the Press, sent a tongue-in-cheek letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, introduced legislation to fully repeal Obamacare, and recorded “no” votes on major items, including Hurricane Sandy relief, raising the debt ceiling, filibuster reform, and...

Columbia, S.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), who is leaving the Senate in early January to lead the Heritage Foundation, made the following statement regarding the announcement by Governor Nikki Haley (R-South Carolina) that Rep. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) would serve as his replacement. ___________________________ “Governor Haley has made a great choice for South Carolina and the nation,” said Senator DeMint. “Tim Scott is a principled leader and will make an outstanding senator for the people of the South Carolina and an important voice for conservatives across the nation. I’ve known Tim for years and am confident...

Welcome, my friends, to the least surprising political news of the week. Nikki Haley will appoint Rep. Tim Scott to replace Senator Jim DeMint in the US Senate, making Scott the upper chamber's only African-American member, and give him a boost in the 2014 special election for the rest of DeMint's term: Multiple media sources are reporting that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will indeed name Rep. Tim Scott to be the next senator from South Carolina.Scott will serve for two years, and then presumably run in a special election in 2014. If reelected, he would serve an additional two...

Exclusive: Joseph Farah declares GOP leader 'a total failure as speaker of the House' It’s not possible for Republicans to dump Barack Obama in the next four years. They have blown their opportunity to do that. But the next best thing they can do right now is to dump John Boehner as speaker of the House. Though Boehner has been portrayed in the media as some kind of hardliner who is intransigent and unwilling to compromise, the truth is that he is the opposite. He is an appeaser. He is an enabler. He is an accommodationist. Boehner began waving the...

The Tatler has learned that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is almost certain to appoint former South Carolina Republican Party Chair and former S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster to fill the unexpired term of retiring Senator Jim DeMint. McMaster was a prominent supporter of Haley in a contentious GOP primary. Haley has reportedly already informed key South Carolina politicians of her decision. Yesterday I blogged that Haley should appoint Congressman Joe Wilson to this post, or in the alternative, Tea Party favorite Rep. Tim Scott. A Republican in Washington in 2012 must have experience with the organized Left that now...

Rep. Tim Scott already brought a remarkable personal story to his first term in the House: a conservative black Republican, raised poor in the corner of South Carolina where the Civil War started. But if the buzz in Washington and South Carolina is right, Scott might soon be the first African-American senator from the South since Reconstruction if Gov. Nikki Haley decides to appoint him to the seat vacated by Sen. Jim DeMint, who abruptly resigned Thursday to take a job running The Heritage Foundation. It seems to be a logical fit: DeMint and Scott are close, personally and ideologically,...

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint’s surprise announcement that he will leave the U.S. Senate in January to take over leadership of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank has ignited speculation among grass-roots conservatives that DeMint may use the new post as a launching pad for a presidential bid in 2016. “Jim DeMint will have a bigger microphone than before,” conservative direct-marketing pioneer Richard Viguerie tells Newsmax. “If he wants to, this opens up a lot more opportunities for him. I think there’s a decent chance that he’ll be a serious presidential candidate in four years.” Viguerie called the move to...

Tim Scott, a U.S. Representative from South Carolina, is quickly becoming the favorite to replace South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, who announced his resignation from Congress Thursday morning. CNN's Peter Hamby first reported that DeMint — who leaves to head up the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank — wants Scott to be his replacement. It's a choice that makes sense to conservatives as South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley prepares to make an appointment. Whomever Haley appoints will hold the seat until a special election is held in 2014 to pick a permanent replacement to fill DeMint's seat. There...

South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million. Sen. DeMint's departure means that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, will name a successor, who will have to run in a special election in 2014. In that year, both Mr. DeMint's replacement and Sen. Lindsey Graham will be running for reelection in South Carolina.

A Republican senator underscored division within his party ranks on Tuesday by opposing a plan by the top Republican to increase tax revenues as part of a possible deal to avert the “fiscal cliff.” Senator Jim DeMint, a favorite of the anti-tax Tea Party movement, said the proposal by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner for $800 billion in increased tax revenues would “destroy jobs and allow Washington politicians” to swell, not reduce, the deficit. …

The "fiscal cliff" drama presents opportunities for leadership, which is something the Republican Party naturally seeks, following a difficult election loss. Among those bidding for the leadership of the conservative resistance is Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), who issued a tough statement about House Speaker John Boehner's instantly rejected compromise proposal: Speaker Boehner's $800 billion tax hike will destroy American jobs and allow politicians in Washington to spend even more, while not reducing our $16 trillion debt by a single penny. This isn't rocket science. Everyone knows that when you take money out of the economy, it destroys jobs, and...

“We’ve lost the battle in Washington” for now, says Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. The new goals, he says, are for conservatives to prove their principles work in states and to defend against President Obama’s effort “to steamroll what’s left of the Republican Party here in Washington.” As a guest on “Istook Live!,” DeMint agreed that Obama aims to crush his opposition now so they cannot resist his agenda over the next four years. Said the senator, “They smell blood in the water and they’ll keep pushing … they’re not coming our way or coming to the middle to try and...

Republicans continue to reach out to embattled Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, this time with a much needed fundraiser, despite Democrats promising re-election attacks on supporters. Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, S.C., and Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, Okla., will be honorary hosts of a Washington fundraiser next week for Akin. The event suggests donations from $2,500 to $100 a person and is scheduled for Wednesday, as reported first by Politico. Democrats and Republicans called for Akin to quit the race after he made controversial remarks last month about rape. Akin apologized but has continued his campaign to unseat...

President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak Friday via satellite to a convention sponsored by AARP. His speech will likely extol the virtues of “Obamacare,” and engage in scare tactics about conservative proposals to make Medicare sustainable. But here are five facts you’re unlikely to hear from the president, or AARP, about how each treats seniors: First, while AARP poses as a disinterested senior advocate, it functions as an insurance conglomerate, with a liberal lobbying arm on the side. AARP depends on profits, royalties and commissions to make up more than 50 percent of its annual revenues. Membership dues from...

Republican defends against liberals intent on imposing backdoor globalism In the past few weeks, two proposed United Nations treaties failed to advance. The small-arms treaty failed at the U.N. while opponents of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) amassed enough votes to block it in the U.S. Senate.Now, Sen. Jim DeMint,R-S.C., says another U.N. treaty that threatens American sovereignty has been put back on the table by foreign diplomats and their internationalist allies in the federal government. It’s called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Disabled, which calls for government agents to supersede the authority of parents...

Comptroller Susan Combs on Thursday added her name to the long list of Texas elected officials who are backing Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in his bid for the U.S. Senate. Dewhurst has been “relentless and focused on conservative principles,” said Combs, who credited the lieutenant governor for putting Texas in a strong economic position. “Fighting for principle is not always easy and it is not always visible,” Combs said at an Austin news conference. “I will tell you that actions speak a lot louder than words.” The low-key news conference at Run-Tex on Riverside Drive stands in stark contrast to...

If Republicans want to win big in November, we must do more than show voters how we plan to govern in 2013. We must also demonstrate how we're working right now to stop the last-minute spending spree the Democrats have planned for December. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wants to force a postelection lame-duck session of Congress, in which defeated politicians will no longer be accountable to voters. In that context, he will have more leverage to raise taxes and increase spending against the threat of yet another government shutdown, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more borrowing, debts...

Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC) said on WMAL (Washington DC) that he believes that the GOP should wait until after the new Congress (and he hopes, a President Romney) to act on the Bush tax cuts. He said he did not want to deal with Dems and "weak republicans" to get a bad deal. He said we need to hold the House, and win the Senate and the White House to get the tax cuts permament. Elections have consenquences. Too bad he is retiring in 2016. A true American treasure.

UPDATED 7/16/12: 4 additional senators have joined in opposition to LOST, including Mike Johanns (R-NE), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA). With 34 senators against the misguided treaty, LOST will not be ratified by the Senate this year. Strong opposition is rising in the U.S. Senate to the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) that would subjugate American sovereignty to the whims of an international tribunal. To date, 30 Republican senators have signed onto a letter opposing LOST. It takes 67 votes to approve treaties in the Senate, so only 34 votes are needed to...

A few weeks ago, Politico lavishly praised bipartisanship in Washington saying “Don’t look now, but the Senate’s actually working.” The story could have been subtitled “Taxpayers, grab your wallets,” because bipartisanship in Washington usually leads to bigger government. Today, we are learning about the latest example of bipartisan insanity as we hurry toward the fiscal cliff. As most Americans are rightly focused on the impending Obamacare court decision, Democrat and Republican leaders are quietly planning to combine a new highway bailout with a student loan bailout. All of this is to be paid for by raising new taxes and raiding...

More than 30 Republican senators — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — will host a fundraiser in Washington on Monday for Josh Mandel, Ohio's state treasurer and the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Ohio's other senator, Republican Rob Portman, will headline the reception, which is being held at the headquarters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) is also expected to attend, as are Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Jim DeMint (S.C.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Mike Lee (Utah). Tickets to attend start at $500 and go up to...

It is no secret that The Fed is mulling over further monetary stimulus. Whether it is quantitative easing (QE3) or curve twisting (Twist3) remains to be seen. Senators Jim Demint (R-SC) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have proposed legislation, S.3240, that caps the balances of reserves of depository institutions. AYO12664 “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no action may be taken by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the Federal Open Market Committee on or after the date of enactment of this Act that would result in the total of the factors affecting reserve balances of depository...

Over the last few days, since Romney clinched the GOP nomination for President by going over the 1,144 committed delegates needed with his win in the Texas Primary on Tuesday, May 29, 2012, a number of new endorsements have come in for Romney's bid for the Presidency. These include George Shultz, former Secretary of State; Condoliza Rice, former Secretrary of State and National Security Advisor; Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and presidential candidate; and Nancy Reagan, wife of President Ronald Reagan. Here's what each of them had to say on the date they endorsed Romney: NANCY REAGAN endorses Mitt...

Gov. Rick Perry is once again slamming “out-of-state interest groups” backing former solicitor general Ted Cruz in his runoff with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst –this time tweaking Sarah Palin, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Rick Santorum by suggesting their states could learn a lot from Texas, but Texas doesn’t need their advice on choosing its next U.S. senator. Perry, standing staunchly behind Dewhurst, brushed off the question about whether his own tea party credibility may be damaged by his opposition to Cruz, who has been endorsed by national conservative and tea party groups and figures (including Palin, DeMint and Santorum)...

There's a story on the national journal about how tensions are rising again between the party's establishment and Demint. Does this mean that the GOP-E is planning on doing what it did in 2010 - that is, not support every candidate we the people nominated? Let's examine this logically: Deb Fischer is up in the polls by 18 points, yet the republicans have still found some reason to go out and whine. Why? There's only one answer. They're sick of us conservatives thinking that this is a conservative party, and they don't like it. They want the good old by...

Toomey to replace DeMint as head of GOP Steering Committee By Colby Itkowitz Call Washington Bureau April 26, 2012 Washington— Pat Toomey's U.S. Senate GOP colleagues have tapped him to take over as head of the Senate Republican Steering Committe, a group that shapes conservative policy making on Capitol Hill. Toomey will replace South Carolina Tea Party favorite Jim DeMint. In handing over the job, DeMint in a statement said, “Sen. Pat Toomey is a proven and trusted conservative, and I'm very glad he's taking on this new role. I've fought hard over the last few years to help elect...

Yesterday on Laura IngrahamÂ’s radio show, she asked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell about a recent Roll Call article that framed me as one of the loud leaders of conservatives opposed to Mitch McConnell. The Senator from Kentucky responded that he had never heard of me and I did not have an audience. That sounds a bit like the child, when asked if he ate the cookie, replying that he had not and besides it did not taste good. If heÂ’d never heard of me, how can he comment on my audience? If he states plainly I have no audience,...

Big business and the Tea Party are at swords' points once again, with GOP Senate primaries for the second straight election becoming proxy battles in the war over the soul of the Republican Party. Conservative insurgents pose serious threats this year to establishment Republicans in at least three open-seat Senate races. In every case, political action committees and lobbyists have hugely favored the establishment pick with contributions. One reason: The GOP establishment rallies industry donors behind the Republican seen as stronger in November. A deeper reason: The revolving-door clique of K Street and Capitol Hill operatives needs Republicans elected to...

Jim DeMint came to Rock Hill today to answer questions and lay it on the line.

‘Flexibility’ . . . to Do What? By Jim DeMint March 29, 2012 12:54 P.M. As you may have heard, earlier this week President Obama was caught on an open mike asking outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and by extension, President-elect Vladimir Putin, for “space” on “on all these issues, but particularly missile defense” because “after my election I have more flexibility.” The scandal isn’t really the embarrassing gaffe itself — or the equally embarrassing subsequent endorsement of his reelection by Pravda — but the true substance behind it. After all, the character of the president’s words was nothing new....

 For Senator Jim DeMint, the prospect of Mitt Romney securing the GOP nomination sooner rather than later is a good thing.  In remarks made on Thursday that were reported by CNN, the reliably conservative South Carolinian and Tea Party favorite suggested that closing out the Republican presidential contest means "we [Republicans] can focus on the real problem which is Obama."At this point in the nominating fight, the delegate math is strongly working against Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.  It would take more than Hail Mary passes for either man to win the Republican nomination; it would take near miracles.After a...

Washington (CNN) - Sen. Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican and tea party favorite, said Thursday he was 'excited' about the possibility of Mitt Romney becoming the GOP presidential nominee. While not an outright endorsement, it is the closest the Republican kingmaker has come to making his preference known in the race for the White House. "I can tell conservatives from my perspective is that, I'm not only comfortable with Romney, I'm excited about the possibility of him possibly being our nominee," DeMint said. "Again, this is not a formal endorsement and I do not intend to do that right...

<p>The Justice Department on Thursday issued a 60-day stay of execution for hundreds of thousands of public pools which had been required to install ramps and wheelchair lifts by today or else face lawsuits over violating disability laws.</p>

Americans must ensure Republicans don’t settle for partial repealEvery election, voters are told that this election is the most important of our lifetimes. In most elections, it’s not really true. In 2012, though, it probably is true, for one reason: Obamacare. Two years after a Democratic Congress and President Obama foisted onto the American people an unpopular trillion-dollar takeover of American health care, we know that Obamacare is, in fact, even more unpopular than before and that it will cost almost $2 trillion. The American people were told Obamacare would reduce health care costs, but premiums already are jumping. The...

Share5 Print Forward Brian H. Darling Conservatives stalk Congress by Brian H. Darling 03/12/2012 12 Comments In 1983, Ed Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation, published Conservatives Stalk the House, detailing the history of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) from its founding in the early ’70s. It’s a story of a small band of conservative House members who believed they could better advance conservatism by establishing a new committee composed of conservative members. Today, the RSC is lead by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). The Senate also has a similar group of conservatives who fight the big-government ideas of both parties:...

(Article linked above) This statement by DeMint should without question be a game changer in this election and should be reported as such by any organization that at least makes pretense to be journalistic in nature. Jim DeMint is the most significant conservative in all of the Senate & House combined. Nobody in all the House or Senate has contributed more to the unseating of appeasing Republicans than Jim DeMint. The significance of him stating this fact is extraordinary as he endorsed Romney in 2008. The media have been very diligent to make certain we know when Romney receives an...

Opinion versus Fact: Why Opposing Beliefs Leave No Room for Compromise Between Republicans and Democrats In Senator Jim DeMint’s new book, Now or Never, he boldly states, “The differences between the Democratic and Republican Parties are irreconcilable: there can be no compromise between collectivism and freedom.” How refreshing that someone in the U.S. Senate has the courage to speak the truth. I totally concur with Senator DeMint’s position. The vast majority of Democrats are not interested in truth. They are not interested in logic. They are not interested in helping others. And they certainly are not interested in upholding and...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) kept the speculation about a possible brokered GOP convention alive this week when he was asked whether Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels could still become a last-minute presidential candidate. DeMint spoke highly of Daniels when asked at a meeting of the Aiken Republican Club in Aiken, S.C., on Tuesday night. “He’s the only one who could make it happen,” DeMint said, according to a report published by the Augusta Chronicle, a local paper. “But I don’t think his wife will let it happen.” In a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was chosen as...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday he has "an uphill climb" to win South Carolina's presidential primary but is ready to defend himself from the "underbelly" of politics in a state known for bare-knuckled tactics. [Snip] "I hope no one associated with any of my effort, whether it's my own campaign or anyone else that's supporting me, I hope none of them do anything that departs from the truth," he said.

Dear Senator DeMint: By the numbers, we are yet very early in the presidential primaries. 1144 delegates are needed to sew up the nomination, and depending how you count these things, Mitt Romney has maybe 13 delegates after finishing Iowa in a de facto tie with Rick Santorum and thumping Ron Paul in New Hampshire last night. But presidential primary races are often about perception: like wars, you more often win them by convincing the other side that further resistance is futile than by total, to-the-last-man annihilation. And so the coming South Carolina primary is widely recognized as the last...

Dear Friends,We have some really exciting news!Tonight, Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer will interview Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, US Senator Jim DeMint, Congressman Steve King and many other exciting guests. Amy Kremer is filling in for Roger Hedgecock tonight on his nationally syndicated radio talk show.  We here at Tea Party Express are excited that Amy was given such a great opportunity.Tea Party Express Chairman Amy KremerThrough your generous support, we here at Tea Party Express have been able to stand up to the unions and leftist forces that are trying to punish Gov. Walker for his conservative governance. ...