Jim DeMint's Right-Wing Jihad

CBS ^ | 1/18/10 | Michelle Cottle

[pissant]

For all of Washington's political polarization, the U.S. Senate remains a clubby place. Sure, lawmakers talk smack about the unparalleled malevolence of the opposition, but there is, in general, a high degree of respect for the institution, its members, and its time-honored Way of Doing Things.

While the House is known for its ideological cowboys, demagogues, and revolutionaries, the Senate is where bright lines and rough edges tend to get smoothed out in the name of statesmanship and legislative compromise.

Clearly, no one told this to Jim DeMint.

During his first term, South Carolina's junior senator has made quite the name for himself. Armed with a courtly demeanor, a blandly pleasant visage, and a butter-melting drawl, he has set about flaying Democrats with a fervor that causes even some of his Republican colleagues to cringe. (His July call for the GOP to make health care Obama's "Waterloo" prompted multiple Republican lawmakers to distance themselves or flatly criticize him.)

But more notable than DeMint's savaging of the opposition has been his savaging of his own people. Perched on the far-right edge of his conference--he was the only senator to speak at the September 12 tea party on Capitol Hill--DeMint has spent recent years conducting something of a party purity crusade.

[kaki]

My South Carolina has one Senator to be very proud of! We just must get rid of the RHINO Sen. Graham. DeMint is one of a handful that we might should consider making sure we keep in office.

[PGalt]

Michelle Cottle is the perfect propagandist for SeeBS.

Not only is Jim DeMint an anti-jihadist infidel, he is a Senator any rational thinking American would be proud to have representing them.

With Air America crashing and burning, SeeBS’s Propagandist Cottle steps up to take down their mothership.

[bt_dooftlook]

If you’re taking flak, you’re over the target...

[browardchad]

Realizing he "was never going to be part of the club," recalls Connolly, the senator had to make a choice. "He looks at himself and looks at the party and asks, `What can I do? Am I just here to be the right flank and try to influence a few little amendments here and there, or am I really going to try and change'" the conference? Thus was cemented DeMint’s role: perpetual burr in the butt of his party’s leadership.

Cottle doesn't mention DeMint's role in helping to kill immigration reform, or his battle to give the rightful government of Guatemala recognition. He seems indefatiguable, but when he sleeps, I'll bet it's with a clear conscience.

[Lizavetta]

Armed with a courtly demeanor, a blandly pleasant visage,

Nothing bland here.