Free Republic

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. ...

Last week, Senators Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and DeMint (R-S.C.) offered legislation which seeks to curb some of the more costly burdens placed on companies through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Their bill, the Startup Expansion and Investment Act, targets Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley—a burdensome rule which has greatly increased regulatory compliance costs for many businesses. Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) introduced a companion bill in the House earlier this year (H.R. 2941). While implemented with the intention of securitizing and standardizing accounting measures of publicly traded companies, Section 404 has only led to increased costs for these entities, thus discouraging many small...

If the United States wants to help Europe find a way out of its current debt crisis, we must be a strong, world economic leader, not merely the lender of last resort. American taxpayers sent $40 billion to Greece last year, through the International Monetary Fund, to stave off an economic collapse. But the bailout did not prevent Greece's day of fiscal reckoning. It only delayed it. Austerity measures are still needed throughout Europe's socialized economy and the debt contagion has not been stopped. Financial chaos has spread from Greece to Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain, and it now threatens...

A group of Republican senators has proposed a plan to reform welfare — not so much because they expect it to succeed, but to make an important point: that the deficit supercommittee can meet its $1.2 trillion goal without raising taxes. “I think there’s kind of an acceptance that as long as there’s Democratic control of the Senate, we’re not going to pass anything good,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), one of the bill’s cosponsors. “Our point here is to show that there is a lot of money that we could save and deal with our deficit in a...

And so it’s all coming down to Jim DeMint. Well, that’s a bit strong. Here’s the state of the GOP nomination contest, as we sit just weeks from the first event contested by the voters. Only two candidates remain who are conventionally credentialed and within the broad mainstream of the party: Mitt Romney, who half or more of voters and party actors don’t trust, and Rick Perry, who hasn’t had a thing go right since he declared his candidacy.

(CNN) - Republican Sen. Jim DeMint said Sunday he wants a jobs plan in writing from President Barack Obama, not just another speech. "I am so tired of his speeches, it's going to be hard for me to watch," DeMint said on CNN's "State of the Union." A written proposal from the president would enable Congress to decipher the cost and the American people and businesses to weigh the plan, said the South Carolina Republican who is a favorite of tea party conservatives. "Without sending something in writing, the president makes all of these grand gestures, and then it doesn't...

Congratulations to all the tea party-backed candidates who overcame a determined, partisan opposition to win their elections. The next campaign begins today. Because you must now overcome determined party insiders if this nation is going to be spared from fiscal disaster. Many of the people who will be welcoming the new class of Senate conservatives to Washington never wanted you here in the first place. The establishment is much more likely to try to buy off your votes than to buy into your limited-government philosophy. Consider what former GOP senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott told the Washington Post earlier this year: "As...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says he's not going to target incumbent Republican senators who back the debt deal. "I respect how any of those folks vote, I obviously disagree. This is not a good deal for America," DeMint told POLITICO Monday evening. "I respect how any of my colleagues vote on this."

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) criticized the Tea Party wing of the GOP on Tuesday for failing to get behind Republican leadership on a deficit plan. "Our people have to understand that we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," Barbour said. Barbour said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had shown "courage" in the deficit debate by agreeing to compromise in order to raise the debt ceiling. "In politics, purity is a dead dog loser," he said. "We cannot go out with the idea that we're going to be pure, or we're going to do nothing." Speaking...

Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, and Steve King live on WHO radio now. The Simon Conway show runs 4-7PM Central Time. Click on the "Listen Live" link at the top left corner of the page. Call 515-284-1040 or 800-469-4295 or email Simon at simon@whoradio.com

Right now, Senate caucus leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are putting their heads together to flesh out the specifics of the Plan Z proposal McConnell floated at the beginning of the week. Reid’s involvement has actually improved the idea, National Review’s Rich Lowry concedes, but that doesn’t give conservative firebrand Senator Jim DeMint any warm fuzzies. On Twitter a few minutes ago, DeMint announced that he would block the McConnell plan if presented to the Senate with “every tool� at his disposal: JimDeMint: I’ll use every tool in Senate to stop passage of “Plan B� blank check debt limit...

[Note: This is a companion to an earlier thread about Jim DeMint's new book] Sen. Jim DeMint, a conservative kingmaker who spent millions of dollars helping tea party favorites get elected to Congress, faced contempt from other Republican senators as he tried to curb appropriators' powers and limit senior members' clout. In his new book, "The Great American Awakening," DeMint describes himself as an upstart freshman lawmaker on a lonely mission among "sorry rascals" infuriated by his bucking of venerable Senate practices in his bid to cut federal spending and limit colleagues' ability to fund local projects. In one of...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - As the Republican campaign to replace President Barack Obama heats up in early voting states like South Carolina, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint is releasing a book discussing the roots of the tea party crusade and his hopes for the movement in 2012. "I believe that the 2012 elections may be our last chance to stop this insanity of spending and borrowing and debt," DeMint told The Associated Press recently. "I'm trying to recruit more Americans with this book."

Gov. Rick Perry today released the following statement regarding sanctuary city legislation: "As the special session appears to be winding down, I am disappointed the Legislature did not address sanctuary cities. Working with legislative leaders last weekend, we worked to include sanctuary city legislation in Senate Bill 1. Unfortunately, SB1 Conference Committee [Republican] Chairman Robert Duncan ultimately refused to allow language related to the ban of sanctuary cities into the final version of Senate Bill 1. Because of this action, the special session will not provide our peace officers with the discretion they need to adequately keep Texans safe from...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Tuesday closed the door to a run for president, saying he's not considering getting into the race. Some conservative activists have urged DeMint to jump into the race due to their dissatisfaction with the current crop of candidates. But the conservative kingmaker said that he is starting to become impressed with the field, and even named one candidate who stood out to him. "I'm not considering it, but [Rep.] Michele Bachmann [R-Minn.] does impress," he said on conservative commentator Laura Ingraham's radio show. DeMint had made waves earlier this month when he told The Hill...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says he is considering running for president after frustrated conservative activists have pleaded with him to run. DeMint told The Hill that he has discussed a White House bid with his wife and will pray on the question out of respect for his supporters across the country. The Tea Party favorite, who had indicated he was not going to run in 2012, would significantly shake up the race if he were to jump in. Many on the right have expressed major reservations about the GOP candidates in the race, claiming they have not energized the base...

With the Obama legislative agenda stalled, the left has turned its attention toward using the Executive power to accomplish their socialist goals. The key to this strategy is to the pack agencies, boards, and commissions such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with leftists like Craig Becker and Elizabeth Warren who will advance the collectivist agenda, regardless of whether there is any legal authority to do so. The Senate has blocked several of the more radical nominees, but under the Constitution, President Obama has the power to appoint them during a Congressional recess. Republican...

Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., sat down for an interview with Coffee and Markets, a podcast hosted by Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech. When asked about the National Labor Relations Board's attempt to keep Boeing from building a factory in his state, DeMint had some exceptionally harsh words for the NLRB: DeMint: I mean, they’ll lose the first couple of appeals because they go back to the board that the President has stocked with union thugs basically, and – Cianfrocca: “Union thugs”, may we quote you? That’s a great word. continue reading at: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/sen-jim-demint-president-has-stocked-nlrb-union-thugs_571584.html

(CNSNews.com) - Two Republican senators on Friday introduced a bill to stop taxpayer subsidies to public radio and television. Since 2001, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has received nearly $4 billion in taxpayer money for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said with the nation on the brink of bankruptcy, some decisions to cut spending are difficult -- but not this one: "Americans struggling to make ends meet shouldn’t be forced to fund public broadcasting when there are already thousands of choices for educational and entertainment programming on...

The Senate rejected a Republican measure Wednesday to expand offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. coastal waters, signaling a continued partisan stalemate over energy policy and, more specifically, how to respond to rising gas prices. The bill was defeated in a 42-57 vote. Sixty votes were required for passage. Five Republicans -- Alabama's Richard Shelby, Louisiana's David Vitter, Maine's Olympia Snowe, South Carolina's Jim DeMint, and Utah's Mike Lee -- voted against the bill.

Senator Jim DeMint urged conservatives in Iowa yesterday to “get it right this time” with a Republican presidential nominee. Before choosing a favorite, however, voters should first “identify the right principles,” or so he said. “I hope Iowa will not only be the first state to pick the right candidate… but also the first state to redirect our country to the principles that we want our candidate to carry,” he said. “Those principles that will restore the greatness, the freedom, the opportunity. … We must choose the right principles before we can choose the right candidate.” DeMint is right, of...

Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., unveiled today his five-year path to a balanced budget, leaving several federal agencies behind. Among the items on the cutting room floor are the Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development. “There’s a lot of things in here that everybody could agree to, Republicans and Democrats, but nobody’s leading on the president’s side and on our side we felt we needed to put this forward to get the debate started, at the very least,” the freshman Senator explained at a Capitol Hill press conference this afternoon. The proposal also calls for the repeal...

South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint dipped his toe into the debate taking place concerning the 2012 Republican presidential election, offering his thoughts on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. “One of the reasons I endorsed Romney [in 2008] is his attempts to make private health insurance available at affordable prices,” said Sen. Jim DeMint. Mr. Romney, who has received criticism from Republican leaders in recent weeks, seemed to find a supportive voice from the Republican U.S. Senator. Blaming Massachusetts Democrats, Mr. DeMint seemed to present Mr. Romney with a political strategy to address concerns over his support of the Massachusetts...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) "would never consider" endorsing Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president again in 2012 unless Romney repudiates the health reforms he sought as governor, a source close to DeMint said Thursday. A source close to the conservative icon emphasized that, despite comments to The Hill indicating that Romney shouldn't shoulder all the political blame for the Massachusetts healthcare plan, DeMint wouldn't endorse Romney again unless he admits the plan was mistaken. "It's obvious Jim was just trying to be nice to the guy he backed over McCain, as many conservatives did in 2008," the source said. "But...

In wake of conservative James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas sting videos of National Public Radio (NPR) senior executives, House Republicans are set to vote Thursday to defund NPR completely. They’re expected to pass a bill that would pull all taxpayer money out of NPR, including the money that’s funneled through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The bill’s sponsor, Congressman Doug Lamborn, Michigan Republican, told The Daily Caller he thinks NPR will survive in a free market situation. But, even if it wouldn’t, he questions the need to fuel it with taxpayer money. “Certainly, it would survive,” Lamborn said. “They have...

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King announced an expanded list of speakers for a conservative conference he'll hold next month in Des Moines to underscore the nascent GOP nomination fight that will unfold in his state over the next year. South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint will keynote the Conservative Principles Conference on March 26, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is scheduled to participate as well. Now King has added Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Ambassador John Bolton and Herman Cain, all of whom are exploring the 2012 race for the White House. The roster skews heavily to the most conservative...

Sen. Jim DeMint released the following statement: Today, U.S. Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) introduced the Tax Relief Certainty Act, a bill that would permanently extend the current individual income tax rates, which will expire on January 1, 2013, and permanently repeal the death tax. “Uncertainty is the enemy of prosperity,” said Congressman Pence. “By enacting a two-year extension on current tax rates, Congress merely extended the uncertainty that has stifled our economic growth. To encourage growth and job creation, Congress should act now to make all previous tax rates permanent and passing the...

The race for the 2012 Republican nomination for President is becoming more concrete. GOP candidates made their pitches to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington on Feb. 10-12 and a straw poll of attendees was taken. The Washington Post reports Rep. Ron Paul of Texas won the poll, with about 30 percent of the 3,742 ballots cast. The poll doesn't say much as not one candidate received more votes than the other. Some of the biggest news from the weekend came from former vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin and she didn't even attend the conference. Palin hired...

DeMint Surveys the Field, Praises Jeb February 7, 2011 8:15 P.M. By Robert Costa Sen. Jim DeMint, the conservative star from South Carolina, is keeping a close eye on the emerging 2012 presidential field. New names, he observes, keep popping up. One of those, of course, is former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Rich, Kathryn, and John have all written about Bush’s appeal in recent days. DeMint, in an interview with National Review Online, calls Bush “one of the best” possible presidential contenders. “Maybe the person we are looking for has not stepped out yet; it could be a Rick Perry...

RT @guypbenson: DeMint calls #hcr repeal effort a "waiver for all Americans."

Jim DeMint is well-positioned to win the presidential primary in his home state of South Carolina — but Mike Huckabee is poised to capitalize if DeMint stays out of the race. With DeMint in the race, the conservative senator captures 24 percent of the vote, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey, with Huckabee trailing at 20 percent. But with DeMint out of the picture, Huckabee leads with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Mitt Romney at 20 percent.

My Christmas list this year: (3) New iPad with two, count ‘em, two cameras; (2) field-level tickets to the Pro Bowl, natch; (1) Palin/DeMint primary showdown. Winner gets the nomination, loser gets the keynote address at RINOcon. Let’s do this. But the ground may be shifting in DeMint-world, and several of his closest advisers and political confidantes are now telling CNN that he is at least open to a presidential bid if a suitably conservative candidate fails to emerge from the early and wide-open GOP field… “He hasn’t completely shut the door on running, and if there is a massive...

News that South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint will travel to Iowa on March 26 to address a conservative forum organized by Rep. Steve King is sparking another round of chatter that DeMint might launch a dark horse bid for the White House in 2012. The Republican gadfly has been adamant in denying such intentions for more than a year – just Wednesday, he gave CNN's Wolf Blitzer a flat "No" when asked if he plans to seek his party's presidential nomination. But the ground may be shifting in DeMint-world, and several of his closest advisers and political confidantes are now...

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., announced Friday he was skipping this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, siding with critics who feel the annual gathering of conservative activists has become too friendly with pro-gay and libertarian groups. "With leading conservative organizations not participating this year, Senator DeMint will not be attending. He hopes to attend a unified CPAC next year," DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton wrote in an e-mail to Ben Smith of Politico. The move comes after several high-profile conservative groups, including the Media Research Center, the Family Research Council and the Heritage Foundation decided not to participate in this year's event.

House and Senate conservatives are pushing legislation to cut $2.5 trillion from the federal budget over 10 years. The chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) are planning companion bills to make steep cuts to the budget. The No. 2 House Republican, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), said he would support an up-or-down vote in the House on the proposal. "As promised, we will have an open process when it comes to spending bills," he said in a statement. "I look forward to these cuts and others being brought to the...

I’m glad the Senate came to its senses and killed the omnibus spending monstrosity. That outrageous trillion-dollar pork buffet was an outright slap in the face to the American public’s expressed wishes in the last election. It was as if Congress was earning its historically low 13 percent approval rating before our very eyes. I applaud senators like Jim DeMint, John McCain, and others who fought this and stopped it. However, the very fact that some lawmakers on Capitol Hill thought such reckless spending was even remotely acceptable is disturbing. We’re facing trillion-dollar deficits and a record national debt, but some...

Mere moments after citing Matthew 7's instruction to "judge not, that ye be not judged," Joe Scarborough declared that Jon Kyl and Jim DeMint were "un-Christlike." Scarborough's strange self-contradiction came in the course of his diatribe against the two Republican senators for having criticized Harry Reid for threatening to keep the Senate in session through Christmas. View video after the jump.

An unidentified GOP source told Fox News Tuesday that "All hell is breaking loose" in the Senate over a 1,924-page spending bill that includes 20,000 earmark requests. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) will likely demand the omnibus bill be read in its entirety on the Senate floor prior to a vote. Fox News reported the bill - described as "a total mess" - is intended to cover the rest of the current fiscal year. If passed, the bill would become law without any debate in the Senate. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee,...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) urged his GOP Senate colleagues Friday to reject a deal on the extension of Bush-era tax cuts and wait until the incoming crop of GOP senators are sworn in to move forward. In an e-mail to supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund, DeMint said waiting until the January arrival of many of the Senate Republicans, whom he helped elect this past cycle, would mean the GOP could "fight for a better deal." "I appreciate the efforts made by my party's leaders to negotiate this deal but I believe Americans deserve much better. This deal should be...

The chairman of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm and Tea Party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint are pledging to work more closely together in the 2012 election cycle. DeMint and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) say they want to avoid the tensions of 2010, when DeMint backed anti-establishment candidates who ended up defeating Cornyn-backed candidates in several Senate races. (snip) Cornyn, who was re-elected to a second term as NRSC chairman, has said he will stay away from trying to anoint winners in Senate Republican primaries, while DeMint has promised to consult more with Cornyn.

The White House apparently follows Sarah Palin's writings and opinions on Twitter. Wednesday at a White House briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded to a question about reaction to the Bush-era tax cut deal. He was asked if it seems off to them that Democrats are mad, but Republicans aren't and if that signals an imbalance to them that it wasn't exactly a compromise. "Well, I don't know if you guys get Sarah Palin's tweet, but it does not appear she likes this deal. I don't know where [Senator] Jim DeMint is at the current moment but it does not...

Money will not win the 2012 Republican Nomination battle for any potential candidate, but it will help them make their case for the general election later that year. It's true new media has a growing influence in the electorate, and in Conservative ranks, but when running against the human fundraiser, Barack Obama, the amount of dollars a candidate can counter-fundraise is absolutely crucial to victory. So who leads on the fundraising front in the 2012 GOP Presidential field? Jim DeMint.

Many of us have been concerned that the START Treaty would weaken our national security, and recent revelations of previously undisclosed talks with Russia on missile defense and movement of Russian tactical nuclear warheads only raise more questions that must be answered. I’ve asked for the full negotiating records, as have been provided to the Senate on previous treaties, but the Obama administration has continually denied that request and promised that missile defense was never part of the negotiations with Russia. But we have now learned that the State Department did in fact meet with Russia to specifically discuss missile...

At almost every speaking event I have done post-election, a question will come from the audience: "What about Chris Christie?" The question usually carries with it an unspoken second part --"Wouldn't he make a great presidential candidate?" It is my practice to believe candidates like Christie and Jim DeMint when they say they are not running, but the deep affection for Christie throughout the land carries within it a message for all the people who are running or are thinking about it. Christie is striking a chord deep within a lot of people across the ideological spectrum. The approach he...

Sources: Cornyn Jabs at DeMint’s Interference in Primaries By John Stanton Roll Call Staff 52 minutes ago Sen. John Cornyn said during a closed-door meeting Tuesday that he expects colleagues to bring their concerns to him about candidates he recruits as National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman — and not to help mount challenges against them, Republicans familiar with the meeting said Thursday. Although not mentioned by name, the Republicans said the Texas lawmaker’s speech was clearly intended for the ears of Sen. Jim DeMint. The South Carolina Republican backed a number of conservative “outsider” candidates this year who won tough...

Seeking to move passed an intra-party squabble over earmarks, Senate Republicans on Tuesday night showed a united front and called on Democrats to join them in opposing the long-standing practice. During a closed-door caucus meeting, Republicans passed by voice vote a two-year moratorium on earmarks, identical to one approved by the House GOP earlier this year. They also approved a resolution sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky challenging their Democratic colleagues to enact an earmark ban of their own.

After ripping Sarah Palin, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski isn’t mincing words about another one of her high-profile GOP critics: South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint. “I think some of the Republicans in the Congress feel pretty strongly that he and his actions potentially cost us the majority by encouraging candidates that ended up not being electable,” Murkowski told POLITICO outside her Senate office. “And I think Delaware is a pretty good example of that, and I think there’re some folks that feel that DeMint’s actions didn’t necessarily help the Republican majority.” Murkowski suggested the South Carolina conservative and favorite of the...