DeMint: States can lead conservative comeback
Since the 2012 election, some conservatives have blamed their losses on their message while others pointed fingers at the messengers. Truth is, both camps have a point.
That’s why Jim DeMint aims to tackle both problems from his new perch at the Heritage Foundation, which he is joining as president after eight years as a U.S. senator from South Carolina.
“I’m convinced if we have the right ideas, the right messengers, the right message, we can win,” DeMint told me Tuesday before greeting Heritage members at the Westin Buckhead.
Part of the challenge is stylistic: “We can’t just talk like a bunch of engineers” about things like budget deficits, he argued.
“We’ve got to help people see how our policies actually can make their lives better. … And the way we can do it is actually put the camera on people whose lives have been changed.”
DeMint pointed specifically to the different approaches GOP-led Pennsylvania and Democrat-controlled New York have taken to their natural-gas deposits which have been made more accessible by hydraulic-fracturing, or “fracking,” technology.
“It’s almost like a line between North and South Korea,” DeMint said. “On one side, in New York, they’re not developing the energy. And on the Pennsylvania side, we can talk to families whose lives are better” because of the jobs that have come thanks to fracking.
There will be more opportunities for making such comparisons thanks to the one area where conservatives actually made inroads last November.
“We’ve got more conservative governors and legislatures, [and] they’re doing bold things now with the states on school choice, with tax reform. … We’ve just got to showcase those ideas and show how they’re working.”
Even without a turnover of power in Washington, DeMint said there are ways for conservative state leaders to prod the feds in the right direction.
He pointed to the 26 states that sued to overturn Obamacare. While they didn’t get the entire law declared unconstitutional, they did persuade the Supreme Court to rule Congress was overly coercive in threatening to reduce the states’ existing Medicaid funding if they didn’t expand the program.
But despite their legal victory, some conservative governors have been reluctant to decline the expansion — and the federal funds that come with it, albeit at a cost of billions of dollars for the states.
“Some governors realize this is a dead-end street,” he said. “At some point, you’ve got to say, ‘Keep your money, we’re going to make it ourselves.’ That’s where we have to really work on block-grant ideas, so that states can get back the money they send up there, whether it be for transportation or education or Medicaid.
“We’re going to try to build a coalition of states that will push back against the federal government on these things. I think we’re close to having half the states who would come together to just say no.”
Banding together will become even more crucial very soon, he warned.
“What you’re going to see over the next few years, is these states that are failing, with terrible tax policy, regulatory policy, energy policy, they’re going to be in Washington needing a bailout,” he said.
“That’s why I think this coalition of states, what I might call a Coalition of Responsible States, is so important, to give each other support and push back against the federal government.”
– By Kyle Wingfield
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577 comments Add your comment
md
February 18th, 2013
2:06 pm
Raising minimum wage is a double edged sword…….the big corps can absorb it better than mom and pop……mom and pop (and we have a lot of those in our communities) only have so much to spend on labor, dictating that they have to pay more usually means they have to let someone go……….
getalife
February 18th, 2013
2:07 pm
“how did China get so big so quick?”
Globalization, cheap labor, good infrastructure, quick government actions, etc…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:07 pm
I see that Robert is visiting here only to offer mindless patter today.
md
February 18th, 2013
2:08 pm
break time…….
indigo
February 18th, 2013
2:09 pm
Aesop – 1:09
And you swallow up whatever Rush, the NRA, The Republican Party and Big Business say, tool.
getalife
February 18th, 2013
2:09 pm
Like I said, raising the min. wage to compete with other countries that already raised it is a no brainer.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
February 18th, 2013
2:10 pm
That ship sailed with a birth certificate.
md
February 18th, 2013
2:10 pm
“Globalization, cheap labor, good infrastructure, quick government actions, etc…”
AFTER they unleashed capitalism and WE (along with others) sent them our capital….ie wealth.
That wealth gap folks like to rail against is self inflicted……..
MarkV
February 18th, 2013
2:13 pm
Dusty,
Since you are in such a great form today, I will try to ask you a simple question:
Why should the government cut spending now?
I wonder if you can force yourself to answer it in a straightforward way, without mockery or sarcasm. Just putting your thoughts about it in one or a few concise sentences. Can you?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 18th, 2013
2:16 pm
Finn–Most people give up taunting around the 2nd or 3rd grade.
The finer moments in life should be savored over and over again – like a good cheese or wine. Otherwise we forget how sublime life can be.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:16 pm
“Why should the government cut spending now?”
Because it can’t pay it’s bills.
You need anything else?
How about that it isn’t the role of government to guarantee jobs in ANY industry, including defense?
Governments should cut spending anytime their revenues do not meet expenditure targets.
Period.
Politico
February 18th, 2013
2:17 pm
“dictating that they have to pay more usually means they have to let someone go……….”
Maybe, maybe not
There is this thing called supply and demand. Depending on what is being sold, the market climate / price elasticity of that product or service, the company will be able to pass anything from zero to almost all of the costs. It is usually going to be a split to some degree or another.
If letting someone go will result in less ability to service the client that may not be an option. In some cases it will and others it will not.
It is not as cut and dry as you are depicting.
While I don’t see raising the minimum wage as the panacea that some on the left see it has, I also don’t buy into the same tired rhetoric that the right brings out each time there is a proposed increase.
Are there studies that show businesses operating in states or cities with higher minimum wage levels have less workers for the same type operations as their counter parts were the minimum wage level is lower?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 18th, 2013
2:18 pm
Raising minimum wage is a double edged sword…….the big corps can absorb it better than mom and pop……mom and pop (and we have a lot of those in our communities) only have so much to spend on labor, dictating that they have to pay more usually means they have to let someone go……….
Not meant to be a factual statement.
We’ve linked to studies showing our side of the story. Where are your links proving this point?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:18 pm
“Like I said, raising the min. wage to compete with other countries that already raised it is a no brainer.”
Dumbest post of the day.
What do you think is going to happen, getalife? All those minimum wage earners are going to flock to other countries to work, when they can’t afford the money to take a one-week vacation each year?
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 18th, 2013
2:20 pm
indie – I’ve called out Limbaugh on several different issues and I haven’t contributed to the Republican party since the 2005 immigration fiasco. I don’t even watch Fox News, I’m surprised you didn’t mention that.
As far as being an advocate of Big Business, you might want to contact headquarters and get an update, you dummycrats are in their pockets.
Why would anyone question NRA? Do you have a problem with the 2nd Amendment? Are you one of those gun “free” zone whackjobs?
Robert
February 18th, 2013
2:20 pm
The old GOP model is broken beyond repair. No longer can the GOP rely on carrying all the southern states and rally the rebels (old White Guys) in a few northern states to win the White House.
The GOP must create a strategy that includes ALL the American People (elderly, women, minorities, gays & lesbians, Christians, Muslims & Jews, etc.) if they want to be considered a serious political party. The GOP must recruit “moderate” candidates and hold on to as many seats as possible in the House and Senate during the 2014 midterm elections as well as re-capturing the White House in 2016.
The latest Polls suggest that the next President of the USA will most likely be a Woman, LGBT or a Hispanic candidate in 2016. Our children will grow-up in a America that looks and acts just like they do.
The GOP must clean-up the mess left behind by the homegrown terrorist group(s) known as the “tea party” (klansmen, skinheads, militia’s, birther’s, etc.). The “tea party” is dead. Thank You God.
The American People…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:22 pm
Robert has become as repetitive as AmVet.
Just with less intelligence.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:24 pm
“Our children will grow-up in a America that looks and acts just like they do. ”
Inherently stupid if the results of this past Presidential election are any indication.
nomaj
February 18th, 2013
2:26 pm
Mr. DeMint is now being paid handsomely to promote the policies that will ensure the GOP’s extinction.
Robert
February 18th, 2013
2:26 pm
@Aesop’s Fables – “Why would anyone question NRA? Do you have a problem with the 2nd Amendment?”
I hate cowards who hide behind the nra like they have real power. The nra is only a mouth piece for the gun industry. Nothing else.
Do you have a problem with the 13th Amendment?”
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:29 pm
“Do you have a problem with the 13th Amendment?””
Do you have a problem with arguing the question asked of you?
Georgia , The "New Mississippi"
February 18th, 2013
2:30 pm
This foundation is paying DeMint over one million dollars a year to try and ” GOP Johnny Rebonize ” our nation.. No doubt South Carolina and Georgia will continue to lead on this one.
Robert
February 18th, 2013
2:34 pm
@ Tiberius – Do you have family members, friends and neighbors that are different from you or minorities (black, hispanic, asian, etc.)? How many children do you have? Do your children have friends who look and act differently? Do you have neighbors? Do your neighbors have children? If you answered YES to any of these questions you are a part of a civilized world. Reality will help you sober up.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 18th, 2013
2:34 pm
robert – The Republicans freed the slaves, created the 13th amendment, passed the civil rights act and don’t warehouse blacks in housing projects like liberals do. You can respond to me with your gibberish filled rant about the “southern strategy” but then I will just consider you to be just another rote moron. The only reason you liberals even suffer minorities is because you want their votes.
Now insult me by calling me gay, genius.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 18th, 2013
2:36 pm
If you answered YES to any of these questions you are a part of a civilized world. Reality will help you sober up.
This guy really is a liberal.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:40 pm
Robert, the mere fact that you have to ask these questions of me proves your ignorance about me, therefore, your opinion of me is based on ignorance.
Typical lib in judging others without facts.
But always judging nevertheless.
JamVet
February 18th, 2013
2:41 pm
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. ~Abraham Lincoln
Abe would never have supported this right wing war against the working man…
JamVet
February 18th, 2013
2:42 pm
Sorry, wrong forum.
In my best Roseann Roseanna Danna voice….
“never mind”…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:44 pm
Of course Robert is a liberal Aesop.
Their lead accusation is that everyone who disagrees with this President is a racist.
They can’t fathom a world where dissent based on principles exists.
Given that they rarely have any principles that cannot be bought off by a new government program.
Robert
February 18th, 2013
2:45 pm
@Aesop’s Fables – Only in the deep, deep south do you hear idiots like you trying to justify your personal opinions. I hope you do not own gun(s). If you do own gun(s) I hope you had a mental health screening and a background check. Your family, friends and neighbors are in danger. You are a real crazy person.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:46 pm
Leave it to AmVet to quote one of the worst Federal supremacists ever elected to office.
Aquagirl
February 18th, 2013
2:47 pm
The Republicans freed the slaves, created the 13th amendment, passed the civil rights act
Aesop is doing a fantastic job campaigning for Rutherford B. Hayes and Richard Nixon. Those poll numbers will be soaring upwards any day now!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 18th, 2013
2:52 pm
I suggest you read up about Rutherford B. Hayes, Aquagirl, before you dismiss him so cavalierly.
Same with Nixon. Hardly a better foreign policy President has ever served. Had his issues personally and domestically, but knew our country’s place in the world.
Robert
February 18th, 2013
2:53 pm
@Aesop’s Fables – How old are you? I think you need a history lesson. The day President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill he said “the South will not vote Democrat again”. Thus all Southern Democrats (KKK) became Republicans…
Politico
February 18th, 2013
2:58 pm
Robert
Wrong. Over a period of 30 or so years the south did go over to the Republicans. The Republicans did there share to help via the Southern Strategy, however your claim about all southern Dems turned Repub is not exactly true. It has merit, but not in the context you put it in.
getalife
February 18th, 2013
2:58 pm
Stay the course.
You are doing a heck of job.
Robert
February 18th, 2013
3:00 pm
@Tiberius – Given that they rarely have any principles that cannot be bought off by a new government program.
“So let me get this straight. When Romney, in the first debate, promised a tax cut to the middle class, he wasn’t promising them a gift? When he wooed his backers on Wall Street by telling them that he would repeal Dodd Frank, abolish the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and lower corporate taxes, that wasn’t promising a gift? When he went to Viriginia to promise to build even more nuclear-powered submarines that just happened to be built right there in Virginia, that wasn’t a gift? When he went to coal country to promise to weaken environmental regulations that protect the air we breathe, that wasn’t a gift? When he traveled to Florida to promise to replace $716 billion in Medicare funding allegedly cut by the Obama administration, that wasn’t a gift? Or is it only a “gift” when offered to poor African Americans or Hispanic Americans?
All in all, it is quite something to see complaints about pandering from a man who wafted in the political breeze with all the gravity of a dandelion seed. ”
AJC
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 18th, 2013
3:01 pm
How did I know he wouldn’t mind being considered a rote moron?
”These Ne-gro-es, they‘re getting pretty uppity these days and that‘s a problem for us since they‘ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we‘ve got to do something about this, we‘ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference.”
~Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat)
Georgia , The "New Mississippi"
February 18th, 2013
3:04 pm
The 2013 version of the GOP makes Richard ” Tricky Dick ” Nixon look like a man with good moral character and high ethical standards..
splavistic
February 18th, 2013
3:07 pm
So, the North Korean side being the one that is ‘fracking’ and screwing up the water and causing un-natural earthquakes. Ok. Just wanted to make sure we were clear, because I can see N. Korea wanting to frack up the earth like that.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 18th, 2013
3:08 pm
Do any of you Conservatives realize you are being called extremists by the party of abortionists, sex changers, al qaeda appeasers and ecoterrorists?
splavistic
February 18th, 2013
3:11 pm
Definitely the ‘messengers’ fault. Nobody likes racist, homophobic, overtly religious, holier-than-thou, chauvinistic, bellyachin’ old white guys anymore. It’s time not just to open the tent, but to erect a completely new one. But, even THEN we STILL know fracking is bad for our world, immigration reform is good, guns need to be more regulated, gays should be able to marry, and rich people should be paying more in taxes. Sooooo….. looks like it’s a no-win for the GOP.
Don't Tread
February 18th, 2013
3:11 pm
Seems the Coalition of Responsible States is already pitching their more freedom-loving stance to those people (and corporations) whose rights the blue states are trampling upon. I’d personally love to see Bank of America tell Chitcago where they can stick their “decrees”. I’m sure the New Yorkers who prefer personal freedom over totalitarian government have become tired of the endless Emperor Bloomberg bans and are preparing to vote with their feet. We’ll see.
splavistic
February 18th, 2013
3:11 pm
Change the messengers, message, and ALL OF IT!
splavistic
February 18th, 2013
3:13 pm
The 2013 version of the GOP makes Richard ” Tricky Dick ” Nixon look like a man with good moral character and high ethical standards…
————————–
And, with Honey Boo Boo as their ideal spokesmodel, they’re SURE to go far with the rest of us true Americans!
mini mi-mi
February 18th, 2013
3:15 pm
Lead conservative maybe but lead neo-conservative, never. They can’t even manage their own political party
Jay
February 18th, 2013
3:15 pm
Let’s see … Georgie, Alabam, Arkansas, Kintucky, Louiseenna, Miss’ssippi, South Ca’lina, Tennessee and those two states where the two nincompoop men made stupid statements about women and rape. Now, what other states does DeMint have in mind to lead the U.S. back to conservative. Oh, yeah … where’s Boehner from? Ohio. Nawww. They say even Texus is turning blue next election.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
February 18th, 2013
3:16 pm
Robert, allowing people to keep more of what they earn isn’t a gift.
Unless you have the mistaken belief that it is government’s money to begin with.
As I suspect you do.
splavistic
February 18th, 2013
3:16 pm
The day President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill he said “the South will not vote Democrat again”. Thus all Southern Democrats (KKK) became Republicans…
TRUE, so don’t EVEN claim Lincoln (or even Ronald Raygun) as a Republican anymore! They are DEMOCRATS (compared to today’s extremist moronic GOP).
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 18th, 2013
3:18 pm
Jihadist urges Muslims to ‘take England’ by seeking welfare…
It’s probably easier in obozo’s USA but whatever.