Well, frumps, truth, as usual, is much stranger than fiction. Just as South Carolina seemed to be re-emerging from the dark shadows cast by Gov. Sanford’s escapades, another SC elected official took to the media and made it official: there’s something seriously in the water there.
Yesterday, Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C. threw his public support to the Honduran Military.
In his public statement he had this to say:
“The people of Honduras have struggled too long to have their hard-won democracy stolen from them by a Chavez-style dictator. The Honduran Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court, and the Honduran military have acted in accordance to the Honduran constitution and the rule of law. [...]
“I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States’ full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America. The people fighting for freedom around the world, in Iran and Honduras, should never have to wonder which side America will choose between freedom and tyranny.
“President Obama’s call for the reinstatement of Zelaya is a slap in the face to the people of Honduras. And the resolution written by the Organization of American States tramples over the hopes and dreams of a free and democratic people.
“The rule of law is working in Honduras. President Obama should not undermine the democratic institutions that guarantee freedom by forcing an illegitimate President back into power.
This guy is either extraordinarily intelligent and very brave or he’s an absolute wingnut. A few of the USDA Choice Cuts from this statement:
“The Honduran Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court, and the Honduran military have acted in accordance to the Honduran constitution and the rule of law. [...]
Now, unless DeMint was up all night studying the Honduran Constitution and case law, how does he know that the “rule of law” was followed in Honduras? For whatever “dark” reasons the US Justice Department, the President of the United States, the Organization of American States, the United Nations and a convincing number of governments around the globe disagree with DeMint’s assessment of the situation.
“I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States’ full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America
As Obama “grows in office”? How condescending is that? And all that talk of “turning away from despots” is taking me back to “axis of evil” days.
After puzzling over this odd statement, I decided I’d look into Sen. DeMint a little to see if this is “status quo” for him or just a moment of temporary insanity.
It turns out that the good senator was very busy this week because not only was he boning up on the Honduran Constitution, he was also appearing on Fox and Friends, Hannity and Glenn Beck touting his just-released book – Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America’s Slide into Socialism.
Ahhh . . . Now things are starting to come into focus. The whole Honduran stunt had to do with DeMint’s new role: Champion of Freedom. Just look at that cover – it’s a fearmonger’s dream come true.
Here’s a piece of the Hannity interview of DeMInt on 6/29/2009 so you can get a feel for where our new “Champion of Freedom” is coming from:
MR. HANNITY: You write in this book, “By all objective measure, freedom” — and this is a very profound statement for a United States senator to make — “freedom is on the decline in America now.” Do you think America is losing its sense of freedom, because if we lose that we’ve lost our country?
SEN. DEMINT: I think we’re on the verge of losing it all, Sean, and that’s why I wrote the book, “Saving Freedom,” and that’s why every day on the floor of the Senate I’m doing everything I can to stop more spending and borrowing. There are no lines anymore between what the government should do and what a free society should do. And this new administration is intervening into every area of our economy. If Americans don’t stand up, Congress is going to run this country into the ground.
MR. HANNITY: You talk about, in part one of the book, the rise and fall. Think about this, this is profound — a United States senator — the rise and fall of freedom in America. What specifically do you mean that we’re losing freedom in America? I mean, do you see America as, what, a European socialist, a tyrannical state? I mean, what does it mean?
SEN. DEMINT: Well, that’s where we’re headed, Sean. Now, a lot of the book is just going through a brief history of how Europe ended up socialistic and what happened in pre and post-World War II Germany. It’s eerie of what we’re doing here. But when our government, and you’ve talked about it a lot, owns General Motors, Chrysler, controls our banks, controls health care –
MR. HANNITY: Dictates pay.
SEN. DEMINT: — education, energy, everywhere the federal government is trying to take over. That’s not America, that’s not freedom.
From there I decided to check out DeMint’s voting record on votesmart.org – no surprises there.
Votesmart also has a section devoted to what they call an office-holder’s “Political Courage” which is a query of how a person would vote on proposed legislation in various categories.
DeMint indicated that he would vote in the following manner:
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Greatly Increase all categories of Military spending listed
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Eliminate Taxes on: Cigarettes, Alcohol, Capital Gains, Inheritance Tax
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Greatly Decrease taxes on: Corporations
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On Gun Control issues DeMint would vote to: 1)Ease federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns. 2)Repeal federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns. 3)Allow citizens to carry concealed guns. 4)Support legislation that would protect manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms from civil lawsuits by crime victims.
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And finally, on Foreign Aid, DeMint would vote to scale it back and eventually eliminate it altogether.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but that agenda doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy that Jim DeMint is going to save any of the freedoms that I’m interested in.
So there you have it, frumps. In my opinion, it’s a great time to be an American, when guys like Jim DeMint can have their say without doing any real damage.
senator jim demint south carolina republican support military takeover in honduras saving freedom
