Jim DeMint got into the Senate four years ago so excuse him for not knowing South Carolinaians (sp?) or Americans for that matter. Being a Republican stooge in the Senate and Capitol Hill to speak generally, he does not have his finger on the pulse of America and he proved it on Fox News today.
From ThinkProgress:
House Republicans are threatening a “government shutdown if the Democratic-led Congress doesn’t vote to lift a moratorium on new offshore oil drilling.” Just as he did in 1995, Newt Gingrich is leading the push for a government shutdown. Today, Fox News asked Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), “Do you think people would go for that?” DeMint responded:
I think the American people are mad enough that they would say, ‘the heck with government, we need energy.’ And if the Democrats are crazy enough to attach a ban on drilling to the end-of-the-year spending bills, then they’re the ones, I think, that are gonna get the blame for closing the government down.
Only thirteen years ago, Newt Gingrich pulled this hare-brained stunt and failed miserably at it. Bill Clinton was the hero of the day and the newly empowered Republicans in Congress had to retreat from their radical agenda (for the moment). Americans knew that they were up to no good then and they are on to the shrunken Republican caucus this time. The GOP doesn't care about reducing the cost of oil and gasoline, their only motivation is to give more money away to oil companies that donate to their campaigns.
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