![]() Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America's Slide into Socialism
|
GLENN: I know there are times that I feel alone and I get to talk to you all the time. You can write me, and you do and et cetera, et cetera. I know I feel alone. I can't imagine being inside the Beltway in how alone you feel. When I gave the speech to CPAC, it amazed me on how many people that claimed to be my friends turned, how many arrows in the back I received from quote/unquote the same side. I disagree with many things that some Republicans are doing. I agree with some Republicans. I'm not a party guy. I'm a principle guy. Jim DeMint is a principle guy. He's on the phone with us now. Senator, how are you, sir?
SENATOR DeMINT: Glenn, I'm doing great. And I really appreciate your segment on TV yesterday about the association of unions and socialism. Something I researched going all the way back into the 1800s.
GLENN: It's amazing.
SENATOR DeMINT: The collectivist concepts ‑‑
GLENN: Yep.
SENATOR DeMINT: ‑‑ are very consistent. But it relates to Greece and what's happening there.
GLENN: Yes, it is.
SENATOR DeMINT: And it also is going to relate to America because the majority of union members now in our country work for the government.
GLENN: You know, Senator, I have to first of all thank you because there are very few people ‑‑ I really think I can name them and count them on both my hands that that would be where you have a depth of knowledge and you have the spine to be able to stand up for what you know to be true. So I have to thank you on that. But I have to ask you two questions.
SENATOR DeMINT: Sure.
GLENN: First of all, you came out this weekend, and it blew me away about Lindsey Graham. Can you explain to me how a guy who is currently pushing for cap and trade, pushing for identity cards, pushing for immigration reform, for closing Guantanamo, how you are saying right on, Lindsey Graham?
SENATOR DeMINT: Well, I don't agree with those issues, and he hasn't voted for them yet, and that will become a problem. A lot of what he's doing is trying to pull some of the Democrats our way, which I have not seen to work. But what I was saying about Lindsey is one thing he's not short on is courage. And when I've tried to do some major things like Social Security reform or tax reform, he hasn't hesitated to sponsor those things and to speak out. Just like a couple of weeks ago a moratorium on earmarks and a balanced budget amendment, you know, he was the first one to sign up and show up at the press conference. So he and I have had some battles on some pretty big issues but frankly I'd rather deal with someone I disagree with every now and then who has some courage than the problem we have in the Senate right now which is just a lack of vision and courage.
GLENN: Okay.
SENATOR DeMINT: So I'll battle with Lindsey on some of these things, and this would be a terrible time to vote for anything related to cap and trade.
GLENN: Yeah, it does take courage to go into the Republican ‑‑ I mean, you can talk to Lindsey and ask him why would I get a watered down version of cap and trade or, you know, universal healthcare or any of that stuff when I can get the real deal from the other side. But that's a different story.
SENATOR DeMINT: Well, he's been a big help on healthcare. And frankly after the immigration debate, once we stopped the amnesty provisions, he's really helped us with border security. So you've got to wake up every day and find the allies you need that day. And on most days Lindsey Graham is going to work with me on the big things.
GLENN: Okay. I'm glad I'm not in your position because I wouldn't, I wouldn't be able to ‑‑ my head would explode. I wouldn't be able to do that. But that's why I'm not a politician.
SENATOR DeMINT: Yeah.
GLENN: So Senator, here's the second part. The second question is, is it true that you are getting heat from the Republicans because you won't endorse, just blanket endorse and say, hey, you know, these guys are great?
SENATOR DeMINT: Well, that's true. I mean, there's some Republicans frankly that still don't get it and, you know ‑‑ but I really think it's coming down to a few hold‑outs now in the Senate who still think earmarks are a wonderful thing, who will say that debt's a problem but keep voting for spending. That's kind of the core issue of ‑‑ that the American awakening right now is what are we going to do about all this debt. And so I do think that we've got some great candidates out there for the Senate and a few of them are running against incumbents. So I ‑‑
GLENN: If you had to have ‑‑ if you picked one person and you said, oh, please, America, please send this person my way, please send in the Alamo, give me two people. Can you give me two people that you see that are out there that you say, oh, this person would be great?
SENATOR DeMINT: Well, there are several I'm working for. I don't know if I can do just two. But Marco Rubio is a true American in Florida, Pat Toomy in Pennsylvania. Chuck DeVore in California is someone who stood up to the spending in the Republican Party out there.
GLENN: Yeah, I like him.
SENATOR DeMINT: So he's a tough guy. I want somebody who is going to come and not join the club but really join the fight, and I'm optimistic that some of these new guys are going to make it.
GLENN: Well, it looks like Rubio, what was this poll I just saw?
PAT: 60‑28.
GLENN: I mean, he's clobbering Crist.
SENATOR DeMINT: He was 40 points behind when I endorsed him and now he's almost 30 points ahead.
GLENN: Yeah.
SENATOR DeMINT: But the people of Florida are just embracing an American who believes in common sense principles. And Glenn, these aren't far right ideas, you know.
GLENN: No, they're not.
SENATOR DeMINT: And like I tell people, there's nothing moderate about spending more than you are bringing in and bankrupting our country. So ‑‑
GLENN: No. My grandfather was a lifelong Democrat. He was an FDR guy and blah, blah‑blah. He bought into the whole thing. There's no way he would have believed in any of this stuff.
SENATOR DeMINT: No.
GLENN: There's no way he would have believed in spending more than you could, than you could afford. That's just ‑‑ I mean, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
SENATOR DeMINT: Yeah. Well, 35% of the people who go to tea parties are Democrats. They are disillusioned with the radicalization of the party.
GLENN: Hang on. Where did you get that poll? I've never heard that.
SENATOR DeMINT: We got a lot of statistics on the demographics of tea party members. They are a lot of Democrats and independents and some Republicans. They are better educated than the general population. I'll send you that when ‑‑
GLENN: Please do.
SENATOR DeMINT: I'll call my office today and get it to your producer.
GLENN: Please do. One more thing, and I'm going to get into this story on Monday because I find this to be, you know, just another piece of the puzzle. It's one ‑‑ I mean, how long, how many Marxists and ‑‑ how many people do we need to find before we say, okay. You want to talk a little bit about a new nominee that has just been nominated by the president?
SENATOR DeMINT: Well, you are probably talking about Ms. Aponte.
GLENN: Yeah.
SENATOR DeMINT: There seem to be some significant problems, security‑related problems from several years ago.
GLENN: Explain who she is.
SENATOR DeMINT: Well, she's been nominated as the ambassador to El Salvador, and I don't really want to go into too much of the details until I document it all, but the initial things that we got suggested that there were some security issues ten years ago and she withdrew from a nomination that Clinton made. And I'd just ask for another week to look into this and now the Democrats are accusing me of holding up a nominee.
GLENN: What?
SENATOR DeMINT: I mean, we need a little time when there's some real serious questions because the White House is clearly not vetting their nominees very well.
GLENN: Oh, no. No ‑‑ yes, they are. You can ‑‑ see, this is why, this is why, you know, you're in Washington and your head doesn't explode. I can't take it. Van Jones said that he was very open. He let them know exactly what he was, who he was, what he had been involved with. They vet, they know. These people are on the same page as the president of the United States.
SENATOR DeMINT: Yeah.
GLENN: This individual has some ‑‑ and, you know, we'll get into ‑‑ because I'm going to get into this on Monday as well. It is amazing to me what we could send somebody down to El Salvador where there's no problem with communists or Marxists ‑‑
SENATOR DeMINT: Right.
GLENN: ‑‑ down in El Salvador and we have somebody whose credentials have already been questioned once. She withdrew.
SENATOR DeMINT: Right.
GLENN: And now they are trying it again.
SENATOR DeMINT: Either the problem that I have with what they're doing, they are demanding that we pass her unanimous consent essentially and if you ask for more information, they delay it and then they report to the media that I'm holding the nomination.
GLENN: Unbelievable.
SENATOR DeMINT: But I'm going to look at these people closely, particularly when it deals with foreign policy. Because I saw what happened in Honduras when they mishandled that. Fortunately we turned that around, but ‑‑
GLENN: Will you do me a favor. When you're ready with all the information, you bring it here, will you?
SENATOR DeMINT: I will, Glenn.
GLENN: We'll help you expose it because this is a ‑‑ this is just ‑‑ I mean, the arrogance of being able to think that you can put people in place that have nefarious ties or ties with Marxism or out‑and‑out anticapitalist Marxists all through this administration and then continue to do it as it's exposed and you say, oh, it's ridiculous that I might be a Marx ‑‑ it is, the arrogance is going to be the undoing of either them or us.
SENATOR DeMINT: Yeah. Well, I appreciate you exposing this because that gives us an informed electorate that can help us stop it. So you are doing a lot of good work.
GLENN: Senator, I appreciate it. Thank you again.
SENATOR DeMINT: Thanks, Glenn.
GLENN: We'll talk again.
SENATOR DeMINT: Bye‑bye.