DeMint: Obama Is "Out Of Control"

Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who has taken a particular glee in pushing the argument that health care could be Obama's unraveling, did little to calm the rhetoric between him and the White House on Sunday.

Appearing on "This Week," the South Carolina Republican said the president was "out of control" and offering false promises and panic in an effort to get health care legislation passed.

"This is not personal against the president," said DeMint. "I like the president. But he is out of control and he is leading a stampede of more spending and debt and taxes and government takeovers. He has taken a bad economy and made it worse. He used a lot of false promises, and bogus numbers and panic to push through the stimulus. And the promises have not panned out. And now he is using the same strategy on health care. And what I'm trying to do, and I think even Kent [Conrad] has reservations, is say, lets slow down and get this right."

DeMint's co-panelist, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D, is not, necessarily, the best defender for the White House, having refused to get on board such items as a public option for insurance coverage. But the North Dakota Democrat offered ample push back, saying that while he agreed that it is "critical" to get health care right - even if it means slowing down the process - DeMint's objectives were far more sinister.

"Jim has been very clear," Conrad said. "He wants to kill it. And I think that would be a tragedy because we've got a crisis here for the country."

As for timing, Conrad refused to offer a clear outline for when the Senate Finance Committee - on which he sits - would produce a bill, telling host George Stephanopoulos that, "We are going to finish when we finish, and we are going to do everything we can to get it right... We will be ready when we are ready."

Comments

[rmarc]

11:08 AM on 07/27/2009

I wonder how much DeMint has taken from the thieving executives and lobbyist for the insurance industry? My guess is it's a bundle! He gets his healthcare payed for by the American taxpayers so he is the most brazen, narcissist­ic hypocrite!

[bensisco]

10:39 AM on 07/27/2009

Republican­s are telling people that they will lose their current health plans and be forced to have a government health plan with a government bureaucrat making cold hearted decisions that will kill them. They keep finding people who claim to be from Canada and the UK with extreme medical horror stories to further scare the public. So, who's really out of control?

[carpdd]

10:01 AM on 07/27/2009

What a Marroooonn­n ! Senator Demented should take a vacation.

[Whitley2009]

10:29 AM on 07/27/2009

He'll have to get permission from his controller­s at the C-Street house.

[Whinger]

09:45 AM on 07/27/2009

Sonny boy, GOP is out of control, speaking the stuff of unintellig­ent nonsense!

[GonzoFactor]

09:40 AM on 07/27/2009

Out of whose control? The Republican Hypocritic­al Failure Party?

[etcetc]

09:32 AM on 07/27/2009

The PRIMARY reason repub don't want healthcare is because it will be their final demise. it will work, people will remember they didn't want it, and it will be the end of them

[RocknRollChef]

09:48 AM on 07/27/2009

I agree. Also, I crashed 2 republican town hall meetings recently. In each meeting someone yelled, "That's not my problem".
That's the mantra of the gop. They don't want their taxes raised and they don't care that people are suffering.
Abraham Lincoln would be so proud.....­..NOT.

[SteveStone]

09:26 AM on 07/27/2009

DeMint is out of his mind!

[BlackJAC]

09:25 AM on 07/27/2009

A bumper sticker I saw on some gop's car yesterday claimed that Afghanista­n was "Obama's Vietnam" and wanted us to Cut & Run from it despite the fact it happened under Dubya and was 100% justifiabl­e. Then again, the driver did cut McCain out of his McCain-Pal­in bumper sticker, too.

[BigStater]

09:05 AM on 07/27/2009

,,and his popularity is plunging, of course you can only hide incompetan­ce for only so long.

[mabinog]

09:15 AM on 07/27/2009

at least eight years, look at W.

[lkjon]

09:04 AM on 07/27/2009

You and your Party are out of control. You have done nothing to get the health system reformed. If you do nothing to solve a problem then you are the problem

[mlmn08]

09:01 AM on 07/27/2009

I am so embarrasse­d for the state of South Carolina that this is all they can produce.

[zanzig]

09:44 AM on 07/27/2009

ALL? This is the State that gave us luminaries such as Sanford, Graham and Thurmond. How much more of a burden must one little state bear?

[boogiewoman]

08:57 AM on 07/27/2009

Why do the rehugs always say "I like President Obama." Sure you do. But 50 milliom + people need health care. The rethugs are trying to kill any kind of healh care reform. But I guess as long as they tell us how much they like the President it makes it okay.

[dawlishgal]

08:46 AM on 07/27/2009

Next time the south tries to secede, how about we let them do it.

[CJ1]

08:40 AM on 07/27/2009

All this from a man who thinks pregnant unmarried women-teac­hers and gay teachers should be rooted out and fired. Riiiight..­.who's out of control?

[bigben1986]

08:11 AM on 07/27/2009

He is lucky that his healthcare is being paid for by the tax payer who he is trying to deny coverage.