The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

DeMint At Heritage

Posted on | January 4, 2013 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

It sounds as though DeMint hopes to do more as a thought leader at Heritage than he did in elective office.

Why was he incapable of being a ‘big ideas’ guy in office?

The ‘optimistic, positive ideas’ pitch sounds swell, but I thought that’s the approach on which Romney finished a powerful, strong second. See what I did there? Avoiding talking about how we got spanked by broadband, breech-loaded baloney is, itself, tantamount to pure hooey.

You can paint the bleak reality of today’s 5Ws without appeal to violence.

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Comments

10 Responses to “DeMint At Heritage”

  1. 150_mac
    January 4th, 2013 @ 1:08 pm

    RT @smitty_one_each: DeMint At Heritage http://t.co/8bEdGpmV #TCOT

  2. scarymatt
    January 4th, 2013 @ 1:14 pm

    Why was he incapable of being a ‘big ideas’ guy in office?

    My guess is that the actual duties of a Senator would interfere, or at least reduce the amount of time and energy that could be devoted to the sort of, uh, inspirational big idea leadership that the head of a think tank could manage.

    So, instead of fighting for or against this or that actual proposal, and using the big ideas in that service, he can worry more about the big ideas and less about the minutiae of actual governmance, or whatever it is the Senate does with Harry Reid in charge.

  3. scrubjay
    January 4th, 2013 @ 2:46 pm

    We lost because we don’t have a meaningful presence in education and the popular culture, where most casual and low information voters get their information. The informed and those educated in the Constitution and history laugh at pitches of a ‘war on women’ or ‘the evil rich’ but they work with those who don’t have a serious background in politics and the economy. We don’t have to change our ideas. We have to change our outreach. When Bill Ayers was not blowing up stuff he was in education. He wasn’t trying to change the minds of the current generation. He was trying to mold the next generation into hating the foundation of America. We have to recapture these institutions to be able to win in the future.

  4. richard mcenroe
    January 4th, 2013 @ 4:18 pm

    First off, my thoughts don’t get led. Secondly, I’d rather see a “follower” as in FOLLOWING THROUGH ON THE DAMNED PROMISES THEY KEEP MAKING TO GET REELECTED than another self-selected “leader”.

  5. richard mcenroe
    January 4th, 2013 @ 4:18 pm

    Hey, those post offices and highways won’t name themselves…

  6. Adjoran
    January 4th, 2013 @ 9:37 pm

    DeMint isn’t there as an ideological guru. He’s there to raise money. His appeal to conservative donors has been proven in the last two election cycles, and his presence can ensure Heritage leads the way among conservative think tanks and NGOs.

  7. Rich Vail
    January 5th, 2013 @ 1:18 pm

    At this point, the only way to win the culture wars is to begin fighting them from the same level. We need to have entrepenuers who will buy up, or start “women’s Issues” magazines, etc., as well as TMZ style TV shows that will sell “low information voters” on conservative ideas.

    If the Koch’s really want to contribute, they need to purchase not just newspapers, but TV networks…and toss out the Liberals and add more voices than just FoxNews.

    That’s the only way to counter the near strangle hold that the Liberal left has on our media today.

  8. Wombat_socho
    January 5th, 2013 @ 2:11 pm

    Well, this is the argument Instapundit has been making, and various people (Bill Whittle comes to mind) have been working on media alternatives.

  9. scarymatt
    January 5th, 2013 @ 3:03 pm

    Don’t forget, “and don’t get out bid by Al Jazeera.”

  10. K-Bob
    January 6th, 2013 @ 9:36 am

    I suspect he’ll be a bit more effective on the “ideology” side than that. My guess is that Heritage will stop putting out as many “moderate” pieces as it has been for the last few years, if DeMint has anything to do with it.

    We’ll be able to tell for sure by the list of invited speakers at Heritage events this year. More like Noonan or more like Mark Levin will tell the tale.