Jim DeMint,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012

President 2012: Will Senator Jim DeMint Endorse Mitt Romney for President?

Well, Senator DeMint (R-South Carolina) did in 2008, but now there are conditions?

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) “would never consider” endorsing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president again in 2012 unless Romney repudiates the health reforms he sought as governor, a source close to DeMint said Thursday.

A source close to the conservative icon emphasized that, despite comments to The Hill indicating that Romney shouldn’t shoulder all the political blame for the Massachusetts healthcare plan, DeMint wouldn’t endorse Romney again unless he admits the plan was mistaken.

“It’s obvious Jim was just trying to be nice to the guy he backed over McCain, as many conservatives did in 2008,” the source said. “But he would never consider backing Romney again unless he admits that his Massachusetts healthcare plan was a colossal mistake.”

These quotes from an unnamed source came after the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin spanked DeMint in this piece this morning.

So has DeMint suddenly decided to make peace with the individual mandate? Perhaps, but that would be a monumental and abrupt shift in his thinking. No, this is pure, opportunistic politics. It’s the sort of thing DeMint normally decries, to the cheers of his base. But Romney backed DeMint and now DeMint is giving Romney cover.

That’s unsurprising in politics, but it’s a major problem for a pol who has carved his identity on principled opposition to nearly every compromise with the left. For DeMint to give Romney a pass on an individual mandate negotiated with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy is a high-risk proposition for DeMint.

His backers and the Republican base more generally are not going to buy the excuse DeMint has offered on RomneyCare. Romney is going to be savaged by the right, and from those very people who have given DeMint his base of support. So the question for DeMint is: Is he willing to risk his own conservative street cred to support a candidate who will be the target of his base’s ire?

And, also spanked by Phil Klein over at the American Spectator.

But beyond being ignorant, DeMint’s comments are dangerous. I’ve long argued that the Massachusetts health care plan is not only toxic to Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy, but it could prove toxic to the entire Republican Party. If Romney is excused for crafting and signing the Massachusetts health care plan, it significantly undermines the case against ObamaCare and weakens the effort to repeal it. The reason is that opposition to ObamaCare will start to look increasingly political and less about principle. It’s true that a state mandate doesn’t raise the same Constitutional questions as the federal mandate, but it still is government forcing an individual to purchase a product. These comments are especially dangerous coming from DeMint, who is known as a leading conservative and ObamaCare opponent. Let’s hope it’s an isolated incident and not part of a broader trend.

Mitt Romney should NOT be the Republican Party’s Presidential nominee in 2012. RomneyCare and his numerous flip-flops over the decades make him untrustworthy and not worthy of my vote.

Period.

His nomination will undercut the repeal of ObamaCare which should be one of the GOP’s first priorities. ObamaCare will ruin American health care, bust the budget wide open and imperil America’s survival.

As far as Jim DeMint is concerned. He is an OPPORTUNISTIC POL not a Tea Party activist.

Remember how DeMint has promised Indiana Senator Richard Lugar he would not help fund a primary challenge to him in 2012. I mean, Lugar is clearly a RINO, who is old and votes way too left for the modern day GOP. But, DeMint will sit on his hands.

Remember when DeMint funded Chuck DeVore in California against a conservative Carly Fiorina when DeVore had absolutely NO chance of winning?

DeMint is a conservative Senator, but he is a POL like all of the rest and when he supports/endorses Romney, it will just be another example.