The Underground Conservative

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) pulled few punches in labeling Sen. John McCain, along with President Bush, as Republicans who led the party astray and away from its roots of individual freedom and limited government.

The conservative senator, speaking to a group of GOP officials gathered in Myrtle Beach at a conference on the future of the Republican Party, described how the party had strayed from its own “brand,” which, according to DeMint, should represent freedom, religious-based values and limited government.

“We have to be honest, and there’s a lot of blame to go around, but I have to mention George Bush, and I have to mention Ted Stevens, and I’m afraid I even have to mention John McCain,” he said.

DeMint offered a long list of complaints about McCain’s record in the Senate and on the campaign trail.

“McCain, who is proponent of campaign finance reform that weakened party organizations and basically put George Soros in the driver’s seat,” DeMint said. “His proposal for amnesty for illegals. His support of global warming, cap-and-trade programs that will put another burden on our economy. And of course, his embrace of the bailout right before the election was probably the nail in our coffin this last election. And he has been an opponent of drilling in ANWR, at a time when energy is so important. It really didn’t fit the label, but he was our package.”

Bush and Stevens, he said, had corrupted the party brand by expanding the size of government and engaging in wasteful government spending.

For the past 10 years, McCain had stuck one finger after another in the eyes of the conservative base of the Republich Party. From the hoax known as global warming to opposing tax cuts to campaign finance reform to proposing the Al Qaeda Bill of rights, McCain constantly sided with the other side of the aisle in order to curry favor with his own base, namely the media.

It’s fitting, perhaps, that McCain’s disorganized campaign would be hamstrung and crippled by the very same campaign finance laws that bear his name, along with Wisconsin’s own Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Al Qaeda).

Bad news is it put the likes of Dr. Evil himself, George Soros, in control. And indirectly, America’s enemies as well.