Eugene Robinson makes a point:
[Jim] DeMint has gone so far as to make a campaign swing through the South and the Midwest, whipping up support among the GOP base. Asked by an audience member in Arkansas why Congress should pass a bill starving Obamacare when everyone knows Obama would never sign it, DeMint replied, “Well, we don’t know that, do we?”
Come on. We know.
And we also know that painting Obamacare as the end of America as we know it is an effective way for DeMint to rebrand Heritage, moving it away from mainstream Republican orthodoxy into tea party la-la land. Noisemaking and fundraising go hand in hand; this crazy exercise promises to be very bad for the GOP, but it might end up being very good for the Heritage Foundation’s coffers.
I’m not so sure about the health of the coffers. It is not my impression that Washington think tanks survive mainly on the support of small donors. Just looking at the New America Foundation‘s funding page, it appears that they rely on very big donors like Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, and a variety of private and corporate interests. The Heritage Foundation does appear to aggressively court small donors, though, so perhaps they can afford to lose a million dollar donor here and there by going full TeaTard.
Not all oligarchs think the same way. Some of them are high on their own supply, but most want the government to pay its bills and not resemble a psychiatric patient. In the end, intentionally going nuts to increase small donor revenue may be no better than revenue-neutral. I wouldn’t bet on Jim DeMint to have a winning business strategy.
Jim DeMint doesn’t come across to me as the brightest of individuals. I think he’s just…dumb.
Jim DeMint is a perfect example of the Peter Principle. I’m glad that he’s bleeding Heritage of $1 million a year. They need more folks like him there.
What corporations/rich individuals fund Heritage? That tells me that some rich clowns are okay with DeMented’s strategy. Otherwise, why hire him?
good question
Is that “Olin” as in the ammunition company?
Yes .. among other things .. according to Wikipedia .. ammo is one of the few business still under their corporate umbrella
I thought so. Thanks for confirming, Calvin.
I love the pejorative, Teatard. Says everything in two little syllables.
Wait wait! Wasn’t Obamacare originally a Heritage Foundation concept? And Implemented in Massachusetts by Republican Governor and later Republican Presidential candidate Willard “Mitt” Romney? But now it’s a hateful horrible Liberal plot to destroy America? Oh, I get it, The Heritage Foundation was playing 11th dimensional chess and Romney was just playing a gambit to suck Democrats in. They planned it this way all along and Obama walked into the trap. Yeah, DeMented for sure.
The crazy – it burns!
P.S. Where are you Arthur Gilroy? You can write this kind of post so much better than I.
The Heritage Foundation plan was the plan against Hillarycare.
The current Heritage Foundation plan is “go to the emergency room”.
Twenty years makes a difference.
Tomorrow’s Heritage Foundation plan, “Quit wasting the emergency room. Just stay in bed until you get better or die. It was good enough for the Founding Fathers. But forget sick leave, you malingerer.”
There’s a difference between Jim DeMint’s economic interest and the Heritage Foundation’s economic interest.
If Jim DeMint gets fired from the Heritage Foundation for being so extreme and pugilistic that the sensible Republican establishment turns on him, his next job will pay better.