Jim DeMint meets with Mitch McConnell to pitch âopportunityâ agenda
Jim DeMint paid a personal visit Thursday to an old rival: Mitch McConnell. DeMint, a former South Carolina senator and now president of The Heritage Foundation, met one-on-one with McConnell in the GOP leaderâs Capitol suite as DeMint pitched Heritageâs âopportunityâ agenda. Story Continued Below Things appeared to go over more smoothly with McConnell than they did last month with the House, where DeMint was confronted over his sister organizationâs strict ratings of lawmakersâ conservatism. âHeâs a good conservative,â DeMint said in an interview as he left the leaderâs office. âHeâs just in a tough leadership position here.â The session was part of McConnellâs regular meetings with conservatives. A mischief-making conservative who fueled GOP divisions during his time in the Senate, DeMint emerged from the meeting with a positive assessment of McConnell as majority leader. DeMint and McConnell have long been at odds over both campaign and legislative strategy, with the DeMint-founded Senate Conservatives Fund trying over and over to knock off McConnellâs Republican senators, including McConnell himself last year. The Heritage head said he gave no advice to McConnell in the private meeting. Afterward, he praised both the majority leader and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for trying to push back against President Barack Obamaâs immigration policies during the funding fight over the Department of Homeland Security. DeMint concluded that McConnell is âthe man for the jobâ of majority leader, despite the frequent criticism from many conservative groups, including SCF, that the Kentucky Republican is a dealmaking centrist. âIf thereâs anybody who can clear up dysfunction and try to make the Senate work like itâs supposed to, he can do it. Because I think it probably pained him more than anything else to see the Senate kind of become a dysfunctional group,â DeMint said. âI didnât give him any advice. I wasnât there to give advice.â Instead, after his two-year cooling-off period since leaving the Senate expired this year, DeMint visited with McConnell to pitch The Heritage Foundationâs free market agenda, which includes pushing right-to-work laws, repealing Obamacare and cutting taxes. DeMint said McConnell was receptive and that the palace intrigue of Republican leadership in the Capitol didnât come up. âOur job at Heritage is to stake out the right position and build public support for it so politics can move that direction. Itâs not about personalities,â DeMint said. âWe donât get involved in primaries, leadership races. Thatâs what I talked about. Weâre promoting an opportunity-for-all, favoritism-for-none agenda.â