In the second part of our conversation with South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, we discuss the legislative wish list that DeMint would pursue if Republicans do well enough in November.  The senator also discusses whether the eventual Republican presidential nominee will be able to articulate the type of message he thinks is needed to win in 2012, and DeMint also offers a candid assessment of whether he thinks the current GOP House and Senate leaders are up to the task of advancing the type of agenda that he believes is necessary to save America from the financial abyss.

 

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South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint is author of the new book “Now or Never: Saving America from Economic Collapse”.  In the book and in our discussion, Sen. DeMint contends that America still has some time to turn our debt-ridden economy around through fiscally responsible, market-driven ideas.  He tells us how close we are to the economic cliff, what could push us even closer to the edge and why compromising with the Democrats cannot get this nation where it needs to go.

 

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are grateful for the coming lull in the Republican presidential primary and caucus schedule.  They’re also worried that Saturday’s really bad turnout is a sign of a very unmotivated GOP base.  And they slam the Nevada Republican Party for taking well over 24 hours to count slightly more than 30,000 votes.

 

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Three states have passed tougher immigration enforcement laws since their leaders believe the federal government can’t or won’t fulfill its responsibilities to provide national security.  However, the Justice Department mounted legal challenges to those states by insisting border security is Uncle Sam’s job.  Now Tennessee Rep. Diane Black is offering legislation to block funding for any further Justice Department challenges to the state laws.  Rep. Black explains why she thinks this move is necessary and reacts to potential criticism ranging from the federal role in border security to the possibility of Congress denying funds for any DOJ investigation the majority doesn’t find acceptable.

 

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Earlier this week, House Republicans and 72 House Democrats voted to freeze pay for federal employees through 2013.  The freeze applies to every government employee except for military personnel.  New York Rep. Bob Turner tells us why continuing the freeze was such a high priority for Republicans and how government employees compare to their private sector counterparts on salary and benefits.  Turner also addresses the need to tackle real entitlement reform.  Turner is an ardent supporter of Israel and weighs in on reports that Israel believes it can wipe out Iran’s nuclear facilities if necessary.

 

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Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign is trying to regain momentum after a tough loss in Florida.  Ironically, his only win thus far is due largely to his reaction to allegations from his second wife that he wanted an open marriage.  So the Capitol Steps offer a high class parody featuring the former wives and the current spouse for the former Speaker of the House.

 

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are glad the January jobs report is better than expected but are sobered to learn the number of people not in the labor pool is also growing.  They slam the vicious, hateful response of the Left to Susan G. Komen’s decision not to fund Planned Parenthood any longer - only to learn Komen is reversing its decision.  And they pound President Obama for claiming that his push to raise taxes on the rich is in obedience to the commands of Jesus.

 

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Attorney General Eric Holder faced a gauntlet of tough questions from Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the ongoing probe into the Fast & Furious operation that allowed guns to walk into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and resulted in hundreds of murders in Mexico plus the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.  Committee Democrats largely defended Holder and accused the Republicans of playing election year with a tragic story.  Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar is a member of the committee.  He rips Democrats for trying to cover for the attorney general when Holder either knew about the program or was derelict in not knowing about it.  Gosar tells us what may included in the thousands of documents that Holder is refusing to turn over to Congress, why this botched operation endangers the safety of his constituents and where the investigation goes from here.

 

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On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the CLASS program.  It’s a long-term care provision within the Obama health plan that the administration shelved last year for being financially unsustainable.  Yet Obama and most Democrats still oppose its repeal.  Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany sponsored the repeal that now heads to the Senate.  He tells us why he believes repeal of CLASS is essential and what arguments Democrats are offering for keeping the program.  Boustany explains why it’s dangerous not to repeal CLASS and he reacts to predictions from Senate Republicans that the repeal is not likely to pass on their side of Capitol Hill.  Boustany also explains why the program would leave the nation much deeper in debt.

 

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are encouraged at all the statistics pointing to a very tough re-election effort for President Obama.  They also slam Attorney General Eric Holder for invoking executive privilege in denying Congress more documents on the Fast & Furious debacle.  And they mock the circus surrounding Donald Trump’s presidential endorsement.

 

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