DeMint Envisions Life Post-Senate

While stressing the need for more like-minded conservatives in Washington, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) speculated Tuesday about his own retirement.

DeMint was the guest speaker at a quarterly Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce meeting, followed by his own town hall breakfast with regional GOP members.

DeMint's speech to Republicans at the Daniel Island Club was one part victory lap and one part troop rally. He lamented his own decision to go rogue in 2008, angering the Republican leadership as he began supporting conservative challengers in GOP primaries and chased a few moderate senators into early retirement.

"I decided we had to change things and, fortunately, my decision coincided with a lot of Americans deciding they needed to take back their country," DeMint said.

"All I heard day after day was that I was wrong. What I heard when I left Washington was people standing up in support."

He encouraged grassroots activists to stay in the fight and keep sending a conservative message to Washington.

"When it gets quiet on the outside and noisy up there, that’s when good people cave," he said.

DeMint might be trying to send more "good people" to Washington, D.C., but he’s planning to send one of those staunch conservatives home: himself.

"I'm going to term limit myself," he said, before quickly noting, "At least, that’s my plan right now. I'm not ruling anything out, but I believe in term limits. I want some of our new congressmen to start thinking about replacing me."

The senator's second term ends in 2016, fueling speculation of a presidential run, but DeMint seems to have ambitions behind-the-scenes.

"Frankly I could have more influence on the outside with something like the Senate Conservative Fund where I didn’t have to be as delicate, if you could call me that, with some of our incumbents," he said.

Earlier, in his comments to the crowd, DeMint’s "delicate" nature was on display: "We need to elect Republicans who aren't going to be namby-pamby when they get there."

Big On Business

At the Chamber forum earlier in the morning, the focus was on what Charleston is doing right and what Washington is doing wrong.

The go-to example these days is Boeing’s dispute with the National Labor Relations Board about locating the company’s new production facility in union-adverse South Carolina. DeMint says the fight is indicative of the Obama administration’s pro-union, anti-business practices.

"We can do everything right here in South Carolina and Charleston to create a good business environment, but the irresponsible actions in Washington could lead to higher taxes and a business environment so that companies like Boeing go overseas where they don’t have to deal with all this stuff," he said.

DeMint also had some stark words for critiques of his bristling response to compromise in Washington.

"I know a lot about compromise — I've been married 38 years," he said. "It's not an issue of not wanting to work with people."

Instead, DeMint argued that Washington is divided into two football teams. "The goals are in the opposite directions," he said. "I can't compromise with people moving in the wrong direction. I have to figure out how to beat them."

The latest compromise to upset the Palmetto State senator: the debt limit deal that let the federal government borrow more money while calling for a legislative committee to hash out a response to reduce the debt.

DeMint says it puts negotiations behind closed doors and the end result will be something he won’t be able to support.

"They'll either raise taxes on you or make us vote for extreme cuts in our defense," he said. "The other choice is not to vote for anything and they get an automatic increase in the debt limit and nothing happens. Which is probably the best scenario right now."

DeMint said doing nothing is his game plan for the next year. "We have to slow the bleeding somehow until the next election and hope that polls continue to go the way they’re going now," he argued.

Meanwhile, DeMint said the business sector is awaiting a GOP surge. "I think what we'll see is that the economy will pick up in expectation that there will be some changes in Washington."