DeMint: Centrist Dems more afraid of labor unions than voters

Democratic Senators are more afraid of liberal interest groups than their own constituents who could vote them out of office, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Friday.

Speaking to conservative blogger Ed Morrissey after his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, DeMint said that centrist Democrats such as Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D), as well as Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) could be picked off on some votes from the Democratic majority in the Senate.

“We can’t count on 100 percent of Republicans all the time,” DeMint said, “but there are enough Democrats in the senate who understand we’re going in the wrong direction.”

“They’re more afraid of the labor unions than their own constituents,” the conservative South Carolina senator said. “They know what we’re doing is hurting jobs back home, but they’re just afraid of the big money in the Democrat Party.”

DeMint also said that the conservatives in the Senate needed to more aggressively “go after” centrist Republicans such as Sens. Arlen Specter (Pa.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) who joined Democrats to support the stimulus package.

“What we need to do is keep going after these republicans who cut our knees out from under us,” DeMint said. “These three just pulled the rug right out from under us. They were played for fools, in my mind.”