Former Senator Jim DeMint Invites You to March Against Gays: VIDEO

Former Senator Jim DeMint, who resigned in December to head up the homophobic Heritage Foundation, appears in a new video asking people to join him at the anti-gay 'March for Marriage' before the Supreme Court on March 26.

Says DeMint in the video: "Let's stand and defend the institution of marriage, which existed long before government to provide children with mothers and fathers..."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

NOTE: You can counter DeMint's call for bigots by finding a local action at United for Marriage or join in the rally in D.C. on March 26th and 27th.

Anti-Gay Congressman Tim Scott Chosen to Replace Jim DeMint

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) has been chosen to join the U.S. Senate by Governor Nikki Haley as a replacement for outgoing Senator Jim DeMint who is leaving to join the Heritage Foundation.

Right Wing Watch reports:

Scott was elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave after defeating Strom Thurmond’s son in the GOP primary with backing from Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin.  He’s considered a rising star in the party -- after the 2012 election he was elected to serve as the liaison to leadership for the rising sophomore class.  Like DeMint, he embraces both the Religious Right’s anti-gay, anti-choice social agenda and the Tea Party’s anti-government, anti-tax, anti-regulation agenda.  No wonder he’s a Fox News favorite – and no wonder Fred Barnes, writing in the Weekly Standard, calls Scott an “ideal replacement” for DeMint.

Scott holds particular appeal for conservatives after this year’s elections in which people of color overwhelmingly supported President Obama.  If appointed, Scott would become the only African American member of the U.S. Senate.  In 2010, he was one of 15 black conservative candidates backed by “Operation Black Storm,” a project of Alan Keyes’ Patriot PAC.  Only Scott and Allen West were elected. Scott shares West’s politics but not his tendency to spout ridiculous rhetoric about President Obama being a Marxist tyrant. That may be one reason West will soon be a former member of Congress and Scott may soon be a U.S. Senator.

And David Badash notes that Scott is known as the “Chick-Fil-A Teavangelical” because it was there that he met a born-again Christian who shaped his life.

Stephen Colbert Would Like Jim DeMint's Senate Seat: VIDEO

Yesterday, Andrew reported on the departure of Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) to the Heritage Foundation. Stephen Colbert would like folks to petition Governor Nikki Haley because the U.S. Senate "could use another white guy."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Anti-Gay Sen. Jim DeMint Resigning To Run The Heritage Foundation

In a move that's surprising for a career politicians but makes perfect sense for an unwavering ideologue, Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina is stepping down in January to take the helm as president of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that spends its $80 million annual budget fighting everything from raising taxes to marriage equality to giving ex-convicts the right to vote.

The Wall Street Journal reports that DeMint's departure means that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will name a successor who will then run on their own during a special 2014 election.

DeMint, a former US Rep. elected to the Senate in 2004 and reelected during the Tea Party surge of 2010, has made homophobia a hallmark of his Senate career: he has consistently said gay marriage will destroy society and even went so far as to say that gay people and single women shouldn't be teachers, a remark he lated defended. 

Jim DeMint: 'God Told Me To Save Freedom'

Senator Jim DeMint, the Tea Party kingmaker who once said single women and gay men shouldn't become teachers, today published a new book, The Great American Awakening.

In addition to dishing on the tensions that developed between him and Republican establishment when he began backing the Tea Party, DeMint also says that divine intervention fueled his political career.

McClatchy offers a summation of the South Carolinian Republican's claims:

DeMint writes in almost messianic terms as he repeatedly casts himself as fulfilling a mission assigned to him by God to "save freedom," prevent bankrupting the future and pull the nation back from a moral abyss.

Describing his book as a story of "the battle for America's soul," DeMint said he was tired of Washington after his first term and came close to not seeking re-election last year, but God persuaded him to stay in the fight.

DeMint's declaration that God shapes his legislative action reminds me of the late, great Comedy Central show Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, on which comedian Marc Maron discussed how God no longer picks prophets.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Sen. Jim DeMint Defends Gay Teacher Remark

Senator Jim DeMint came under fire a few days ago for saying that sexually active single women and gay people shouldn't be allowed to teach.

Now, after a slight delay, DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, has issued a response and basically says school boards can decide on their own and people should stop attacking him for being discriminatory.

The statement, via DeMint's communication's director, "Sen. DeMint believes that hiring decisions at local schools are a local school board issue, not a federal issue. He was making a point about how the media attacks people for holding a moral opinion."

DeMint's remark was referencing similar comments he made in 2004.