When Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in mid-July projected that the Republican Party would "break" President Obama by making health care "his Waterloo," it marked a turning point in the political debate.
The South Carolinian's remark became notorious both for its stridency as well as its unabashed partisanship. It also, to a certain extent, changed the way that Democrats approached the process of reform, making them a bit more doubtful that the Republicans were negotiating in good faith.
Almost three months have passed since then. But on Wednesday, DeMint was talking about Waterloo again.
In an interview with conservative blogger Melissa Clouthier that was picked up by the progressive Media Matters Action Network, the senator's message was still the same: if Republicans stop Obama on health care they can derail his entire agenda.
"If it goes through, I think we go over the cliff as a country, because the level of spending and debt and government takeovers has accelerated dramatically this year," said DeMint. "And if the president passes the health care he wants to go straight to cap and trade, which is a huge tax on electricity and energy in our country. And he freely admits that the electricity rates will skyrocket. And then he wants to go on to what they call card check, which is taking away a worker's secret ballot when they are trying to unionize.
"So the reason I said that health care was so pivotal -- I actually said it is the Waterloo in effect - is if we can stop him on health care, stop the momentum of spending and takeovers, and force him and the Democrats to sit down and work with the American people on some issues, we might have a chance to salvage this thing."
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