During an interview on NBC Wednesday morning, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) declined to back down from his earlier statement that health care reform represented President Barack Obama's "Waterloo." And now, Democrats are all too happy to continue to make the South Carolina Republican the center of the debate.
The Democratic National Committee is releasing a new television advertisement accusing DeMint of politicizing health care reform and symbolizing the "Party of No" characteristic of the GOP.
"Jim DeMint and congressional Republicans are trying to kill health care reform," the ad reads. "Senator DeMint is playing politics with our health care, putting the special interests in Washington ahead of South Carolina families and business. The only health care plan Jim DeMint supports is no plan at all."
The ad titled, "No Plan at All," is the latest effort by Democrats to make GOP opposition to health care the key and defining feature of the reform debate. Republicans have generally defended DeMint, saying that Democrats are making him a straw man. But there are others within the Republican ranks who also have begun saying that the South Carolinian's rhetoric was too aggressive.
The spot, according to a DNC source, will air on cable news stations in Greenville (DeMint's hometown) and Columbia, S.C., as well as Washington D.C.