Jim DeMint Says Boehner Should Be Worried About Speakership

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint will be leaving the Senate in January to lead the conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation as president (AP photo)

Republican leadership, in particular Speaker of the House John Boehner, should be wary of the growing level of frustration within their party, said South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint, who recently announced that he will leave the U.S. Senate at the end of this session to become president of the The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

During an interview with Jay Severin on TheBlaze radio network Thursday, DeMint issued a warning directly to Boehner while expressing his own frustrations with Capitol Hill and his party, which led to his decision to leave public office.

“Boehner says he is not concerned about his speakership, ought he be?” asked Severin.

“Yea, I think so,” answered DeMint.

Shortly after announcing his decision to leave Congress, DeMint delivered a slight barb against the Speaker during an interview with Rush Limbaugh. Saying “It might work a little bit the other way around,” when asked if the Speaker forced him out.

In response to Severin’s questions about a Republican plan B if the president won re-election, DeMint replied that there hasn’t been any such preparation.

“We have not had that plan you talked about,” DeMint said. “We cant keep playing defense all the time, negotiating with ourselves, allowing the president to not have a plan.”

Republicans need to stop conceding on their values and conducting backdoor negotiations, DeMint said.

“The house should have passed a bill that we thought was best for the country, and probably should have gone home during this lame duck,” DeMint said on the failure to still not have a solution for the debt and Fiscal Cliff. ”It’s important in a political sphere to back up what you say, its really about power–whether we like it or not.”

Regardless of what deal is made on the debt before the Fiscal Cliff, DeMint says he has already seen the damage in South Carolina with businesses pulling back plans and hiring for next year because of the implementation of Obamacare and threats of new taxes.

“I think the president needs us and is trying to get Republicans to go over this fabricated cliff in order to try to blame Republicans for the impact of his other policies,” DeMint claimed. DeMint blamed the undesirable scenario now, on bad deals made during the debt ceiling crisis earlier in the session.

“The president is getting away with not having any serious plan at all, and Republicans are negotiating with ourselves. Frankly there is no good way to get out of this now,” DeMint said. “We’re in this fix because of bad deals we made during the last debt ceiling showdown because we did not take a stand.”

During the interview DeMint and Severin also discussed North Korea’s recent rocket launch, which he believes was a preview for technology that Iran might want to buy, and the 2012 elections where DeMint says Republicans lost because they campaigned on just being against Obama rather than arguing the benefits of conservative-minded public policy.

Listen to Jay Severin on TheBlaze Radio Network Weekdays 2-5pm.