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Ultra conservative Tea Party Republican U.S. Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina, has announced his resignation and will become head of the ultra conservative Heritage Foundation think tank that has a strong thumb on the conservative movement. DeMint, virulently anti-gay, fancied himself a king-maker, creating the Palmetto Freedom Forum, a conservative strategy conference that this year was attended by the likes of Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Ron Paul, to name a few.
READ: On Our Radar: Senator Jim DeMint’s Anti-Gay Palmetto Freedom Forum
“Elected in 2004, he was re-elected in 2010. His term was not up until 2016. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican, will name a successor. A special election will then be held in 2014 for the last two years of his term,” CNN reports.
DeMint’s base salary as a Senator is $174,000. He will likely earn over a million dollars annually at Heritage (PDF).
Ironically, given his record, Senator DeMint has been a member of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women’s Issues.
In 2010, Senator DeMint said that gays should not be allowed to teach, nor should unmarried women be sleeping with their boyfriends.
DeMint also boycotted the uber-conservative CPAC annual event over its inclusion of GOProud.
The Heritage Foundation is a perfect fit for DeMint, although no doubt he will swing them even further right.
“Jim DeMint has shown that principled conservatism remains a winning political philosophy,” Heritage Chairman of the Board Thomas A. Saunders announced. “His passion for rigorous research, his dedication to the principles of our nation’s founding, and his ability to translate policy ideas into action make him an ideal choice to lead Heritage to even greater success.”
Of course, that “rigorous research” is religious right “research.”
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