DeMint joins Stennis on list of 10 most influential ultraconservative senators of modern times
Jim DeMint’s stunning departure from the Senate this morning to head up the conservative Heritage Foundation takes the leader of the far-right wing of the Republican Party out of the Senate.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is breathing a sigh of relief now that his intraparty nemesis is gone. At least gone from the Senate.
The South Carolina senator became force to be reckoned with by his flat refusal to compromise on his bedrock principles and his eagerness to challenge establishment Republican candidates in GOP primaries.
Love him or loathe him, DeMint has been effective. Who are some of the other most influential ultraconservative senators of the past half century? Here are nine others to join DeMint on our top ten list:
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John Stennis, Mississippi
The last of the Dixiecrats survived late into the 20th century before yielding to a Republican, Trent Lott, in 1988. He fought against civil rights. He fought against peaceniks in his own party. He fought against union influence. He was against government spending except if it was for the military or for Mississippi. He was an old-fashioned, unreconstructed Southern Democrat, an extinct species.
SF Gate
Magnolia Tribune
