Progress Illinois

Back from his surprise trip to Honduras, in which he and a Republican delegation met with the nation's interim president President Roberto Micheletti (who assumed power through a military coup and has been subsequently condemned by the Obama administration and the European Union), Rep. Peter Roskam had some generous things to say about one of his travel partners, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina). Listen as he speaks admiringly of his congressional colleague on WLS’ Don Wade and Roma:

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ROSKAM: Senator DeMint is so grounded and wise and I came away just very, very impressed with him.

Is there a second Jim DeMint serving in Washington? Because if we're talking about the South Carolina arch-conservative, words like "grounded" and "wise" seem a tad inappropriate.

This is the same lawmaker who, instead of working across the aisle in the upper chamber to solve America's problems, said he'd rather "create pain" for his fellow legislators. This summer, he made his first priority torpedoing health care reform, pointing out that "if we're able to stop Obama on this ... it will break him." Two years ago, he wrote an essay for the National Review advocating that all "illegal immigrants should have to return home and get right with the law before being granted legal status." Now, he's turned his focus to purportedly creeping socialism,"writing" a book titled "Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America 's Slide Into Socialism" and telling a crowd of conservative activists that President Obama is "the world’s best salesman of socialism." (He's also repeatedly compared today's government to that of the Nazi's.) And here's the kicker: during his 2004 Senate campaign, DeMint told a local newspaper that openly gay people and unwed pregnant women shouldn't be allowed to teach in public schools. (He later issued a very weak retraction.)

I think it's fair to ask Rep. Roskam how many of these claims and ideas he endorses.