DeMint's Former PAC Targets Lindsey Graham Over Obamacare

The political action committee founded by former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint is lashing out at South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham for chastising fellow Republicans who have called for defunding the Affordable Care Act.

In a 60-second radio ad sponsored by the Senate Conservatives Fund, a narrator says, "Republicans in Congress can stop Obamacare by refusing to fund it, but Senator Lindsey Graham says, that's 'a bridge too far.'

"What's really 'a bridge too far' is if Lindsey Graham votes to fund a government program like Obamacare that will do so much harm to South Carolina families," the ad continues.

"Obamacare is a job killer, yet Lindsey Graham refuses to do what it takes to stop funding for this liberal train wreck . . . This could be our last chance to stop Obamacare, and it’s time for Lindsey Graham to start listening to us, not his friends in Washington."

The ad, which will air for the next two weeks throughout the state at a cost of $37,500, urges people to sign a petition at DontFundObamacare.com.

Matt Hoskins, a spokesman for the Senate Conservatives Fund, told The State newspaper that DeMint, who now heads the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, severed his ties with the PAC in 2012.

But the newspaper said that comments the Republican made Monday at a town-hall meeting, seemed to agree with the PAC’s ad.

DeMint also told National Public Radio after the town hall meeting that Republicans who are afraid of forcing a government shutdown to defund Obamacare "need to be replaced."

A spokesman for Graham told The State that the senator has sponsored or co-sponsored bills to repeal or defund Obamacare in the past but does not believe that forcing a government shutdown over the issue is the right course to follow. Asked if DeMint supports Graham’s re-election bid, the spokesman did not comment.