Jim DeMint was always known for being a dim bulb when he was in the Senate, but his attempt to try and rewrite history and create his own version of how slavery ended in this country goes beyond the ineptitude that he exuded while in Congress. Now he's insulting the memory of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and all those that fought to rid this country of its darkest sin. But his words also show how far conservatives will go to deny the truth so that it will serve their own political agenda.

Heritage Foundation head Jim DeMint appeared on Vocal Point with Jerry Newcombe of Truth In Action Ministries last week, where he insisted that “no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves.”

DeMint, a former US senator from South Carolina, told Newcombe that “the conscience of the American people” and not the federal government was responsible for the end of slavery.

In the interview, DeMint seemed to confuse the US Constitution with the Declaration of Independence and implied that William Wilberforce, a British politician who died almost thirty years before the Civil War, did more to end American slavery than the federal government.

Newcombe: What if somebody, let’s say you’re talking with a liberal person and they were to turn around and say, ‘that Founding Fathers thing worked out really well, look at that Civil War we had eighty years later.’

DeMint: Well the reason that the slaves were eventually freed was the Constitution, it was like the conscience of the American people. Unfortunately there were some court decisions like Dred Scott and others that defined some people as property, but the Constitution kept calling us back to ‘all men are created equal and we have inalienable rights’ in the minds of God.

But a lot of the move to free the slaves came from the people, it did not come from the federal government. It came from a growing movement among the people, particularly people of faith, that this was wrong. People like Wilberforce who persisted for years because of his faith and because of his love for people. So no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves. In fact, it was Abraham Lincoln, the very first Republican, who took this on as a cause and a lot of it was based on a love in his heart that comes from God.

Is that crazy? No wonder the Heritage Foundation has taken a lot of heat ever since DeMint took over.

"They're destroying the reputation and credibility of the Heritage Foundation. The respect for their policy work has been greatly diminished."

Does being a conservative leader mean you must either be completely ignorant or outright lie about history to earn your bona fides?

TPM:

DeMint dismisses the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to argue that the Constitution just ultimately led the country in the right direction.

The Heritage chief also seems to confuse the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The line "all men are created equal" comes from the latter.

DeMint added that "big government" did not end slavery, a Republican did.

"So no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves. In fact, it was Abraham Lincoln, the very first Republican, who took this on as a cause and a lot of it was based on a love in his heart that comes from God," he said.

Right Wing Watch notes that while Lincoln was president, the Republican party was not the states-rights party.