| | GOP senator: McCain put 'nail in our coffin'
 South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint joined the growing ranks of Republicans turning on Sen. John McCain for betraying his conservative principles in the pursuit of the Oval Office, CNN reported.
McCain is largely responsible for the Republican Party straying from its own "brand," DeMint told a group of GOP officials in Myrtle Beach on Friday during a conference on the future of the party.
"We have to be honest, and there's a lot of blame to go around, but I have to mention George Bush, and I have to mention Ted Stevens, and I'm afraid I even have to mention John McCain," he said.
DeMint complained about many of McCain's policies while on the campaign trail.
"His proposal for amnesty for illegals. His support of global warming, cap-and-trade programs that will put another burden on our economy. And of course, his embrace of the bailout right before the election was probably the nail in our coffin this last election," DeMint said.
The head of the most conservative faction of Senate Republicans, DeMint said the sweeping Democratic gains in November's election vindicate his call for a return to Reaganite values, McClatchy Newspapers reported.
"One of our principles is that power corrupts, and you need to disperse it," DeMint said. "And if our own party allows ourselves to be destroyed by this idea, and are not willing to stand up, then we have to change everyone at the top."
Many Republicans have begun claiming the party's failure in the 2008 election was the result of watered-down conservatism and the way to rectify that failure is moving further to the right, according to Salon.com.
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