After suggesting Mike Lee was going to be wholly ineffective the other day, Jenn Rubin has turned her sights back on Jim DeMint today with some statements from DeMint that Rubin accurately notes could ruffle some feathers within the tea party movement.DeMint said, among other things, “One of the reasons I endorsed Romney [in 2008] is his attempts to make private health insurance available at affordable prices.”Rubin notes,

His backers and the Republican base more generally are not going to buy the excuse DeMint has offered on RomneyCare. Romney is going to be savaged by the right, and from those very people who have given DeMint his base of support. So the question for DeMint is: Is he willing to risk his own conservative street cred to support a candidate who will be the target of his base’s ire?

Well, DeMint has made sure no one will connect him to supporting Romneycare. He won’t support Romney until Romney apologizes for Romneycare. The Hill reports

A source close to the conservative icon emphasized that, despite comments to The Hill indicating that Romney shouldn’t shoulder all the political blame for the Massachusetts healthcare plan, DeMint wouldn’t endorse Romney again unless he admits the plan was mistaken.”It’s obvious Jim was just trying to be nice to the guy he backed over McCain, as many conservatives did in 2008,” the source said. “But he would never consider backing Romney again unless he admits that his Massachusetts healthcare plan was a colossal mistake.”

I think that ends that.