Jim DeMint was removed as president of the Heritage Foundation this week in a manner similar to the re-accommodation of unlucky passengers by United Airlines. It was brutal, ugly, and public.

Now that the former senator’s defenestration is achieved, the conservative think tank ought to bury the memory of its deposed leader and put the coup behind it. For its own survival as a respectable institution and for the benefit of conservative policy development, Heritage needs to rebuild and reform.