I oppose Orrin Hatch’s re-election
As faithful readers of this blog know, I was reporting on the Tea Party movement long before it was even called the Tea Party movement — and long before a legion of Johnny-come-latelys in Washington had grabbed their fiscal conservative costumes and joined the parade. I can remember not being able to get mainstream media coverage on the day of one of the first taxpayer protests in Denver in February 2009. We’ve come a long way, baby. From day one, I emphasized that the grass-roots activists leading the Tea Party charge have been as opposed to Big Government Republicans as they have to Big Government Democrats. They and I have not forgotten that bailout-mania began under the Bush administration, which pre-socialized the economy and handed it on a silver platter to Barack Obama.
Which brings me to GOP Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch.
The other day, he had the unfathomable audacity to proclaim himself a “Tea Party person.”
“Look, I think the tea party people deserve a lot of credit,” he said in response to a question about Democrats and Vice President Joe Biden reportedly calling freshman GOP members of Congress terrorists.
“We wouldn’t be where we are without them. The fact of the matter is I’ve been a tea party person I think since before the tea party came into existence.[emphasis added]
Are you freaking kidding me?
Orrin Hatch is the antithesis of the Tea Party spirit. He is a mascot for big-spending Beltway entrenched incumbency who has consistently joined hands with destructive Democrats.
He slobbered over corruptocrat Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd.
He co-sponsored the $6 billion national service boondoggle and dedicated it to his good friend Teddy Kennedy, with whom he also joined hands to create the ever-expanding SCHIP entitlement.
He supported tax cheat Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner from day one, lavished praise on Joe Biden’s balls, and embraced and defended Attorney General Eric Holder’s nomination because, he said, “I like Barack Obama and I want to help him if I can.”
He was an original sponsor of the open-borders DREAM Act illegal alien student bailout and voted for the massive TARP bailout.
How do real Tea Party people feel about Tea Party pretender Orrin Hatch?
The same way they feel about his former big-spending entrenched incumbent in Utah — former Sen. Bob Bennett — who got the boot in May.
As I noted back in April 2009:
If only the condescending cable TV anchors at CNN and MSNBC had paused from wallowing in gutter puns about tea bags, they might have reported an even more significant phenomenon: Tea Party protesters were as vocal in their criticism of Republicans as they were of Democrats. In Salt Lake City, Utah, a crowd of 2,000 repeatedly booed GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, who both supported the $700 billion TARP bailout, and protested GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman’s decision to accept $1.6 billion in porky stimulus funds.
Refresh your memories of how Utah Tea Party activists booed Hatch, Bennett, and McCain 2.0 presidential candidate and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman (at 1:24 in the video):
Now, the six-term Hatch — first elected in 1976 on an anti-entrenched incumbent platform (Hatch’s campaign line then against his opponent Frank Moss: “What do you call a Senator who’s served in office for 18 years? You call him home”) — wants to stay in Washington yet another term after FOUR DECADES in government. He has been lining up some big conservative names. And now there is some sort of pro-Hatch, anti-Freedomworks website using my words to support Hatch.
I don’t know what the beef is between Dick Armey and Orrin Hatch. But I will tell you this: While Armey’s pro-amnesty stance bothers me, bailout Swamp Creature Orrin Hatch’s desperate bid to cling to power by morphing himself into a Tea Party cheerleader aggravates me far more.
I will do whatever I can to support Hatch’s challenger — likely the staunch conservative GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is a fiscal warrior, tough on illegal immigration, and has a terrific record taking down the GOP establishment.
Forty-two Thirty-six continuous years and untold trillions of dollars in expanded government is enough — 42 is too much.
It’s time for Orrin Hatch to go.
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Term limits! It’s the only way to protect our Republic.
txvet2,
Well of course we can’t win entire elections, carry states or deliver overnight. No idea why you took that direction? However emphatically.
You’re still working off the MSM assumption that the only way we can grow is by “pilfering” from the GOP.
Every time I attend a TP event, I see more people. I see more people that have never BEEN to an event before. I see now as many Indies and Dem’s as we saw frustrated former GOP’ers in the early going.
I’m still a Reg. Repub. and ( time permitting ) I still attend the monthly breakfast etc. I guess I’m just more results-driven and impatient. C’mon man, the cream always rises to the top, unless you’re the lead dog the view never changes and coffee is for closers!
Oh, so Utah wil soon have a new Democrat Senator. Well, so much for that majority. But just wait till next year.
The whole point is to elect conservative representation at local, state and federal levels. If you think your only reason for existence is to sit around and complain to each other about how unfair life is then good luck, and we have nothing more to talk about. I suppose it’s inevitable that in areas where there are few conservatives that gatherings would devolve into little more than gripe sessions, but if and when the national Tea Party goes its own way and abandons conservative GOP candidates, or runs candidates as independents to split the conservative vote, it will soon fade away. Every third party movement does.
And I’m still an independent conservative. It seems odd that you are still a Republican, though. Passing strange, since you seem disinclined to support conservative Republicans (which is surely the fastest way to have an impact on national affairs). If you were truly so results-oriented, it would seem you’d take the course that would most quickly and surely lead to gratification. Like Wisconsin did, for instance.
Not entirely sure what this was supposed to mean, so I’ll just assume you’re attempting to “rally the troops” or something. It’s wasted on me, because I’m self-motivated and such things offend me by their condescension.
No reason for that to happen. Utah is maybe the most conservative state in the union. It will only go Democrat if Chaffetz wins the nomination and Hatch decides to go third party (or vice versa), as happened in Alaska – but like Alaska, I still don’t think the Democrat could get enough support to win.
At the Beck show in Salt Lake City last year, Orrin got a few polite claps when introduced while Chaffetz got a resounding round of applause.
This weasel needs to go.
Hannity and Levin have already endorsed him. I can understand Hannity being buffaloed, but Levin? What gives?
I think Levin was soft hearted enough (or soft-headed) to believe Hatch when he swore that he “got religion.”
One of the premiere old boys of the Old Boy Network, Hatch’s most infuriating moment for me came when Beck was trying to pound into his thick skull what a megalomaniac Cass Sunstein was and begged Hatch NOT to endorse him.
Hatch tut-tut’d Beck as someone would an unduly upset child and said, “He promised me he wouldn’t do those things” (referring to a horrendous laundry list of statements by or about Sunstein, whose sole goal in life is control over people by regulating them into the “desired” behavior. Sunstein and Lisa Jackson’s buddies are the No. 1 and 2 reasons we have dismal employment stats.
Utahans, PLEASE don’t buy the “conservative” Hatch who appears for a year before re-election (Juan “Build the darn fence” McCain pulls the same trick.) Hatch and his ilk are the reason we’re in our current precarious state.
WAIT!!!
You still have to vote for him, because he’s better than the Democrat!
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Whenever I see or hear “Utah Tea Party”, I instantly think of The Utah Teapot
Maybe a fitting symbol, I dunno.
The Utah Teapot Wiki Page
He’s the best Democrat in the race! Votes exactly like the greater-of-two-evils Democrats but to a true Republican, there is a difference that makes it worth it. To a nose-holding Republican, knowing the difference is an acquired skill akin to wine tasting. That’s why there are so few of them.
Of course, holding your nose to vote for Assistant Democrats is not compatible with being a refined wine aficionado. Oxygen deprivation dulls the “nose”.
BTW, Hannity is interviewing Mark Sanford right now and if you really want a good example of what a hypocrite sounds like, this is a good one. Won’t answer the tough questions and hides behind his “faith” in God.
Hatch succumbed to “Potomac Fever” long ago and needs to go. Most people can’t manage 2 terms in DC before they become infected. Hatch has clearly changed in the last 10 years and not for the better.
Good riddance, Senator Hatch…
I recently told my wife and dad:
This jackass is at the top of my list of RINO’s that should be primaried, and if there’s a credible opponent, I’ll send him or her money.
I’m not saying Orrin Hatch doesn’t have his faults, but if we’re going to use the term RINO for him, what term (that can be used in polite company) is left to describe Arlen Spector?
Warthog? Vulture? Marabou stork? Hyena? Jackal? Murtha?
The term for a guy like Spector (when he was still a Republican) is DIABLO. Democrat In All But Label Only. They are much more rare than RINO’s.
Unlike DIABLO’s, Republicans In Name Only don’t really fit in as Democrat’s either. As crazy as they are, they aren’t quite that disconnected from reality.
However, Hatch isn’t really a RINO. He’s just way too much of an appeasing squish to be an acceptable Senator from a conservative state like Utah. He’s better than McCain, and without being quite such a jerk.
If either McCain or Hatch were from asylums like Massachusetts or California, we wouldn’t be able to do any better, but it’s ridiculous for conservatives to be voting for those guys in places like Utah and Arizona.
I don’t know what word would apply to Arlen Spector but here is a picture of the very moment he left the GOP. Words fail me.
I will be giving time and money to defeat Orin Hatch in his next campaign. I am hoping that Jason Chaffetz will run for Senate. I can not forget that Hatch took part in the whitewashing of the Waco Massacre in support of his buddies Chucky Schumer and Diane Finstine. The idea that we burn children alive to punish their parents is an evil almost too sickening to comprehend. If there was any doubt about what happened there just look at the latest great idea coming from the same people with operation fast and furious.
Great recap as usual Michelle. Hatch needs to go, yesterday.
Hatch has been in the District of Corruption so long he no longer recognizes what corruption is. Time for all the Vichy Republicans to get the boot!
In the 2012 election, it would be circumspect for Tea Party and republicans to work together, to decide how many candidates they have a firepower to change. Orrin Hatch is not exactly Senator Castle of DE, and for most people not paying attention, they still associate his name with a lot of name calling Right Wing. Comment 101 before mine, says Term Limits! you know that might work, and states are free right now to do that just like they were always free to make improvements in your state wide health insurance practices, but want to burden the whole nation with a one size fits all because they can’t get it done at the state level. Instead of term limits, the Rules of the House and the Rules of the Senate ought to de emphasize the role of Seniority. They get their offices by seniority, and they are given power on that basis. And the senators advocate for themselves on the basis of seniority saying they have more power to serve you. That is what is wrong and undermines a person like a Mark Rubio coming to the Senate and being treated like a door stop, and someone like McConnell who is casper milque toast being named the leader, when the leader ought to be someone who has earned that position by speaking out and pushing our agenda. Term limits only hurt you, when someone is working out, like a Mark Rubio, or a Mayor Guiliani being forced out because that is the only turn they get, and actually deprives you of your freedom to choose who you want to vote for. The problem is the Power invested in seniority, and the Rules of the House and Senate that do not encourage light and air and are archaic. Also, they need Insider trading rules and need to divest in say all their Telecom stock if they serve on that committee, yes, Ed Markey. Besides Orrin Hatch, a lot of those old senators…really do seem irrelvant today, don’t they? what if they had to go home and run, and could not refer to themselves as more powerful than any other senator?
Who needs movies when the “theatre” presented in DC runs on a continuous clip? McCain & Grahamnesty take turns casting conservative votes only when they know the particular liberal measure in front of them is safe. I have watched the old guard, elitist RINOs for decades and just like the debt kabuki theatre we just endured the outcome is way more predictable than an old Rifleman episode.
We need to send a message to conservative Republican congressmen and congresswomen that they can challenge these career Republican Senators in primaries and receive our support. Bennett found out and its time the Senators from Ga, Me, Tx, Az, Ms, (1) in SC, (1) in Ky and the others scattered across the country join their true brethren on K Street. Maybe we can then pass the Fair Tax and K Street will only be a memory.
I am a Utah state delegate. The nominee out of the convention will be the general winner. Sen. Hatch is way past his sell by date. I assure you he will have a tough fight in the upcoming convention. With a good alternative like Jason, he will be sent packing.
P.S. We have a good recent track record. 4 years ago Cannon, 2 years ago Bennet, next: Hatch.