I read John Yoo’s case for keeping Senator Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) with interest because I have no strong views on the matter. Yoo makes the case that Hatch has done a lot for conservatives. I agree. Hatch can be quite an effective spokesman; he has the whole more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger form of rebuking his opponents down pat. On the other hand, I don’t know if I buy that Antonin Scalia would not have been confirmed without Hatch’s assistance. The first Italian-American justice won the votes of 98 senators, after all.
Anyway, what I found unsatisfying in Yoo’s case was his failure to mention* the other side of the ledger. Hatch was a co-sponsor of immigration bills most conservatives oppose; he teamed up with Ted Kennedy to create the S-Chip entitlement; he supported the nominations of Justices Breyer and Ginsburg along with those of many lower-court liberals; and so on. Now there may be good defenses of some of these positions, and Hatch’s record has gotten better in recent years (especially since he saw his colleague Bob Bennett lose his seat). But I read Yoo’s article to imply that only purist nuts have reservations about Hatch—and that’s just false.
* Update: Yoo did have a sentence specifying a few of the conservative objections, so I shouldn’t have said that he didn’t mention them. But I don’t think he can be said to have dealt with them adequately.
Senator Hatch also scoffed at the idea that Eric Holder should not be confirmed as Attorney General.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes. The good Senator Hatch has had a religious conversion of sorts. I recall the day after his colleague's ousting; it was like watching a child wake up from a nap after someone flipped on the lights.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRamesh makes a good point.
Replacing Hatch with a more conservative candidate like like Liljenquist keeps all of the same votes that Hatch was willing to make early in his career, but adds the benefit of a senator willing to reform entitlements and shrink governments rather than raise the debt limit 16 times, sCHIP, TARP, auto bailouts etc.
America can no longer afford the spending of pseudo-conservatives like Orrin Hatch. They have bankrupted our country and enslaved our children for decades.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHAha this is a great article. Orrin Hatch did sell his Conservative soul to the D.C. Progressives a long time ago- he has woken up since Senator Lee arrived after destroying Senator Bennett- but this is just further evidence that Hatch is very good at the Political game. He should be too after 36 years, its time for him to come home
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHatch also wanted to stick the Senate's nose into the college football Bowl Championship Series (BCS). As if the process for determining a college football National Champion is a Federal issue. I.e., the collective mediocrity that is called the U.S. Senate has nothing better to ruminate about.
Pay attention to those little nuggets of Congressional hubris, conceit and arrogance. Self-important nitwits like the hyper-atrocious Chuck Schumer can mindlessly burp out 1 a week..
The fact that a Senate Dinosaur like Hatch also proposes them indicates the level of Beltway Reptile Hack that he really his.
Send that sclerotic clown back to Salt Lake...
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I don’t know if I buy that Antonin Scalia would not have been confirmed without Hatch’s assistance."
Rehnquist should get credit for that as it was his promotion to Chief Justice that garnered all of the Democrats' furor - leaving Scalia with a breezy path to the Court. But while Hatch has been good for the Senate judiciary it's hard to forgive his many awful endorsements of some truly bad bills in the Senate.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJust to send an informed note about Hatch. His 36 years in the Senate is enough, I don’t care how perfect his conservative record is. Which it isn’t. I am a Utah delegate that reads a lot of the corner stuff. I was a delegate that helped defeat Hatch’s senate mate Bob Bennett. Hatch’s transformation the last 2-3 years is astounding. He could see the writing on the wall for Senator Bennett and has made a huge conservative pivot, as a direct result. His voting on spending bills before the last 3 years is not conservative. His voting on debt limit increases is not conservative. He is a good, decent man but 36 years in the Senate is way, way too long and directly opposed by the clear intent of the founders. His wiliness to vote for liberal judges just because they had a resume and the President deserved his choices is not good enough. I expect to be a delegate this year and there will be a huge battle leading up to the State convention to deal with Hatch, but he has the good fortune of timing. Had he been up for election two years ago he would have been defeated like Bennett. I’m quite sure it won’t happen this time, unfortunately.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOrin Hatch has been the best Senator the state of Pennsylvania has ever had....wait, I mean... One example: Orin Hatch took full credit for protecting southern Utah lands back in the 90s when in reality he took a neutral stance on a federal land grab issue and allowed the federal gov. to walk into southern Utah and grab millions of acres of land. Rep. Jim Hansen begged Utah Senators Hatch and Bennett to step in and fight. They did exactly NOTHING! When the dust settled, Hansen saved Southern Utah and before the ink was dry on the lawsuit both Hatch and Bennett had issued press releases taken credit for saving the lands in Southern Utah! Hatch is no leader. He is an opportunist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOrin Hatch has been the best Senator the state of Pennsylvania has ever had....wait, I mean... One example: Orin Hatch took full credit for protecting southern Utah lands back in the 90s when in reality he took a neutral stance on a federal land grab issue and allowed the federal gov. to walk into southern Utah and grab millions of acres of land. Rep. Jim Hansen begged Utah Senators Hatch and Bennett to step in and fight. They did exactly NOTHING! When the dust settled, Hansen saved Southern Utah and before the ink was dry on the lawsuit both Hatch and Bennett had issued press releases taken credit for saving the lands in Southern Utah! Hatch is no leader. He is an opportunist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOrin Hatch has been the best Senator the state of Pennsylvania has ever had....wait, I mean... One example: Orin Hatch took full credit for protecting southern Utah lands back in the 90s when in reality he took a neutral stance on a federal land grab issue and allowed the federal gov. to walk into southern Utah and grab millions of acres of land. Rep. Jim Hansen begged Utah Senators Hatch and Bennett to step in and fight. They did exactly NOTHING! When the dust settled, Hansen saved Southern Utah and before the ink was dry on the lawsuit both Hatch and Bennett had issued press releases taken credit for saving the lands in Southern Utah! Hatch is no leader. He is an opportunist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHatch has also been a long-time tool of the media and software protection rackets. He is one of the foremost advocates, and has been for decades, for greater and greater federal restrictions to be imposed on computers and any devices which can be used to duplicate copyrighted material. He once advocated a system where anybody who used a computer to illegally copy any material at all would have their computers immediately destroyed... and he was willing to consider changing federal law to allow copyright holders to carry out that destruction.
He is not a real conservative, in my book, and never has been. And I can assure you I'm a big tent sort of guy. He's just another career politician to me.
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