I’ve always thought of Orin Hatch as being kind of in Jesse Helms or Strom Thurmond territory - in other words, someone with such a historical record of vile political views that I simply can’t respect him under any circumstances.
However, I am not one of “those” liberals who believes that anyone who holds political views different from mine is by definition morally corrupt (misguided, maybe, but that’s different). I respect people who have thought through their values and come to genuinely different conclusions than me about what public policies will be best for Americans (for example, they can go to hell if they don’t care about the suffering of poor people, but if they honestly think the best way to reduce poverty is through different methods than the ones I support, I can respect that).
So…it seems like Orin Hatch is behaving like quite a decent person these days. The latest example is his apology to Robert Porter’s two ex-wives. And earlier, when Trump tweeted an impulsive ban on transgenders in the military, Hatch also gave a compassionate and reasoned response. Without remembering specifics, ISTM that this has been typical of his behavior over the past year.
What do people (from any end of the political spectrum) who are more familiar with Hatch than I am think about him? Yes, I know he’s a raging conservative; I’m not asking about that. I’m curious if you think he’s a stand-up guy or not who genuinely cares about other people. I’m inclined to think that yes, he is.
I am a raging conservative, and I think that Orin Hatch is a vile human being. I wish I had some details to flesh out my opinion, but I don’t remember all of the things that have made me pissed off about him. All I know is that he has, many many times, pissed me off with his hypocrisy. Yes, even though I am a conservative, I can still be pissed off by hypocritical alleged conservative politicians, and OH is very high on the list. If I can remember some specifics in the near future, I will post them. I apologize for the vagueness of this post, but I will do my best to add to it in the near future.
As Chair of the Judiciary Committee, he commented that if President Obama nominated a centre-of-the-road jurist like Merrick Garland the Committee wouldn’t have trouble voting for his confirmation.
So Obama nominated Garland.
Hatch agreed with the Republican strategy not to hold any hearings on the nomination.
I think of him as an old-school “Political Gentleman” - willing to do whatever he needs to politically to support his (in this case conservative) agenda, but who seeks to show decorum and manners in how he presents himself as a person and a legislator.
One thing that has sorta surprised me is his appearance in unusual places. Most recently, I think I saw him on Parks and Rec. Of course, McCain was on there as well.
But I had developed a pretty negative impression of him over time, without being able to cite any specific reasons. In addition to identifying him with the worst of Repub policies/practices, I think I recalled him as especially dickish in some hearings. Perhaps towards Anita Hill? But I somehow developed a dislike for both his policies, as well and his person.
Orrin Hatch carries way more baggage than could possibly fit into the Overhead of Decency. His worst legacy:
Also bearing heavy responsibility for infiltration of health woo - former Sen. Tom Harkin, who not only was instrumental in ensuring lack of regulation of the supplement industry (he was a big patron of Herbalife, to mutual benefit), but was the driving force in setting up the NIH’s sCAM division, which has wasted a great deal of money trying (and failing) to show value in various alt med interventions.
I’m one of his constituents, and I think he’s a decent guy, but I wouldn’t call him a “raging conservative”. The “raging conservatives” in Utah wanted to throw him out, for not being conservative enough, but they were stymied.
I don’t remember if it was the Anita Hill hearings or something else, but yes I remember some judiciary hearings in the early 90’s where he was a complete asshole. I remember an article in Newsweek where they used the names of the judiciary committee members as verbs or adjectives to describe the hearings, and Hatch’s was something like “he Orrinated all over the testimony.”
I saw him at a memorial service on Hill Air Force base which is in his purview; he sat quietly in a place usually reserved for family, left as soon as the service ended w/o greeting the family or widow and his staff member signed the guest book. The service was taped by a local tv station, I expect that’s why he was there.
I wasn’t impressed.
I know very little about the man - he’s impressed me as more decent than most of the current crop of Republicans, but that’s a low bar. I admit to not having followed his career closely and forming my impressions from less detailed scenarios.
I’m quoting Nawth Chucka because I’ve seen similar situations at funerals. I went to a funeral for a local fire chief and found myself standing next to a congresscritter. The people running the service noticed him and ushered him into an area for “dignitaries” (their term). I don’t mean to go out of my way for Hatch, but a lot of what looks like grandstanding may actually be protocol, especially at a military service.
No, I absolutely agree w/ that; I don’t think he asked to sit there and it likely is protocol. My peeve is he seemingly showed for a media opportunity and made no other effort to console the family nor even sign the guestbook himself. The widow is a friend of mine and she had no memory of his appearance.
But I somehow developed a dislike for both his policies, as well and his person.
