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Orrin Hatch destroys Dan

The Thriller

The Thriller

Well-Known Member
Orrin Hatch destroys Liljenquist

https://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/polit...ljenquist-senate-spent.html.csp#disqus_thread

I haven't seen a thread about this.

The tea party, big-spending PACs and challenger Dan Liljenquist failed Tuesday to force 78-year-old Orrin Hatch into retirement. The self-proclaimed "tough old bird" flew easily through the GOP primary, so now only Democrat Scott Howell stands between him and a record-shattering seventh term.
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It's interesting because it has felt for years that Hatch was in real trouble. Yet, he crushed his GOP opponent. I don't know if that says much about how Utahns really feel towards Hatch, or if Liljenquist just wasn't a real quality opponent, or if Hatch's spending/organization prevented him from facing a similar fate as Bob Bennett, or something else....

Thoughts?
 
Liljenquist lost graciously it sounds.
I don't know what to think about this though. I am to the point where I will vote against all multi-term people out there. Two is good, because they learn the ropes in the first, and might actually do something in the second... but it's after that that I think they get cronies around them and start to live the life while coasting.

just my opinion.
 
I pay so little attention to local politics anymore. I figure that whatever person gets support from the LDS church is going to win, so I don't waste my time voting as if it mattered.
 
I am no Hatch lover, but he is actually going to be the chair on the finance committee which could be a very good thing both locally and nationally. I might have voted against him if there was a decent challenger, but Dan is among the very worst Utah politicians I have known. He puts on a good show for the cameras, but if more people would follow politics in Utah beyond election day, then I don't think he would have even made it to a primary. He is right there with guys like Howard Stephenson, Dave Clark, Wayne Niederhauser, Chris Buttars, and Carl Wimmer.
 
Gameface said:
Which one do the power brokers running LDS corp. like better?

Here's a hint. Seniority in the senate matters.
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What exactly did the LDS church do to help Hatch? I want specific examples.

Just saying that they merely support seniority is pathetically weak, even for a poster like you. I want specifics on what they did to help that "senior" hatch defeat Liljenquist. Unless you provide specific examples then we should just dismiss your comment as yet another anti-LDS comment in the long list of them.
 
The Thriller said:
What exactly did the LDS church do to help Hatch? I want specific examples.

Just saying that they merely support seniority is pathetically weak, even for a poster like you. I want specifics on what they did to help that "senior" hatch defeat Liljenquist. Unless you provide specific examples then we should just dismiss your comment as yet another anti-LDS comment in the long list of them.
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I don't recall Gameface making a whole lot of anti LDS comments. Would you like to provide this long list you're referring to?
 
I am amused that the platform I seemed to hear most that Hatch is running on is "I've been there 36 years. I have seniority." Yeah. Nothing about what I do, just that you should vote for me not because of anything I do, just that I'm a career politician.
 
No offense, but I find it a bit frighting that any state would elect the same guy to the Senate for what will probably be over 40 years.
 
The Thriller said:
What exactly did the LDS church do to help Hatch? I want specific examples.

Just saying that they merely support seniority is pathetically weak, even for a poster like you. I want specifics on what they did to help that "senior" hatch defeat Liljenquist. Unless you provide specific examples then we should just dismiss your comment as yet another anti-LDS comment in the long list of them.
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I don't know that they did. I didn't pay attention to the election and didn't know the name of his challenger. I'm making awesome generalized assumptions about Utah politics. I thought I had made that obvious.
 
Nate505 said:
No offense, but I find it a bit frighting that any state would elect the same guy to the Senate for what will probably be over 40 years.
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Byrd (WV) was in there for 57 years.
Daniel Inouye Hawaii has been in for close to 50 years

17 total 6 term (6 years) senators in history. Hatch is the next one it looks like.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
I am amused that the platform I seemed to hear most that Hatch is running on is "I've been there 36 years. I have seniority." Yeah. Nothing about what I do, just that you should vote for me not because of anything I do, just that I'm a career politician.
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Is that any worse than people wanting to get rid of Hatch just because he's been in office a long time and not because of what he's done or hasn't done?
 
nightmare3983 said:
Is that any worse than people wanting to get rid of Hatch just because he's been in office a long time and not because of what he's done or hasn't done?
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One of the most revered politician in American History and its first president made it a point that a career in politics was not the American ideal, even when given the chance to be president essentially for life, so yes, it is worse.
 
nightmare3983 said:
Is that any worse than people wanting to get rid of Hatch just because he's been in office a long time and not because of what he's done or hasn't done?
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Darkwing Duck said:
One of the most revered politician in American History and its first president made it a point that a career in politics was not the American ideal, even when given the chance to be president essentially for life, so yes, it is worse.
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Washington also wasn't a big fan of political parties, which are worse now than in Washington's time. Does that make any politician bad for being part of a political party?
 
nightmare3983 said:
Washington also wasn't a big fan of political parties, which are worse now than in Washington's time. Does that make any politician bad for being part of a political party?
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Being part of a political party, no. Toeing the party line, yes. This whole thing about politician's voting record being analyzed via a percentage of the party line, and the closer to 100% the better, is bad.
 
nightmare3983 said:
Washington also wasn't a big fan of political parties, which are worse now than in Washington's time. Does that make any politician bad for being part of a political party?
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Darkwing Duck said:
Being part of a political party, no. Toeing the party line, yes. This whole thing about politician's voting record being analyzed via a percentage of the party line, and the closer to 100% the better, is bad.
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I definitely agree with that. I'm definitely not a fan of career politicians, but I'm also not a fan of people wanting to get rid of someone just because he/she has been in too long. That's not a valid reason to me. Nor is running solely on the platform of "I have seniority". I really would like to see some term limits put in place. That way nobody could be too powerful for too long of a time.
 
Terms limits reduces the power of the individual politician, but the power will still be there in the government, just wielded by someone else (staffer, lobbyist, etc.). At least the politician is a public face on that power.
 
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