Hatch riffs on Kerry and 'crazy' Teresa

CEDAR CITY — Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, is a likeable guy with a lovely wife, according to Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch.

"I like him. I like Teresa, too," Hatch said during remarks he made Thursday at the Utah Rural Summit in Cedar City. "She's nuts. She's crazy, but I like her."

Hatch's off-the-cuff analysis of Teresa Heinz Kerry's mental state generated laughter from the crowd of elected officials and public employees gathered on the Southern Utah University campus for the two-day summit.

Although Utah's senior senator was slated to speak for around 10 to 15 minutes on rural economic issues, once the topic turned to Kerry and his run for the White House, Hatch found it difficult to give up the mike.

"Kerry has done nothing in 20 years. I can't think of one substantive thing, one bill that he's passed," said Hatch. "I really believe Bush will win the vote and by a larger percentage than what's predicted today."

Kerry's running mate, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, has been even less productive, he said.

"Before he started running for vice president, Edwards wouldn't show up for committee meetings. If he did show up, he'd stay for one or two minutes so he could say he was there," said Hatch. "He wouldn't show up for markups on bills. There's no doubt in my mind he wouldn't have been re-elected by North Carolinians."

Both men are "smart and attractive," but they haven't served their states or country well, he added.

"They're serving in the U.S. Senate. They should give it all they have," Hatch continued. "I about fell off my chair when Kerry said our troops need body armor. He voted against the bill that would have given our troops just that, and Edwards did too."

In 1999, said Hatch, he threw his own name into the mix of presidential candidates for two reasons: "As backup to Bush in case he failed, and the importance of judges."

Judges, and the decisions they make on behalf of Americans, are "one of the most important issues in our country," he said.

"I was also a little tired of the prejudice against my own personal faith," said Hatch, a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "I knocked that down a bit, but it's still out there and probably always will be."

President Bush is "one smart guy" with a "great mind," he said. "The media is 91 percent opposed to Bush and distort what he does. Don't ever sell Bush short. He's one of us. This is a guy who worked in the oil fields; he didn't spend all his time learning how to be articulate."

The senator also defended Vice President Dick Cheney's recent swapping of barnyard curses with Vermont's Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy on the usually sedate Senate floor.

"Look, for those of you who are upset with Cheney's comments to Leahy, don't be. I know none of you swear, although I have heard some of you use acceptable farm talk," Hatch told the many ranchers, farmers and other rural leaders in the audience. "Cheney told Leahy what he might do with himself, and I'm sure people in Utah didn't know what he meant. But they do now."

---

E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com