Reader comments
Chaffetz is sworn in to Congress

"But there's some Mormon oriented jokes that maybe I wouldn't want my kids to hear." Good stuff. Nice work Utah County hiring your future rocket scientist and all around good role model.

Re: He's is a genius comments:

Read the whole article, both pages. It is obvious the guy doing the show was telling the jokes, not Jason.

By the way, I think you will find Jason got just about more votes outside of Utah County than inside.

Get a 3rd district map.

This guy is as dumb as a fence post ( yeah let's balance the budget ). He will prove to be even more embarassing than the usual Utah delegation. No small achievement.

I for one am proud of Jason Chaffetz. Good job.

there is a decent chance he will be an improvement over cannon so it was worth voting him. let's see what he has done 18 months from now before we go off on negative comments.

I'm excited for him. Too bad I can only vote in Alpine which technically is outside of his district. Don't worry about the naysayer's Jason. Their opinion is worth a pile of nothing, and they don't contribute to society anyways!

All liberals have is negativity. No matter how beneficial, if a conservative/republican did it, it must be criticized.

Liberals are just sad people.

I donated to his campaign and I don't live in his district. He sent me a nice thank you letter. He may be the only good Utah republicon back there altho I don't mind Bishop. Bennett and Hatch are fossils and should be put out to pasture. Bennett was heavily involved in laying the foundations for the financial meltdown. Hatch has just been there too long as shown by his misguided loyalty to Bush.

I supported Chaffetz during the primary - but only because the alternative (Cannon) was such a poor choice. So far, Chaffetz has done nothing to show me he's any less a loose cannon than his predecessor.

The only hope I have is that Chaffetz remains in the minority - which blunts his influence considerably. Then, in the next election we can get a real Republican in there who will show some discipline and restraint on issues.

Did anybody see Chaffetz on The Colbert Report last night? It was pretty good, and Chaffetz came off pretty well, except Stephen totally whooped his butt at leg wrestling.

I'm sorry, but I think the whole cot in his office thing is cheezy and a publicity stunt. Makes him look like a total idiot and a buffoon, and Utah by association. Seems like he's all too eager to clamor for the spotlight and being on comedy shows. Enjoy your 15 minutes!!

First commenter is right, we have a fossilied government with fossilied ideas. We need laws regulating how many terms a representative can run for office. Old fossile ideas create fossilized government laws and buddy packs. Too many good ideas and laws get compormised to allow bad laws and ineffective government. We need chages more often in Washington to keep out corruption and the kind of poor representation we have in Bennett and Hatch, now members of the elite group of spendthrifts and brain dead legislators. Their loyalties are to government and not the people they represent who elected them.

Hopefully Chavets will make a serious impact on all the illegals that have inundated america with crime and criminal activities. The actions to round up and deport all illegals was one of his platforms I hope he can followup on. If the illegals could have voted then he would have never made it to office.

One day in office and I'm already tired of seeing this guys mug! His appearance on the Colbert Report is only further confirmation that Chaffetz will do anything to get in the news - why else would he brag about how he sleeps in his office to every reporter he sees.

I guess it could be worse, I'm sure NuSkin would have preferred him sleeping on a cot while he was in Australia instead of sleeping other places on the companies dime.

Isn't it ironic that some people think we need to give Obama a chance for couple of years but can't wait to jump on Chaffetz before he serves a day or two in office?

re: L. Clayton | 5:31 a.m. Jan. 7, 2009

>>Did anybody see Chaffetz on The Colbert Report last night? It was pretty good, and Chaffetz came off pretty well,<<

I heard JC got punked big time.

...because he's not going in solely to pick a fight, unlike Chaffetz.

Chaffetz has a lot to learn, but it'll be too late before he does. But that's OK, he's only lessening whatever small power Utah ever had in Congress.

Chaffetz will be a buffoon just like his predecessor. Why is it that the Right gets it so wrong?

re: Ken Goddard | 7:43 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

>>I donated to his campaign and I don't live in his district. He sent me a nice thank you letter. He may be the only good Utah "republicon" back there<<

Can you say Freudian slip?

I wish I would have gone on the Colbert Report... Might have made a difference.

I have opposed Rep Cannon through three elections, and find Rep Chaffetz a pleasant change. I have gotten to know him reasonably well in the past year and a half. As several of the comments say, now show us what you can do, even as a minority member of congress. In the minority he has today about the same influence as Mr. Cannon would have had after 12 years, zero.

Even with zero influence, at least we have a congressman with a sense of humor who opposes illegal immigration. It looks like he has lost his kicking leg since he played for BYU.