Comments about ‘What Dick Lugar's loss might mean for Orrin Hatch’

Senator Hatch,
You have served. Now it is time to come "home" and get back to your "career." What? You've been at home for 36 years and you don't even remember having any other career?
We are so far from the intent of the Founding Fathers. They tried to put an end to "divine right" royalty. They tried to set up citizen government. They would be so displeased with the creation of a privileged royal class our representatives have carved out for themselves. What I don't understand is . . . why do the Serfs buy in?

I agree that its time for new leadership. Senator Hatch belongs to a Senate that cannot pass a budget, though it is constitutionaly mandated. If he has worked tirelessly, yet not been able, with all his seniority, to influence enough to adhere to the Constitution, then we need someone else, someone to effect that. No more of the same, we need results, no excuses.

Why does Hatch spend so much money to retain his office? Oh yes because he isn't spending his own money. He's learned that lesson as a lifer in the Senate. I hope the Utah voters are smart enough to wake up and "release" him with a vote of thanks!

Why have we let Senator Hatch decide when he comes home? If he is not doing his job, then we need to vote him home rather than let him come home when he decides he is ready to retire. The problem is that he doesn't have a home in Utah to come home to. He has lived in DC for the past 36 years. Look at his beautiful house in Virginia versus his small apartment in Utah. He doesn't live here. He has things backward. He is supposed to represent Utah to DC, but instead he represents DC to Utah.

Lots of Hatch nay-sayers here. I think that if you paint Hatch and Lugar with the same brush your brush is a lot wider than mine. Utahns get it. Lugar was an international policy wonk who moved out of Indiana and took it for granted for years. He paid for it. Ask people all over the state if Orrin Hatch has forgotten Utah and taken anything for granted and they will tell you no. He is all over the state all the time. I know - he called me when my mother died and talked to me for a few minutes - he didn't have to do that - he knew I would support him without that call but he took the time to make me feel better in a situation where he knew he wouldn't get any political advantage out of it. I heard he even called Liljenquist when his mother died. Did anybody on the Hatch campaign make a big deal out of it for politic's sake? Not that I heard about. Hatch and Lugar are fundamentally different as to how they approach their jobs. Lugar lost. Hatch won't.

The best solution to the problems created by politicians in Washington was shown in Indiana with the solid defeat of Lugar. He got pistol-whipped by the people. Voting to increase the nation's debt ceiling, or anything else that goes against the will of the people, is not honorable. Politicians are elected officials, not slave owners. It is time for the people to take charge of Washington.

What does this men for Hatch? Absolutely nothing.

......It's great to see the right not bargaining away all of it's negotiating power before the debate even begins..."Reaching across aisles", is just that...It's great to hear senator Kerry lamenting senator Lugar's loss...very telling.

I voluteered on Hatch's first campaign in 1976 and supported him for many years. I am amazed just how much he has declined physically during the past few years. I'm not sure he will live another six years until he is 84. Thirty-six years in Washington would change even the best of people.

Despite his age and declining health, I am very concerned that Hatch is fighting so ferociously to retain his seat. That is a sign that he is more concerned about his own power than serving the people of Utah. I call it the Gollum effect. Hatch fears he will lose his "Precious," his power. Gollum, Gollum, Gollum.

Shaun illustrates that Hatch cannot win among informed Republicans. If Shaun wants a big-government Senator, he should stay out of our primary and vote for Scott Howell in November. A choice between Howell and Liljenquist would be a clear choice.

Of course Hatch will do everything possible to keep Utah Republicans in the dark about his recent record of explosive spending and centralization of power.

Not that Liljenquist is in any way an extreme partisan. He has shown that he can work with Democrats to pass major reform legislation. But he did it by holding fast to his principles, and bring others along, not by abandoning them, as Hatch did with Medicare expansion, the Department of Education, and No Child Left Behind.

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I am around Senator Hatch on a fairly regular basis. I haven't seen a dramatic decrease in his energy level or his mental acuity. He is still an amazing storehouse of facts and figures and his ability to recall the pertinent facts is pretty amazing - even if he were 68 or 58 instead of 78. He knows a lot about my industry and I can tell you he keeps up on whats happening in my business and can discuss the ins and outs of it related to 2012, 2002 or 1992. Nothing slow that I can tell.

Please take the time to call Orrin Hatch Head Quarters and ask him to Debate. The people of Utah deserve to see a Prime Time KSL Debate between the two candidates side-by-side.

Senator Hatch - released with a vote of thanks.

If Senator Hatch wants my vote in 2012, I want to see and hear a series of debates with Dan Liljenquist. The voters of Utah have a right to listen, consider, and then make an informed vote. If Hatch refuses to debate, or simply does NOT show up, then that sends the message that Utahns should vote for Hatch simply because he has served previously. That attitude may have played in 2000 and 2006. However, it WON'T play in 2012! This is a crucial election year. Utah needs a person with vision, someone willing to take on the Washington power scene and fight like "a lion in the desert" for principle and reform. You simply can't get a new result if you keeping using the same, tired, worn-out rhetoric! It's time to turn this country around with new ideas, innovation, courageous leadership, and a vision for the future. There is one candidate in the Republican primary on June 26th that possesses ALL of these qualities! This election is ALL about charting a new path of promise or staying in the doldrums and more of the same old same. Utahns, do the right thing, elect DAN LILJENQUIST!