In our opinion: Farewell to Sen. Hatch

"And the more people attack our President... the more I defend him."

How things have changed in two short years. I don't recall those defenses just a couple of years ago. Maybe I missed them....

@I M LDS 2
RE: "I have been very disappointed in Brother Hatch. But never as disappointed as I've been these last 2-3 years as he's sucked up to Trump!"...
---
Trump has been President less than 2 years (not 3). And Hatch wasn't a Trump supporter before that. He criticized trump frequently during the Primary. Especially when the tape of Trump strutting his celebrity ego to get a laugh out of Billy Bush surfaced. He criticized Trump after his crude comments about immigration from African countries. He did support Trump on some things, but not on others.

Google "Hatch breaks with Trump over Germany criticism - POLITICO"...

Watch and remember everything, not just what fits your Assumptions, presumptions, or stereotype of somebody.

And remember the commandment to not judge others.

Let their record speak for itself. He's done a lot more than support Trump in his 42 years in Congress (which I agree is too long). Just don't agree with the several people judging him here for the sin of supporting the wrong President 2 of his 42 years doing that job.

It's not abnormal for people in Congress to support the President. It's not a sin. Even if that President isn't your fave.

After his third term, I have been very disappointed in Brother Hatch. But never as disappointed as I've been these last 2-3 years as he's sucked up to Trump!

My disappointment has now blossomed into full embarrassment!

Orrin Hatch's shelf life expired in 1994 when he proved himself a liar running for his fourth term.
Orrin in 1976 running against Frank Moss what do you call a senator that's served 18 years? You call him home Utah. His recent statements about not caring about the Presidents criminal activity show just how far he's fallen.

I love all you people that like to toy with the historical record.

#1- Hatch never said he was only going to stay three terms. Not once.
#2- At the time he made the call Moss home comments after 18 years, the Utah electorate was changing, becoming more conservative, and Moss was more and more out of touch.
#3- Obviously, Utahans were ok with Hatch staying as long as he did. They kept re-electing him with increasingly larger margins over the years. His last election in 2012, he beat Howell 65% to 30%. His closest after the 1976 election was 1982 when he beat Wilson 58% to 41%. He never failed to get under 62% of the vote since then with a high of 69% when he stomped Ashdown.
#4-Hatch was already rich when he became a senator. He won some very lucrative cases in both Utah and Pittsburgh prior to becoming a Senator. He wasn't hurting when he ran. And, he's very frugal, not at all extravagant. The most expensive thing I've seen him buy was a car. He still wears Mr. Mac suits.
#5- Hatch has been the most effective Senator of the last 40 or so years. Starting with his personal filibuster of the Union Picketing bill early on in his first term.

Serving in Congress was supposed to be SERVICE to our nation and fellow citizens.

It has morphed into permanent high paid careers.

Hatch has abused the intent of our founders. His departure is long, long, long overdue.

Good riddance.

Utah transportation planners will have to get used to the stopping of that magical fountain of Federal Transit Administration handouts for whatever program UTA and local officialdom wanted.

Yup. Now we have to pay for all that UTA junk by ourselves.

A few hundred thousand here, and a few hundred million there; and pretty soon, you are talking real money!

Senator Hatch has done real damage to honest transportation evaluation and reasonable planning for same.

@2bits
Setting asde the feeble attempt to deflect, Trumps lawyer is going to prison for his part in the criminal acts that Trumps appears to not only have known about but actively participated in when he set up a shell company to funnel the money through, which if proven shows intent.

"What Obama did violated a law. But he had the Executive Privilege to do that back then. So it becomes legal. I know...weird."

2Bits... come on. Then every single trooper out there breaks the law daily. When a police person sees a jay walker and doesn't write them a citation, they are breaking the law. When ever a district attorney changes the charges to a lessor one, they are breaking the law.

Every single day our criminal justice prioritizes what crimes they will and will not prosecute. It is absolutely customary and regular for law enforcement to prioritize their limited resources.

Obama's Executive ordered that immigration people focus on high value targets violated no law. Deferment from prosecution is not a violation of any law. Otherwise you wouldn't have a single law enforcement person out of jail right now.

This red hearing argument only works for people who don't interact with the legal system. Every time a kid in school "harasses" another kid - in your world they should be charged with a crime. It's just not how the system works. If you want 100% prosecution of every person who breaks a low, pony up for more money to fund a lot more courts and jails.

I almost always vote Republican, but I stopped voting for Hatch 4 terms ago - when he said he would retire.

I find his behavior VERY self-serving. Its' very selfish to go to D.C. and pretend that you are the one and only one who can represent Utah effectively. There actually are a LOT of individuals who would have represented Utah quite well - despite what selfish Sen. Hatch thinks.

I actually knew Sen. Hatch in his first term (long story), but, obviously, he got to D.C. and found himself believing his lobbyist buddies as they wined and dined him and reveled in his "greatness".

He got so that he didn't serve us - rather, we served him and his ego!

@Joe Hilll - Salt Lake City
RE: "Anyone that openly declares they don’t care about our laws and likely violations of them by our highest office holder deserves nothing more then scorn"...
---
So... did Pres Obama deserve nothing but scorn?

He said he doesn't care what our immigration laws are, when he signed an Executive Order directing ICE and INS to not enforce those laws?

And he's going to sue any State that does enforce those laws (like Arizona)?

Some thought that was disregarding laws Congress passed.
Some thought that was breaking the law.

Has Pres Trump broken the law? What law?

Even if he had his lawyer pay someone to not talk about something embarrassing, that's not illegal. Hush money is scandalous, but it's not a campaign contribution. And it's not illegal. Heck Congress has a whole department and fund to pay people to not talk about affairs Senators have had while in office.

And it was before he was President. Obama's was using his office to break our laws (or nullify our laws).

What Obama did violated a law. But he had the Executive Privilege to do that back then. So it becomes legal. I know...weird.

Not to be disrespectful, as he had a long career as a dedicated Senator, but the problem with that is it should not be have been a lifetime career. He stated in 1976, running against Frank Moss, that 3 terms as a Senator is enough. He ended up serving 7 terms. Our early patriot leaders often wrote that holding office is a temporary public service, not a lifetime career. Washington set the example of retiring after 2 terms as president. Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson followed that precedent. We did not have a career politician as president until Martin Van Buren. Also, in the beginning of his tenure, Hatch was a reasonable compromiser. He even became friends with his opposite politically, Ted Kennedy, and cooperated with him in getting CHIP passed. Recently he was willing to let CHIP die. He would reach across the aisle. But his last 2 terms he has become an angry, intransigent ideologue. He was a critic of Trump, but now is a Trump sycophant and lackey. In 2017 he went off on a completely unrelated angry rant during the tax cut debate. He took off imaginary glasses during a hearing. His legacy would have been nearly flawless if he had retired in 2006.

@PDN
RE: "He leaves office an apologist for Trump"...
---
If that's all you can remember you have a short/narrow/selective memory.

Hatch was a Trump critic just 2 years ago. Remember when NBC leaked the secretly recorded video of him strutting his celebrity ego on the bus? Hatch was very critical of Trump then.

He only became a Trump supporter when Trump became President of the United States. And I'm OK with people supporting the President of the United States. Aren't you?

Especially people who pledge to defend the constitution and our country (which includes defending our President and other government institutions IMO)

It's OK to support the President (to an extent). Democrats go overboard, and don't support him at all. And that's wrong IMO.

It was wrong when Rs did it to Pres Obama, and when Ds did it to Pres Bush and to Pres Trump.

Trump may not be your cup of tea, he may not be your type of leader, you may not like his policies, but he is our President. So I defend him. And the more people attack our President... the more I defend him. Even though I was against him 100% till he was elected. It's different now. He's the President. It's OK to defend him.

The politically correct endorsement, of Mr. Hatch, by the DN is expected.

Mr. Hatch was elected on the premise that he would be a Senator for a maximum of 18 years.

Mr. Hatch decided his standard, for others, did not apply to him.

There is a word for that behavior, but I doubt the DN Moderator would approve.

Anyone that openly declares they don’t care about our laws and likely violations of them by our highest office holder deserves nothing more then scorn.

In my opinion Mr. hatch has never been a good senator.
He has always been self serving and party before country.
He became rich while claiming to work for the citizens.
I am glad he is going and I wont miss him.

He should've kept his promise, to step down, 30 years ago. He's wouldn't have tarnished his reputation by praising and covering for Trump.

At long, long last! Good riddance!

I find it interesting that he was thought of as a man who could relinquish power. How long has he been a senator?

Hatch originally campaigned on the promise that unlike his predecessor, he would not be be a career politician. He leaves office an apologist for Trump. These are the things that I will remember about Hatch.

I know that Hatch has been a favorite of this newspaper, but I can't share your sentiments. I've had various involvements and dealing with Hatch since just about the beginning. I see a self-serving opportunist, highlighted by his promotion of his relationship withe Ted Kennedy, which he jettisoned as soon as Kennedy was gone. His final speech this week exposed his hypocrisy when he decried the lack of "regular order" and the tenor in the Senate, but he is directly responsible for that breakdown as he undermined a sitting President and the Constitution with the Garland travesty and played games to promote the Trump agenda. There's much, much more. It was time for a change. I am hoping Hatch's successor will demonstrate a higher level of [fill in the blank] than what we saw with Hatch. By the way, I would be amazed if Hatch left his home in Oakton, Virginia and moved to Utah. I don't think he has much loyalty in reality to Utah.

It's time for him to retire. He did a lot of good things in his years in the Senate but nobody should be there that long IMO. I'm pretty sure his replacement can do good things too.

Have to agree with UtahBlueDevil. The evolution of Senator Hatch was truly bizarre, and not even so much from a political point of view. To go from the views he held on the Clinton affair to "I don't care" is just one of the greatest instances in rank hypocrisy I've ever seen from a public figure. There are 100,000 ways he could have still backed his horse without offering something like that (i.e. "well, I think we're a long way from finding out exactly what happened so I'll reser lve judgment until all the facts come in"). Those chilling words will follow Hatch for the rest of his life and reverberate from the Senate walls for decades as we enter a new era of partisan politics.

And for those unconcerned about it, I'd be cautious, given the way the political pendulum has swung as of late.

Have to agree with UtahBlueDevil. The tr

I was in the Payson City Park during Onion Days and this man came up and shook my hand and introduced himself. I felt good about this guy, and was not surprised when he was elected. Since then, I have moved, but have always followed his work. Now he is leaving, and my thoughts go back to that afternoon in Payson. Well done, Senator!

Thank you Senator Hatch for your years of service and support of Utah values. You will be remembered for your willingness to reach across the isle and compromise while still holding firm to your values and the values of Utah. Thank you for being a fighter.

Unfortunately how people usually remember a story is how it ended.... not all the stuff that happened before that. Hatch's story is like one of those 1960s French movies that had all kinds of twists and turns, some tales of courage, and others moments in triumph. But then the end comes and your left wondering what the heck happened. It was usually supposed to be profound, with some kind of great tragedy.

Hatch's story is following this script. He famously reached across the isle on items of common interest, and made friends in the process. But its how this story is ending, with his undying loyalty to a man who by the day gets murkier and murkier - to which Hatch famously proclaimed he didn't care about any of that.

It is so confusing the shift in his principles... and so unexpected. His declaration of a need to civility seems so hollow given his hyper partisan stances of the last couple of years. Not sure what happened... but he changed. And unfortunately that is how he will be remembered. Trumps right hand man in the Senate.