Posted on 05/24/2012 10:32:26 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
The two people least surprised by Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Senator Orrin Hatch this week are Palin and Hatch. In the Twitter and Facebook era, they became political allies the old-fashioned way: through handwritten letters and personal phone calls.
It’s an unlikely, politics-fueled friendship that’s fit for a Robert Caro book. Hatch, a soft-spoken grandfather, is one of Palin’s top outside mentors. He encourages her and cheers her. They share family stories, they discuss history, and they talk about legislation.
“It’s true,” Palin tells National Review Online. “He’s a warrior.” She respects his record, especially his work on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Hatch has frequently been an influential figure during contentious Supreme Court confirmations.
Even though she is 30 years his junior, Palin has grown to appreciate Hatch’s historical perspective on Congress, the presidency, and the conservative movement. “I respect public servants who benefited from and grew under the tutelage of Ronald Reagan,” she says.
The warmth is mutual. “She and her husband are the handsomest couple that I’ve ever met,” Hatch says, smiling, as we chat in his spacious Senate office. “They’re both top-flight people and I got angry with the mainstream media constantly running her down.”
Hatch openly acknowledges that he has long and doggedly sought Palin’s support. For him, strong personal relationships are an elemental part of politics. They do not trump his principles, he says, but they have enabled him to become a force on Capitol Hill.
Strategic relationships may also be the reason Hatch keeps his seat. Beyond Palin, the 78-year-old senator has assiduously wooed tea-party activists and conservatives over the past two years, keenly aware of the challenge he faces in Utah’s upcoming primary.
Dan Liljenquist, a conservative former state senator, has mounted a tea-party insurgency against Hatch, but he failed to topple Hatch at the state GOP’s nominating convention. Liljenquist remains the underdog as primary day, June 26, approaches. But his campaign team maintains that Palin’s endorsement isn’t a factor.
“Sarah Palin can do whatever she wants, but this doesn’t affect our race,” says Holly Richardson, Liljenquist’s campaign manager. “Endorsing Orrin Hatch is the antithesis of what she says she represents — breaking up the old guard and bringing change to Washington. But I guess they’re friends.”
Hatch’s quiet courtship of Palin is a microcosm of how he has managed to stay ahead, unlike some of his fellow incumbents, such as Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana, who lost a similar primary race earlier this month. Hatch has gone out of his way to make friends.
Two years ago, Hatch’s former Senate GOP colleague, Bob Bennett, was ambushed at the state convention and lost his reelection bid. Hatch vowed to not let that happen to him. He would respond to the potshots; he would not let his detractors define him.
The plan was simple, Hatch says. Instead of merely reasserting his conservatism from the Senate floor, he would huddle with conservatives at tea-party rallies and conferences. He would overwhelm them with his liveliness and his commitment.
“I saw this movement coming before Senator Bennett did,” Hatch recalls. “A year before the Bennett race, I invited David Kirkham, a Utah tea-party leader and an outstanding man, to come meet with me in my office. I spent two and a half hours with him.”
Since then, Hatch has hosted similar meetings with countless Utah conservatives. He didn’t agree with everyone who stopped by his office, but he tended to ease concerns. He is encyclopedic about his record and takes care to contextualize the troublesome votes.
“From time to time, I have been criticized by some in the conservative movement,” Hatch says. “When they are right, I’m going to follow what they say. But most of the time, I have been able to explain why I voted a certain way or did certain things.”
Palin was another tea-party leader who gave Hatch an opportunity to review his Senate experiences, from the Clarence Thomas hearing to his near-victorious battle to pass a balanced-budget amendment. Hatch also says he learned from her. “She is the prime reason the conservative base really played a factor in the last presidential election,” he says. He keeps tabs on her speeches and appearances.
“She’s sharp as a tack,” Hatch says. “I like the way she defends herself and our conservative values.” When she was attacked in the press, he’d defend her in conversations with reporters, during talk-radio interviews, and on cable television.
Sources close to the Alaskan say Palin noticed Hatch’s consistent and vocal support. It drew them closer as friends and deepened their growing political ties. Palin didn’t mind having a Senate legend in her corner; Hatch liked having a tea-party star in his.
When Palin went on Fox News on Tuesday night to signal her support for Hatch ahead of the primary, it was a pleasant surprise to the senator, but not entirely unexpected.
Early Wednesday, the pair spoke on the phone. “I told her that I love her and her husband,” Hatch chuckles. “She said, ‘We love you, too,’ and that she’s here to help.”
“Look, it was a nice conversation,” Hatch says. “I can’t claim that I’ve been a major influence for Sarah, other than what she may have observed from all the fights around here. But I must say, I’ve watched her very carefully and I think the world of her.”
They may be from different generations, but it’s a fighter’s instinct that, in Hatch’s telling, binds them. “She’s had more than her fair share of barbs but she keeps coming back,” Hatch says. “I never give up, either.” In this race, oddly enough, that may mean killing off a conservative challenge.
Of interest...
Hatch is an irascible old fart and it's time for him to go.
NO ONE is irreplaceable
That so-called “warrior” leaked HIGHLY classified information during the GWB invasion of Iraq.
Some of us remember.
Nice try but you are on the wrong side of real change again. Just like with McQueeg
Mark Levin’s full explanation of why he supports Orrin Hatch for US Senate
Clearly, Senator Hatch is light years better than deposed Sen. Dick lugar ...
Oh this really sounds like Tea Party values, Sarah is supporting the RINO POS that wrote and sang songs and idolized the traitor Fat Teddy Kennedy.
But WTH, she’s never going to run for elective office again, bet the rent.
read the post above ya...HATCH will save the judge issues
your tagline says it all ...
How about a fake conservative like Dan Lillywhoever?
It matters who we replace people with.
Dan is not better than Hatch.
Change for change’s sake is not always wise.
Anyone remember hope and change?
sadly, you have a terminal case of dumbass
we’ll pray
So, with Sarah being wounded and brutalized by the media Left, without a powerful mentor anywhere in sight, and Hatch being a both ways kind of guy who has cost conservatives dearly, done nothing conservative by himself or single handed, but play the influence peddler, the old boy knows who he can play now. Scared out of his beejeebies, early and often by the Tea Party, set for a loss to a solid conservative, Hatch knows how to run a reverse play and goes straight for the top, with charm balm.
It worked. Again.
It’s a good match, politically, and both get a lot from the other at no political cost.
Hatch is part of the problem, and that is why Hatch needs to go. If Dan Liljenquist (note how to spell his name for future reference) fails to measure up, then he can be subjected to a primary challenge as well.
The career politicians spending their whole damn life in the House or Senate are one of the many reasons why America is in the mess it’s in. We need to clean the worst offenders out.
Palin is the toughest warrior on the right.
I am amazed at the effect she has on people and how she has managed to move the country right since her debut in 2008.
See post #4. Mark Levin disagrees with you, with concrete evidence.
... both get a lot from the other at no political cost ...
As one who has accurately portrayed Gov. Perry getting unfair criticism, you readily dish it on his friend Gov. Palin?
Orin Hatch pushed the conformation of Ruth B. Ginsberg for the Supreme Court. She admittedly has abject disdain for our constitution. What the hell is Sarah Palin thinking by endorsing this RINO POS? Sadly, Sarah now dwells in the realm of no confidence with regards to her post pro constitutional patriotism.
Who cares about Hatch. Just run and save us, America that is, would you?
thanks :-)
P.S.
It seems like many on here would vote for Obama over Sarah Palin. Many are doing the big mainstream media's work here.
Rita, you’re casting your pearls before swine. Sarah could have had the GOP nomination for the asking, but she chose the path of media celebrity instead, and she HAS given her support to conservative candidates for which I (and every conservative) appreciate. However Orrin Hatch is just one more RINO in a pack of career political hacks and he has long outlived his usefulness so far as true conservative values.
It doesn’t matter what he may or may not have done 20 or more years ago, it’s what he’s done lately and that ain’t much.
He needs to retire. Or BE retired, doesn’t matter which one.
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