Apparently, teabaggers think Hatch's position on TARP sucks balls
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Orrin Hatch may have crashed the Tea Party Express Town Hall earlier this week and encouraged teahadists to "get armed and get out there" to save America, but if what happened to him Friday at CPAC is any indication, he's one of the ones they're out to get. Dave Weigel:
Hatch was on a sleepy panel about the possibility for a balanced budget amendment when a questioner threw the dynamite.
"When you talk about fiscal conservatism," he said, "how can we trust you, if you voted for TARP?"
Half the room exploded with cheers, pleasure at the audacity of the question. Hatch was stony-faced.
"Under the circumstances," said Hatch, "at the time, we were going down, and let me tell you..."
The crowd interrupted him with boos.
"Yes, you may disagree," said Hatch, "but you weren't sitting there, and you didn't have to make these decisions!"
Michael Shear's account in The New York Times includes a really bizarre apology from Hatch for the vote:
Speaking to the conservative activists, Mr. Hatch, a Republican in his sixth term, was booed as he tried to defend his vote for the TARP program that bailed out the banks — a bugaboo for conservatives.
Mr. Hatch said he voted for it to keep the country from slipping into a depression — and said he would do so again if he had to be the deciding vote — but acknowledged that he now felt sorry that he had voted for the bill.
“All I can say is, there aren’t many people who will say I’m sorry. I’m one who will,” Mr. Hatch said.
So...he's really sorry, but if he had to do it all over again, he'd do it the same way? No wonder Utah's other Senator, Republican Mike Lee, won't endorse him.