I’ve been critical of Conservative INC. in the past but now I’d like to take a shot at the Republican Establishment, especially when one of its senior members, Sen. Orrin Hatch, makes a statement like this on Laura Ingrahm’s radio show:

“HATCH: Yeah, I do. And I’ll tell you why because I listen to these folks, I don’t disagree with them. They’re angry for good reasons. I mean, my gosh, these people in Washington are running this country right into the ground. And I think people are dog-gone angry about it.

INGRAHAM: But aren’t you part of Washington?

HATCH: Hell no. I’ve never been. I’ve never considered this a job. I’ve had, people have asked me, they said, “say Senator Hatch, don’t you just love being a U.S. senator?” My constant answer is this. No, I don’t love it at all, but I’m good at it. And I’m here for a reason. And all I can say is I’ve never changed my reason. Now, I am fair. I’ve got a reputation for being fair and honest and decent. But the fact of the matter is, if you get Orrin Hatch on your side and he really gets, he really gets his back up, watch out. It’s just that simple and I’ve done it time after time after time.”

Most people, when they don’t love their jobs, usually leave them. But yet Orrin Hatch remains, chained to his Senate desk, doing a job he despises. And every six years he asks the voters of Utah to return him to this awful job, return him to his Washington home where he can be with his lobbyist son. In fact he hates his job so much, he’s the longest serving U.S. Senator in Utah history. And want to know what’s really scary, this anti-Washington guy wanted to be promoted to President back in 2000 in the city he hates.

I’m not in favor of term limits but I can understand why people are in favor of them when politicians like Hatch stay in the Senate too long, chained to their desks in a job they say they hate.  Because in many cases they aren’t the same people when they first started.  Once upon a time Hatch was like, well, Rand Paul, a man who had never run for public office before, a lawyer who worked with the Ronald Reagan campaign in 1976 and jumped from that race to run against veteran Senator Frank Moss (the last Democrat ever elected to the Senate from Utah). He used the same anti-government sentiment that is prevalent today to win that race (and also signal that the Mountain West would become a Republican stronghold).

Hopefully someday the voters Utah will set Orrin Hatch free from his hated job, just like they did Bob Bennett.