Sen. Orrin Hatch spoke at CPAC earlier today, and in what was perhaps an attempt to appeal to the unfriendly forces in the tea party movement, he said that he is “prepared to be the most hated man in this godforsaken city in order to save this country, and I need your help.”
Hatch is facing a potentially difficult reelection campaign, and has been courting the tea partiers at every turn. He may have even invited himself to a Tea Party Express event to tout his tea party friendly credentials.
Today at CPAC, he flaunted his supposed anti-establishment cred some more: “I can tell you right now,” Hatch said. “I’ve been in the Senate now 34 years. In fact, as I walked in today someone said, were you in the original tea party? And I said, ‘no, I came a few years later.’”
He added that when it comes to the national debt and the financial crisis, if the Republicans can take control of the Senate and keep control of the House, “I will do everything in my power to get this mess under control.”
Watch:
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
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