the tea party voices made up a list of people he wanted to purge and one of those on the list was orrin hatch. it shows how far we have come. over the years political analysis offer various explanations for the g.o.p. and nationwide this and channel was social programs and some two a backlash against the cultural ships at and so did the aging baby boomers. suggesting republicans died out because they fail to adapt to the changing political climate. i submit the alternative hypothesis. the liberal and moderate republican were hunted to extinction buy the conservative cousins who had a powerful new weapon that was highly effective in galvanizing the political base it was persecution politics even as they extended their dominance dominance, the sense of persecution increases they turned up the tax and invented a new victim class then infused white sing christians into a loose affiliation they called conservatives, traditionalist or real americans. the formation of the victim class precipitated the parent diabetics bloated after the obama election and the tea party inherited the mantle of persecu

and orrin hatch said a similar thing to me. orrin hatch was always extremely supportive of the n.e.a. and he said to me, "don't waste your time "coming to visit people like me, "who are going to be supportive all the time, "and don't waste your time "going to see people like dick armey, "who are always going to be "against federal funding for the arts. "go for the fence-sitters. "go for the ones who really don't know "what you're doing with the n.e.a. and what art--in-- for our society is all about." and yet you did not shy away from at least engaging some people who clearly were on the other side. you paid visits to jesse helms, newt gingrich. was that time well invested? i do believe it was in the long run. jesse helms and i-- we must never forget that he's a courtly southern gentleman, and he's not an uncivil person at all in person. he's quite charming, in fact. he and i obviously were going differ on many, many things, but he was an important person and an important person to get to know, to pay attention to. i tried to un

it's worth noting that, you know, in the previous section i mentioned that orrin hatch was one of theiginal new right insurgents, conservative insurgents. he was one of the people that paul wyrek got in. and as soon as the election were over, eric erickson of political blog red state.com who's been one of the tea party voices, made up a list of people he wanted to purge in 2012, and one of those on the list was orrin hatch. so it shows you how far we've come. over the years political analysis have offered various explanations for the rightward drift of the gop be. some point to nationwide disenchantment with large social programs, some point to the cultural shifts of the '60s. most of these explanations place the impotence on the mood of the american electorate suggesting that liberal and moderate republicans died out because they failed to adapt to the changing political climate. i submit an alternative hypothesis. the liberal and moderate republicans were hunted into extinction by their more aggressive conservative cousins who wielded a powerful new weapon that was highly effective

power players on this committee republicans joe barton orrin hatch have both spoken out about the current b.c.s. system and as for the democrats how about the most famous of them all. we should be creating a playoff system. that would be three rounds. to determine a bash champion i don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this little my way to rebel but i think it's the right thing to do. yeah that's a clip from then president elect obama who talks about reforming the system as if he were dealing with major foreign policy i mean look i understand college football is a big deal but why are we this gung ho about real issues what are people who are this eager to tackle the financial crisis fighting wars abroad perhaps we could have had solutions by now that's just about let's put a little more emphasis on our top political issues maybe a little bit less in the sports after all it is just a game don't get mad. now on last night's show we hosted a debate asked the question if the u.s. was headed for an arms race with china and the reason we asked just as the

initially, at least, the freeze idea got the cold shoulder from republicans like utah senator orrin hatch. >> it's time to cut spending, not freeze it at these bloated and unsustainable levels, and that's what leads me to why we are here today. families across america have tightened their belts, balanced their budgets, and lived within their means. the same can't be said of washington, where runaway spending has pushed our nation's debt into very dangerous levels. >> reporter: maine's olympia snowe joined hatch and other senate republicans to resurrect the idea of a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. >> it's clear: we have lost control of our fiscal destiny that's-- the american people understand that, intuitively and particularly when foreign entities and foreign governments own 50% of our debt, they own it. and so we have to change all of that. our founding fathers had a vision. but they certainly did not visualize that we would accumulate $14 trillion in debt. >> reporter: that appeal came as the non-partisan congressional budget office projected the budget deficit will hit

. >> in fact, i think it was orrin hatch what wondered what kanoodling meant, and it basic am meant hanky-panky. that he wants the chapter that i devote to basically the monica lewinsky affair. and so many people in this country will recall that it was a very uncomfortable time for everybody, not just for president clinton and first lady hillary clinton, but many of us, including the senior senator of new york, where suddenly explaining to our daughters and sons what some of these things meant. children were talking about monica lewinsky. they all knew about this blue dress. well, what was that on the blue dress? it was almost x-rated for several days. as i pointed out, i even turned on abc this week with sam donaldson and cokie roberts, and they were grilling the guest about this blue dress stain and questioning, are you sure it wasn't a guacamole stain? as i pointed out, it would have been difficult to even have a child watching television on sunday morning and listening to this sort of thing and to explain that there were other uses for cigars suddenly. so it's a very embarrassing situation,

that is the problem orrin hatch is going to face. and what these folks need if they are going to have the courage to do it, if you put the country first you are going to die or you can vote not to put the country first and survive. that's an impossible place to put political figures. and what's needed here is some kind of movement that gives some protection to people and i think for the country that gives them some sort of support that salutes them for doing something courageous. the system now has them on the way. [applause] >> i think it was abraham lincoln and one of his inaugural events said we cannot be state history. so we basically have one of two choices. we can either make these decisions ourselves and do them any way that is best for the american people or we can wait for the outside forces to force them upon us at a time they will be more difficult, more painful and largely beyond our control. those are the two choices we have, so it is best to take the reins ourselves and to seize our own destiny and solve these problems

the big picture, being a big supporter, like senator orrin hatch, hours senator here in utah, about the problems that we're having but they seem to forget that our crime and justice department is deteriorating. and we are not allowed to -- our peace officers are not allowed to put the funding of the proper equipment to properly perform their jobs and to do background checks on individuals. host: thank you for your call. we will try to get a few more calls in a weekend. we have five minutes left. thus go to washington state on a line for independencents. caller: as far as what happened in tucson, we and individuals should critically think what we see on the television. some radio stations or televisions do not care what they put out. we as individuals should take responsibility for what we hear on the air. host: we lost that call. we will go on to louisville, ky. you're calling on the line for republicans. caller: thank you for taking my call. my thoughts and prayers are with the families of that congresswoman. i have seen her and her her and she's a wonderful person. the only wrong thin

and the question whether or unhatched will face a challenge -- orrin hatch will face a challenge in utah. guest: that also gives back to if mitch mcconnell can give the appearance to those tea party types that the republicans heard them and are delivering them -- like tax cuts. i think we will see spending cuts, maybe even tough immigration control, things like that that might diminish the market among tea party conservatives to challenge the official party. they would have won two or three more seats had they not lost that argument in nominating candidates last time. host: we are talking with crank calaig crawford. the author of how many books? guest: three. the paperback of my book "the politics of life," is coming out. it is a repackaging of one of the three -- so it is 3.5. host: any lingering doubts appropriation-- of reagan. no american brand is more associated with reagan then that general electric, and it was that chief executive that popped up as the president's new wing man as the white house laid out its new jobs initiative on january 21. it is a celebration of the nation's ca

ted kennedy and orrin hatch were a powerful team precisely because they didn't agree that much, and they spent a lot of time fighting each other and so the senate cleaned in and listened on those occasions when somehow this ultimate odd couple of things that they were willing to fight for together. sometimes as john kennedy once said the party asks too much. sometimes party leaders also asked to much especially if the exploit the rules of the united states senate for the sole purpose of denying it president a second term but that is what we witnessed the last two years. republicans nearly unanimous in opposition to almost every single proposal by the president and almost every proposal by democratic colleagues. the extraordinary measure of a filibuster has become an ordinary experience. today it's possible for 41 senators representing only about one-tenth of the american population to bring the united states senate and the congress to stand still. now certainly i believe the filibuster has its rightful place. i used it wants to stop the drilling for oil in the wildlife refuge because i b

ted kennedy and orrin hatch were powerful teams, precisely because they didn't agree that much. and they spent a lot of time fighting each other. and so the senate leaned in and listened on those occasions when somehow this ultimate odd couple found things that they were willing to fight for together. sometimes ask john kennedy once said, party asks too much. sometimes party leaders also asked too much. especially if they exploit the rules of the united states senate, the sole purpose of denying a president a second term. that's what we have witnessed for the last few years. republicans nearly unanimous in opposition to almost every single proposal by the president, and almost every proposal by democratic colleagues. the extraordinary measure of a filibuster has become an ordinary expedient. today it's possible, 41 senators representing only about one-tenth of the american population, to bring the united states senate and, therefore, the congress to a standstill. now certainly i believe the filibuster has its rightful place. i used it once to stop the drilling for oil in the arc

ted kennedy and orrin hatch were a powerful team precisely because they didn't agree that much, and they spent a lot of time fighting each other and so the senate cleaned in and listened on those occasions when somehow this ultimate odd couple of things that they were willing to fight for together. sometimes as john kennedy once said the party asks too much. sometimes party leaders also asked to much especially if the exploit the rules of the united states senate for the sole purpose of denying it president a second term but that is what we witnessed the last two years. republicans nearly unanimous in opposition to almost every single proposal by the president and almost every proposal by democratic colleagues. the extraordinary measure of a filibuster has become an ordinary experience. today it's possible for 41 senators representing only about one-tenth of the american population to bring the united states senate and the congress to stand still. now certainly i believe the filibuster has its rightful place. i used it wants to stop the drilling for oil in the wildlife refuge because i b

ted kennedy, orrin hatch were a powerful team, precisely because they didn't agree that much. and they spent a lot of time fighting each other and so the senate leaned in, listened on those occasions when somehow, this ultimate odd couple found things they were willing to fight for together. sometimes, as john kennedy once said, party asks too much. sometimes, party leaders also ask too much. especially if they exploit the rules of the united states senate for the sole purpose of denying a president a second term. but that's what we witnessed for the last two years. republicans nearly unanimous in opposition to almost every single proposal by the president and almost every proposal by democratic colleagues. the extraordinary measure of the filibuster has become an ordinary expedient. today, it's possible for 41 senators representing only about 1/10 of the american population to bring the united states senate and therefore the congress to a standstill. now certainly, i believe the filibuster has its rightful place. i used it once to stop the drilling for oil in the arctic wildl

after it was done in the courts, he recruited ted kennedy and orrin hatch and persuaded congress to give justice to the people that deserve it -- the navajo miners and the down- winders. of all the things my father accomplished that you heard it talked about today by historians and others and family members, i believe he felt his best years were his eight years at interior. thank you, interior department, for that, for being very special in his life. [laughter] [applause] again, on behalf of the family, i want to thank secretary salazar and his team for acknowledge in my father's contribution -- for acknowledg ing my father's contribution and the new mexico delegation for initiating the legislation signed by president obama to have the building named for father. and i want to thank my colleagues in the house and the senate for their support and their friendship. now, two other things that i just want to say -- ken did not talk about this, but the portrait that you're going to see when you walk up here -- that portrait was by allen houser, a native artist. it took him about 10 years to fi

ted kennedy and orrin hatch were a powerful team precisely because they didn't agree that much, and theyspent a lot of time fighting each other and so the senate cleaned in and listened on those occasions when somehow this ultimate odd couple of things that they were willing to fight for together. sometimes as john kennedy once said the party asks too much. sometimes party leaders also asked to much especially if the exploit the rules of the united states senate for the sole purpose of denying it president a second term but that is what we witnessed the last two years. republicans nearly unanimous in opposition to almost every single proposal by the president and almost every proposal by democratic colleagues. the extraordinary measure of a filibuster has become an ordinary experience. today it's possible for 41 senators representing only about one-tenth of the american population to bring the united states senate and the congress to stand still. now certainly i believe the filibuster has its rightful place. i used it wants to stop the drilling for oil in the wildlife refuge because i be