But Hatch got out of it! Somehow, against all odds, Rep. Jason Chaffetz decided not to run against Hatch in 2012, after going so far as to hold town halls outside his district to gauge support for a run.

Hatch's poll numbers had begun to crawl up, though, and Chaffetz decided his sure-thing reelection was safer than battling an entrenched million-term senator.

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Hatch, who has questioned the Obama administration's requirement for passage of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) in tandem with trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea, said there's no appetite on Capitol Hill for more spending, even for a program that re-trains workers.

"We don't have the votes to pass TAA through this Congress, so why hold up three trade agreements to do this," Hatch said during a Thursday hearing on the U.S-Korea agreement.

"It doesn't make sense to me."

I don't care what your position on "free trade" is -- the vast majority of ecoomists, left, right and middle, agree that trade produces both winners and losers. Ask almost any blue collar worker in the Midwest: even if it possible to show that the United States gains a net benefit from trade overall, that's hardly comforting to a middle-aged man or woman who has just lost their job due to competition with China or Mexico.

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Sure, the Tea Party base managed to dethrone two sitting senators, Utah's Robert Bennett and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, and to scare another senator, Arlen Specter, and a governor, Charlie Crist, out of the party. And it knocked off establishment favorites in a handful of key states, like Delaware and Colorado, while scaring the bejesus out of others, like New Hampshire's Kelly Ayotte (who survived her primary by 1,600 votes).

But when it came to this year's primaries, the Tea Party's momentum was late-starting. It wasn't until Aug. 24, when Joe Miller stunned Lisa Murkowski in an upset absolutely no one saw coming, that its potential became clear. As soon as the result came in, the Tea Party Express, which had quietly dumped $600,000 into Miller's effort, turned its focus to Delaware, another state that was on no one's radar. That support, along with the media's sudden interest, transformed right-wing gadfly Christine O'Donnell into a player, and three weeks later she was declaring victory over Mike Castle, a nine-term congressman and fixture in Delaware politics.

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First up, immigration reform. Democrats are again working on the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for young people who came to America illegally as children, stayed out of trouble with the law, and spent at least two years in college or the military.

Reid is going to attach the DREAM Act to defense appropriation bill, which is a common, slightly dirty trick that represents one of the few ways to get anything voted on in our stupid Senate.

This bill would only help young, American-educated model citizens. Only about 825,000 people would probably become citizens. The act was proposed -- in 2001! -- by Republican Orrin Hatch. Even those lovable, Democrat-hating cranks at Reason like the bill. In 2007, Hatch and Bob Bennett voted to add the act to the defense authorization bill.

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Here's what he said to the Salt Lake City Fox affiliate:

HATCH: Let’s be honest about it, in the First Amendment, religious freedom, religious expression, that really express matters to the Constitution. So, if the Muslims own that property, that private property, and they want to build a mosque there, they should have the right to do so. The only question is are they being insensitive to those who suffered the loss of loved ones? We know there are Muslims killed on 9/11 too and we know it’s a great religion. … But as far as their right to build that mosque, they have that right.

I just think what’s made this country great is we have religious freedom. That’s not the only thing, but it’s one of the most important things in the Constitution. [...]

There’s a question of whether it’s too close to the 9/11 area, but it’s a few blocks away, it isn’t right there. … And there’s a huge, I think, lack of support throughout the country for Islam to build that mosque there, but that should not make a difference if they decide to do it. I’d be the first to stand up for their rights.

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Republicans brought Marshall up 35 times yesterday, with unrepentant racist scumbag Jeff Sessions and Arizona's Jon Kyl leading the charge against that terrible activist liberal judge who hated the Constitution. (Later, asked to name any single Marshall decision or opinion they disagreed with, Sessions and Orrin Hatch and Tom Coburn could not, really. Because that would've given away the game.)

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Harry Reid is attempting to get an already too small economic aid package through the Senate, but apparently it is not good policy until we cut another $25 from the already paltry unemployment checks received by those lucky enough to still qualify to receive unemployment.

Take it away, responsible centrist Jon Tester:

"It's going to be manipulated and worked over and dealt with," said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who came up with the idea to trim unemployment checks. "But as it goes forward," he said, "we've got to look for ways to save money."

Meanwhile, tax breaks for employed people and businesses remain in the legislation. Because everyone knows tax breaks don't count as spending, even though they have the exact same effect on the deficit, because raising money is the illegitimate and immoral way of dealing with the federal deficit.

Isn't that right, Olympia Snowe?

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Seven Republicans voted to confirm Kagan as Barack Obama's solicitor general: Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, Maine's Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, New Hampshire's Judd Gregg, Jon Kyl of Arizona,  Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Indiana's Dick Lugar.

But the original support of these Republicans won't preclude them from attacking Kagan as a fine solicitor general who would be too radical for the Supreme Court.

Hatch -- who, a year ago, called Kagan "a brilliant lawyer" -- is opening the door to opposition:

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Hatch has been opposing the individual mandate contained in the healthcare reform bill President Obama signed into law this week; he says it's unconstitutional. But, CNN's Campbell Brown pointed out, back in the 1990's, during the Clinton administration's reform efforts, Hatch supported a bill that contained a similar mandate.

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Byrd's office is saying the trip to the hospital was just precautionary, and that he likely won't be admitted. But an ambulance was called, and the 91-year-old senator has had health issues recently; he was hospitalized earlier this year with a staph infection. He's currently the Senate's oldest member, and he's served in the body for more time than any other person in U.S. history.

Update: Byrd actually was admitted to the hospital, for a stay his staff is saying should last only for a few days.

"[U}pon examination, doctors found an elevated white-blood cell count which can be an early sign of an infection,” the senator's spokesman said in a statement. “Therefore, his doctors have determined that Byrd should remain in the hospital for antibiotic treatment and observation.”

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But what really struck me about Byrd's statement was the non-political part of it at the very beginning: "I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come. My heart and soul weeps at the loss of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy."

Statements from politicians are, as a general rule, not exactly the most sincere things ever written. But there's no doubting Byrd's sincerity here, because last year, shortly after Kennedy was diagnosed with the cancer that would end up taking his life, Byrd spoke about his friend on the floor of the Senate. Whatever you feel about the two men and their politics, I think it's impossible not to be touched by what ensued, an all-too-rare truly, deeply human moment in Washington. Byrd breaks down talking about Kennedy's illness, and his heart and soul truly do appear to be weeping. The video is below.

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On Wednesday, the veteran senator wrote a letter to President Obama in which he criticizes the new administration's use of White House offices and "czars" to do work normally under the purview of officials who have to be confirmed by the Senate.

These new jobs “can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials," Byrd said, according to Politico.

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Doctors discovered a malignant tumor in Kennedy's brain this past May. CNN is reporting that paramedics are on the scene and that he's now in an ambulance after experiencing violent convulsions.

The new president opened his remarks at the lunch by expressing concern for the health of Kennedy -- or as he called him, "Teddy" -- and noting the senator's role in the struggle for civil rights.

According to the Politico's Glenn Thrush, West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd also left the luncheon early with apparent medical troubles.

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This Democratic primary campaign has been tough and competitive. I had no intention of involving myself in the Democratic campaign for President in the midst of West Virginia's primary election. But the stakes this November could not be higher.

After a great deal of thought, consideration and prayer over the situation in Iraq, I have decided that, as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, I will cast my vote for Senator Barack Obama for President. Both Senators Clinton and Obama are extraordinary individuals, whose integrity, honor, love for this country and strong belief in our Constitution I deeply respect.

Byrd's endorsement carries some symbolism beyond just his lengthy tenure. As Republicans are fond of pointing out, Byrd was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan; indeed, in the early 1940s, he was a leader of his local chapter. He has spent many years since apologizing for his membership in the Klan: In 2005, he said, "I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times ... and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/05/19/byrd_obama/feed/ 28 http://www.salon.com/2007/05/09/resolution_11/ http://www.salon.com/2007/05/09/resolution_11/#comments Wed, 09 May 2007 15:39:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2007/05/09/resolution Sens. Hillary Clinton and Robert Byrd have proposed a repeal of the 2002 resolution by which Congress authorized George W. Bush to use force in Iraq. At a Senate appropriations hearing today, Byrd asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates if he believed that the use-of-force resolution still applied at all.

Byrd: Secretary Gates, the 2002 authorization to use force in Iraq authorized the president to use force for two purposes ... The first was to defend the national security of the United States "against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." The second was to "enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions against Iraq." Since the government of Iraq that is referred to in the resolution no longer exists, having been replaced by a democratically elected one, do you agree ... that this authorization no longer applies to the ongoing conflict in Iraq?

Gates: I think the honest answer, Sen. Byrd, is that I don't know the answer to that question.

Byrd: That's being honest. Therefore, if you don't know the answer -- how does it apply if you don't know the answer?

Gates: Well, sir, my impression is that it's the view of the president that it still continues to authorize the actions that we are taking in Iraq.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/05/09/resolution_11/feed/ 8 http://www.salon.com/2007/04/02/feingold_reid/ http://www.salon.com/2007/04/02/feingold_reid/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:35:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/opinion//feature/2007/04/02/feingold_reid Many Americans remember the tragic deaths of U.S. troops in Somalia in the early 1990s, vividly portrayed in the movie "Blackhawk Down." Those 18 service members died in a misguided, poorly defined military mission that had dragged on without an end date and without the support of the American people.

As Congress debates the war in Iraq, the congressional debate over Somalia 14 years ago has some surprising parallels. Without question, Somalia in 1993 differs in many ways from Iraq in 2007, from the scope of the mission to the reason for that mission in the first place. What hasn't changed, however, is Congress' constitutional power to end a military mission, and its ability to use that power without endangering the safety of our brave troops.

That is exactly what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and I propose to do with legislation we will introduce when the Senate reconvenes next week. Our bill would require the president to begin safely redeploying U.S. troops out of Iraq in 120 days, with redeployment to be completed by March 31, 2008. After March, funding for the war in Iraq would be cut off, with three narrow exceptions -- targeted counterterrorism operations, protection of U.S. personnel and infrastructure, and training and equipping Iraqi forces. In other words, the current military mission in Iraq would be effectively ended. Sen. Reid has said he will work to make sure the Senate votes on our bill by the end of May.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/04/02/feingold_reid/feed/ 37 http://www.salon.com/2007/02/26/clinton_aumf/ http://www.salon.com/2007/02/26/clinton_aumf/#comments Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/02/26/clinton_aumf Almost four years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the war there remains the single most important issue of the campaign for the 2008 presidential election. On the Democratic side, two of the front-runners -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. -- have managed to stake out positions as war opponents. Obama, who was still a state legislator at the time Congress voted to authorize the use of force, vehemently opposed the war. And Edwards, who as a senator did vote for the war, has apologized for that action, which seems to have gotten him off the hook with many voters. Only Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., remains resolute about her vote for the war, admitting she wouldn't do it again, but refusing to apologize for it. It's an issue that has, so far, dogged her with voters.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/02/26/clinton_aumf/feed/ 114 http://www.salon.com/2006/04/26/byrd_7/ http://www.salon.com/2006/04/26/byrd_7/#comments Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:42:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2006/04/26/byrd We've been locked into the indictment watch today, but there's always time for checking in on that other I-word. As lawmakers in Vermont and Illinois mount from-the-ground-up efforts to impeach George W. Bush, Democrats.com points us to this small nugget from a speech about the role of the Senate Robert Byrd gave upon returning to Washington Monday:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2006/04/26/byrd_7/feed/ 8 http://www.salon.com/2006/01/26/byrd_6/ http://www.salon.com/2006/01/26/byrd_6/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2006 19:57:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2006/01/26/byrd Progressives are still clinging to hope that Democrats will still rise up to filibuster the nomination of Samuel Alito, but the nominee just picked up the support of another Democrat: The Associated Press is reporting that Robert Byrd will join Tim Johnson and Ben Nelson in voting to confirm.

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