Obituary: Former senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving GOP senator in history, has died at the age of 88. He was in the Senate for 42 years, from 1976 until 2019 and was very powerful. He was on the Senate Finance Committee. Hatch was also known for his ability to "reach across the aisle." I remember he was close friends with the late senator Ted Kennedy.
This article notes the friendship:
When Hatch was invited to speak at Kennedy’s funeral in 2009, he said, “I’m grateful for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who taught me that the bonds of friendship are stronger than any partisan pull.”
In that 2018 interview, Hatch talked about where his extensive collection of Senate papers accumulated over four decades would be housed.
“It’s no secret that the people up in Massachusetts wanted all my papers so they could put them in the Ted Kennedy Institute. I said, ‘No way,’” he said.
Washington’s odd couple — Hatch the Utah conservative, Kennedy the Massachusetts liberal — argued, compromised and passed many laws while becoming the unexpected best of friends.
“Most of the social legislation that works in this country came during those years that Kennedy was working with me,” Hatch said. “He could never have passed those things by himself, and neither could I.”
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He was even friends with Muhammad Ali, according to the article.
Hatch was 6 feet, 2 inches tall. I would never have guessed he was that tall.
It is just as well Hatch got out of D.C. He got out just before the insanity in both parties REALLY took hold.
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I have a hard time believing the revelations in this book, but I was shocked Biden picked Kamala Harris at all given the Willie Brown connection.
I believe the real reason he picked her was because she was close friends with his late son Beau. Beau is the reason Joe Biden decided to run for president.
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