MoveOn members in Utah organized a protest about Utah senator Orrin Hatch's position on health care reform. It was a small group outside the senator's Salt Lake City office. Here's how the Deseret News reported it yesterday.
The liberal group MoveOn.org staged a rally Wednesday outside the Salt Lake office of Sen. Orrin Hatch saying the insurance industry bought his vote against Democratic health-care reform by giving him nearly $1 million since he took office.
"Sen. Hatch took $913,000 — nearly $1 million — from health insurance companies basically to purchase his vote against a health-care plan that would support everybody," said Lydia Olchoff, one of the organizers of the event.
About three dozen protesters from MoveOn.org stood along State Street in downtown Salt Lake City holding signs at the rally with slogans such as "Whose side are you on?" "Don't side with big insurance," and "We need a public option." They held a replica check of the amount Hatch has taken from insurance companies.
They handed out press releases saying a search of Federal Election Commission records shows he took $913,614 in his career from health insurance companies, ranking 12th among all senators for that.
"We're here to ask Sen. Hatch whose side he is on in the health-care debate: the insurance industry's or his constituents'?" said Richard Lafon, another of the event's organizers.
That's (count 'em) about 36 protesters holding signs and handing out fact-based material -- not death panel style propaganda -- about where Senator Hatch gets his corporate contributions.
No yelling or pushing and shoving.
Steve Benen at Political Animal has this reaction to Hatch's godawful response. Maybe unforgivable response is a better way of putting it.
"MoveOn.org is a scurrilous organization," he said. "It's funded by George Soros. He's about as left wing as you can find in this country. And they're up to just one thing, and that is to smear good people. And frankly, they're not gonna smear me without getting kicked in the teeth by me."
A few things stand out here. First, MoveOn.org isn't funded by George Soros. Second, MoveOn.org isn't "smearing" Hatch; everything the group has said about the senator is true.
But most important is the notion that Orrin Hatch intends to kick MoveOn "in the teeth." I assume he's not literally threatening violence against anyone, but this kind of rhetoric really is over the top. Some of Hatch's own constituents in Utah gathered at one of his offices for a peaceful protest. We're talking about regular ol' folks -- concerned citizens who want to see a broken health care system fixed. Hatch believes the appropriate response is to go on national television and talk about kicking grassroots organizers in the teeth?
What do you suppose the reaction would be if Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he found the Teabaggers to be "scurrilous" and intended to kick them in the teeth?
"Kick in the teeth"? Honest, I think censuring Senator Hatch (or Schumer, if he were to indulge himself in the same way) would not be amiss here.
