Orrin Hatch Is a Big Fat Liar

Orrin Hatch: Republicans Weren't Involved in the Process on Health Care Reform

I can't tell if this guy is serious, if he's lying, or if he even knows that he's lying.
Let's look at a few excerpts from the CNN transcript, shall we?

HATCH: I don't know one Republican who does not want health care reform.

Okay. That's just ridiculous. Unless by "health care reform" you mean killing Medicare or privatizing the VA, then yeah, probably a lot of Republicans are in favor of health care reform. But actual reform? How do you sit there with a straight face and pretend that you haven't done everything in your power to derail reform? Why can't you just be honest and say "we're against health care reform, and here are the reasons why. . ." and then there could be an honest debate?

I don't know one Republican who would not try to work together with the Democrats.

Sure, because to you, working with the Democrats means the Democrats rolling over and giving you everything you want. And it's easy to see where you would get that impression, given the Democrats' recent history of lining up to be George W's prison bitch. So that's probably not technically a lie, it's just using a definition of the term "work together" that no one else would use.

We weren't involved in this process. We weren't even asked.

Now that is the most baldfaced lie since Senator Craig's wedding vows. (zing!)
Saying that Republicans were not involved in the process is like saying that my father was not involved in the process of creating me. It's like saying that the Beatles were not involved in the whole British Invasion thing, or the Pope isn't involved with the Catholic Church. It's just such an obvious, ridiculous lie that even an American journalist should have called him on it. It's barely worth taking the time to refute it. Fortunately, I don't have to, Slate has already done it.

You can read the whole article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2223023/

But here are a few highlights:

Only 197 amendments were passed in the end—36 from Democrats and 161 from Republicans. And of those 161 GOP amendments, Senate Republicans classify 29 as substantive and 132 as technical.

So, if we take Senate Republicans' word for it, the final bill ended up with 29 substantive Republican amendments. But, no, clearly the Republicans were not included in the process.
And what sort of amendments were they offering?

[An amendment] sponsored by Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, would "establish an auto advisory council to make recommendations to the Secretary of the Treasury regarding how best to represent the taxpayers of the United States as the majority owner of General Motors."

Seriously? That's what you have to add to the proceedings? An amendment that has nothing to do with the subject at hand? And that amendment is included in the final bill, and still Hatch is claiming there was no Republican involvement? Really?

An amendment from Mike Enzi of Wyoming promises "to protect pro-patient plans and prevent rationing." Another of his would "prohibit the government run plan from limiting access to end of life care."

And Enzi gets his two cents in, adding protections from imaginary threats. Good work, Senator! But you forgot the "no fire-breathing dragons" clause!

You do understand, don't you Mr. Hatch, that as the minority party, you aren't actually entitled to anything? You remember how things were before 2008, when Republican leadership wouldn't even let Democrats hold hearings? (link) Remember when Sensenbrenner cut off the mics because he didn't like what Democrats were saying? (link)
You've gotten way more consideration than you deserve, but I guess that because you are no longer running the entire show, you feel like you're being steamrolled? Or something? Maybe you're not a big fat liar, maybe you're just a big fat baby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOeEXnPA898