Wishful Thinking or Fractured Fairy Tale

Once upon a time in a magical land, there lived a charming young knight who gained prominence for slaying the old dragon named Cannon. This young knight had his legions of fans and many detractors. These detractors, tried their hardest to take the gleam off of the young knights armour by spreading many falsehoods about the young knight - or his twisting words in such a manner that the words had no resemblance pf what the young knight had really said.

Freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz says several GOP state convention delegates are urging him to challenge fellow Republican Sen. Bob Bennett for his seat next year, and Chaffetz is keeping the door open to that possibility.

"I don't have any intention of doing that (running against Bennett)" now, he told the Deseret News. "But I guess I like to keep my options open. Never say never."

Emphasis mine.

All story telling aside, this has to be one of the lamest attempts at stirring up controversy that I have seen out of the media in these parts. I do know that there are conservative activists who are trying to talk Jason into running against Senator Bennett AND/OR Senator Hatch. Here are just a couple of reasons why the timing is not right in 2010....

1) As a freshman in Congress, Jason has had more media recognition than most freshman Congresspeople could dream of. He has also had a couple of pieces of legislation see the light of committee which for a freshman in the MINORITY PARTY is huge. However, he still does not have the track record that he would need to make the step to the Senate. A couple more years in the House would be a plus.

2) With redistricting on the horizon, Jason stepping aside to run for the Senate would probably open up his seat for Democrat to pick up. Let's not forget that part of his district includes a portion of Salt Lake County. Dividing Salt Lake County between Matheson's district and the new 4th District will open the door for one almost guaranteed pick-up. Depending on how badly the 3rd and the 1st get gerrymandered to create the 4th, the Republican strong-hold of Provo could essentially be wiped out by one of the few liberal enclaves in the state.

3) A protracted primary fight could (if the Democrats actually put up a serious candidate which is always a wild card) leave the Republican Party divided enough to hand that seat over to the Dems as well. While I realize that this was a reason why Jason should not run against Chris Cannon, there is a reason why it is still "conventional wisdom".

4) Firebrands like Jason tend to do better in the House than the do in the Senate. That, my friends, is a fact of legislative life.

However, I suspect that this is yet another made-up media fairy tale. The field (to challenge Sen. Bennett) is already a crowded one with a couple of candidates that stand a chance of "pulling off a Chaffetz" in this race. The need (by the media) to throw out the possibility of a Chaffetz campaign will (the thinking goes) chase a couple of these more talented challengers off out of respect for a Congressman that they know, like and respect. In doing this, the media secures another term for Senator Bennett.

Selective Memory

I had to laugh when I started reading today's op-ed by Paul Rolly in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Federal agents swooped in on dozens of unsuspecting peaceful folks who were minding their own business and doing their jobs and ripped them from their families.

They handcuffed them and dragged them from their workplace. They threw them in jail and then public officials had a press conference to boast about it. The raid on illegal artifact peddlers in San Juan County?

Nope. The one I'm talking about occurred at the Salt Lake International Airport in December 2001 when federal and state officials wanted to show the world how safe Salt Lake City was for the 2002 Winter Olympics and ended up scattering the families of non-threatening dishwashers, floor sweepers and cargo handlers. None of those arrested had committed a crime other than being in the country illegally.

Yep - Rolly spends the rest of this column taking our esteemed Senators to task for being "inconsistent" on law enforcement while blithly ignoring the inconsistencies in his own rant.

And Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett didn't say squat about the heavy-handed tactics of law enforcement in that raid. Nor did they complain about the raid that broke up the families of dozens of workers at the Champion Safe Co. in Provo, which eventually led to that company's move to Mexico.

Nor did they complain about the Gestapo-like tactics that netted dozens of harmless workers at the Swift meat packing plant in northern Utah.

The people arrested, wrenched from their families and eventually deported in those raids, were breaking the law because they had come into the United States illegally.

Except that one of the big problems that many conservatives have with Senator Bennett is his rather wobbly stands on immigration reform and enforcement of the current immigration law! While he voted "Yes" on English as the official language of the US and on building the border fence, he has voted for a guest worker program (without a path to citizenship) and for allowing more migrant farm workers into the country - something that is a bit of an issue for many on both sides of the debate. Senator Hatch has voted consistently for enforcement of our existing immigration law and against many of the forms that would allow those who are already here illegally an easy way to citizenship. So essentially Rolly does have a point with Senator Hatch....

However, he selectivly ignores his own inconsistency. He is for (you can tell by the tenor of the article) harsher treatment of those who stole the Native American artifacts, yet he wants everyone to look the other way to illegal immigration (as you can tell from his previous columns and blog postings where anyone who is anti-ILLEGAL immigration is simply referred to as "anti-immigration").

However, the biggest problem that I have with Rolly's column and arguement is the fact that he is totally ignores the biggest difference between those that broke the law in the artifacts case and those who broke the law in the case he brings up from 2002. In the latter, the people arrested were NOT AMERICAN CITIZENS and in the former case all of the accused were AMERICAN CITIZENS. There is a difference in court of law!

Me??? I think both the illegal immigrants and the artifacts smugglers should be held accountable for their actions. I certainly don't care that they have been smuggling artifacts (in that region of the country) for generations....just because it has been done for generations does not make it right. It is still theft!

The moral of the story is pretty clear - if you don't want to be arrested in a humiliating fashion - don't break the law. It's a pity Mr. Rolly couldn't see that simple fact.....

Car WHAT????

The US House of Representatives passed a bill to bail out the automobile industry last night. One of the more "interesting" parts of the bill was the creation of a brand new cabinet level position...the "car czar".

The US government could own equity stakes in the country's ailing car manufacturers under the terms of a sweeping bail-out plan being considered by the White House last night.

The draft "auto rescue" bill submitted by congressional leaders would see the government receive equity warrants (options to buy shares at a set price) equal to at least 20% of the $15bn (£10bn) in emergency loans it gives to General Motors or Chrysler. The "car tsar" could, the bill added, even demand warrants of a "greater percentage".

A car what???????

The Senate is not so high on this bill, but for some the reason is not as obvious as you might think. Our "Republican" Senators from Utah are both opposed to this bill, but only because it does not make government intrusive enough!

Bennett, along with Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, say they want to support an auto bailout, but the current proposal doesn't give the car czar the necessary authority.

THIS is the problem with today's Republican Party. It has become a party of intrusive big government just like the Democrats. How can they campaign on being the party of "small government" when our politicians are voting for more government spending in a recession! HELLO - where is the money for this new bureaucracy coming from guys?????

They just don't get that not only do they not have the money, but with Bank of America being the latest to announce job cuts (35,000 as announced today) THE TAXPAYERS DON'T HAVE IT EITHER!!!! We can not continue to print money like it was Monopoly money. At some point in time the government has got to start CUTTING back on their spending like the voters are. Otherwise our money will be about as valuable as the peso.....