‘Basically a Rhino’
Hatfield was never a RINO. He was a hard-fighting John Lindsay, Clifford Case type liberal Republican.
I lived in Oregon for awhile when Hatfield was a Senator. Please understand that only a liberal Republican will be the only type of Republican ever elected in Oregon. A liberal Republican (while still dangerous) is 100 times better than an Oregon Democrat. Spend 5 minutes in Portland, and you will see what I mean. BTW, Portland is one of my favorite cities, but anyone who has spent anytime there will know what I mean.
You certainly are correct when you say that “hard-fighting John Lindsay, Clifford Case type liberal Republican”. His belief that you and every other American citizen was too f’n stupid to defend yourselves was also very profound and hard-fought.
GUN-CONTROL ACT WINS FINAL BATTLE AS G.O.P. RETREATS
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: November 25, 1993
The Senate today passed a mandatory waiting period for the purchase of handguns after Republican opposition to the measure collapsed. It was an anti-climactic finish to seven years of Congressional battle.
The measure, the Brady bill, is the toughest gun-control bill passed by Congress since a ban on mail-order rifle sales passed in 1968, although even its supporters expect it to have only a modest impact on violent crime. It is now headed to the White House, and President Clinton said he hoped to sign it soon.
The bill had already bounced back from the dead once in recent days, when Republicans dropped a filibuster Saturday night in the face of strong public support for the measure. Then they stalled it again on Monday at its final threshold, blocking a vote on whether to adopt a House-Senate conference compromise version. 97 Empty Senate Seats
After days of personal animus and futile backroom dealing, Republicans backed down without much to show for their efforts. The bill passed without debate, with only three Senators sitting in a chamber emptied by the Thanksgiving holiday.
As Vice President Al Gore and Mark O. Hatfield, an Oregon Republican who supported the bill, watched, the two Senate leaders, Bob Dole of Kansas and George J. Mitchell of Maine, pronounced the measure adopted by unanimous consent.