Free Republic

Memo to Reporters FROM: MoveOn.org PAC's Research Team DATE: 3.5.2004 attachment. Revealing Picture of Hatch Surfaces On Internet: Hatch Caught in Embarrassing Online Tryst with Publisher of Stolen Democratic Documents Twice in the days before right wing activist Kay Daly published stolen Democratic documents on her web site, Senator Orrin Hatch appeared on fringe internet radio shows with her. On October 29, 2003, he appeared on her Free Republic radio "Daly Show" and on November 11, 2003, he appeared on another Free Republic radio show with her. Manuel Miranda appeared on Ms. Daly's radio show just two weeks earlier. Kay...

Memo to Reporters FROM: MoveOn.org PAC's Research TeamDATE: 3.5.2004attachment. Revealing Picture of Hatch Surfaces On Internet: Hatch Caught in Embarrassing Online Tryst with Publisher of Stolen Democratic DocumentsTwice in the days before right wing activist Kay Daly published stolen Democratic documents on her web site, Senator Orrin Hatch appeared on fringe internet radio shows with her. On October 29, 2003, he appeared on her Free Republic radio "Daly Show" and on November 11, 2003, he appeared on another Free Republic radio show with her. Manuel Miranda appeared on Ms. Daly's radio show just two weeks earlier. Kay Daly was the...

Republican Senators with "egg on their faces" March 2, 2004 In the middle of the contentious fight over judicial nominations, we accused Republicans of surrendering to Democrats over what has been termed "Memogate" by some journalists. We said it was wrong for GOP senators to fire and scapegoat one of their most effective staffers, Manuel Miranda. It appears we were right. New information has surfaced showing that not only did Republicans act hastily, but the real blame does lie with the Democrats. Click here for Manuel Miranda's full statement, only released a few hours ago.

<p>Utah Republican Sen. Orrin G. Hatch yesterday morning said he will introduce legislation that would lift the ban on resident gun ownership in the District, irking some Senate Democrats and D.C. officials.</p> <p>If submitted, Mr. Hatch's amendment would be part of the gun-immunity bill being debated on the Senate floor. The senator's move comes after a call by President Bush for an amendment-free bill aimed at protecting gun manufacturers and dealers from frivolous lawsuits.</p>

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday that he backs a modification of the U.S. Constitution's 22nd Amendment that would allow him to run for president one day. Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" about an amendment introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch that would allow any immigrant who has been a citizen for 20-years to serve as president, the Austrian-born Republican at first joked, "Man, I should look at that because it sounds really good." But when asked if he agreed in principle with the Hatch proposal, Schwarzenegger responded, "Oh, absolutely. "I think that, you know, times have changed," he explained....

<p>Among other things, the election of Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger as California's governor revived interest in a question too long ignored: Why should Americans born abroad be barred from this country's top job?</p> <p>The U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section I) says: "No person except a natural born citizen ... shall be eligible to the office of president." Maybe that made sense in 1787, so soon after the American colonies had won their freedom and the fear of European meddling in the new country lingered. But 217 years later, in a country with more than 30 million foreign-born residents, a large percentage of them naturalized citizens, the ban is an anachronism that discriminates against far too many Americans.</p>

WASHINGTON -- Open access to the opposing party's private computer files was common knowledge among staff of Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, claims a former Hatch employee implicated in leaking Democratic memos. Manuel Miranda, a former Hatch Judiciary Committee staff member, resigned Friday as an aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee after acknowledging accessing confidential Democratic memos about blocking President Bush's judicial nominees. In a "departure statement" released Monday, Miranda said the "glitch" that allowed Hatch staffers to snoop in Democrats' computer files was no secret, that Democrats' own negligence is to blame...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch is being bashed by conservative groups that say the Utah Republican's effort to appease Democrats has let the party off the hook for its "shameful" tactics on judicial nominees and given Republicans a black eye in the process. "To me it is typical Orrin Hatch. He is more interested in winning the love and plaudits of his Democratic colleagues than he is in providing justice for people who have served him and his own party," said Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think-tank. After papers published portions of secret Democratic...

Manuel Miranda, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's staff lawyer who ran his judicial confirmation campaign, last Friday resigned under pressure. His scalp was demanded by Democrats, and Republicans complied. That showed who is ready and willing to play the tough partisan game in the U.S. Senate -- and who is not. Frist's willingness to throw his own aide overboard concluded a spectacular exhibition of the muscular Democratic minority's triumph of the will, personified by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. By a stroke of luck, Republicans had found a trail of e-mail messages by Democrats that exposed a coolly crafted plan to...

Hatch's handling of hacking decriedShould have hurt Demos -- not GOP, conservatives sayBy Lee DavidsonDeseret Morning NewsWASHINGTON -- A chorus of conservative groups say Sen. Orrin Hatch's attempts to appease Democrats converted a "smoking gun" supposedly proving Democratic corruption of judicial confirmations into a bomb wounding only Republicans. Sen. Orrin Hatch Criticism of the Utah Republican comes as Manuel Miranda, a top GOP aide overseeing judicial nominations, resigned Friday amid a probe into whether Republicans hacked into Senate computers to obtain and leak Democratic memos about judicial confirmations. Another unnamed aide, said to be a Utah native, quit earlier after...

Manuel Miranda, the Senate staffer who until today was Majority Leader Bill Frist's top adviser on judicial nominations, has left his post with a massive parting blast that should put to shame Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch. The substance of his contentions — that Democratic senators engaged in violations of the public trust that may be legally actionable — makes Hatch's utter capitulation to Democrat demands look craven by comparison. Miranda's letter to the Senate ethics committee, drafted earlier this week and delivered this morning, alleges that a series of Democratic memoranda that were not (and have not been) leaked will...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) top aide on judicial nominees is expected to announce his resignation at the end of this week — a sacrifice offered by the GOP leadership in hope of persuading the Democrats to wind down the fight over leaked Judiciary Committee memos. The aide, Manuel Miranda, had spearheaded the Republican effort to push President Bush’s judicial nominees through the Senate in the face of fierce Democratic opposition. Miranda declined a request for comment. But The Hill has learned that he agreed to resign under pressure from Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The Democrats...

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch says new Justice Department figures support longtime GOP claims that the best way to fight violence with guns is not to outlaw the guns, but to prosecute criminals. Data released Wednesday showed that as federal prosecution of gun crimes increased 68 percent from three years ago under the Bush administration, violent crimes dropped 21 percent. "Our law enforcement's tough-on-crime approach parallels what I have always advocated: protect the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms and and strictly enforce our gun laws," Hatch said. "Because of the stepped-up prosecutions, there...

<p>The real scandal is what's in the Democratic memos on judges, not who leaked them.</p> <p>A man from the U.S. Senate's Sergeant-at-Arms Office called this week, asking us to give up the name of one of our sources. A formal probe is under way to discover how last November we got our hands on Democratic strategy memos on how to defeat President Bush's judicial nominees. We politely told the gentleman to take a hike.</p>

The Hatch problem. President Bush's recess appointment of Judge Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit follows a string of other actions that make it clear: When it comes to the judge battle, the gloves are off. Unfortunately, Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch hasn't gotten the memo. Hatch's politeness and charity towards his Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, often the source of frustration for conservatives in Washington, is now acutely damaging to the struggle to get conservative judges onto the federal bench. Specifically, Hatch's eagerness to comply with the Democratic witch-hunt — cooked up to draw attention away from embarrassing memos...

Pro-choice leader and senator trade compliments By WASHINGTON — Nearing the end of her long career as maybe the nation's best-known abortion rights advocate, Kate Michelman — president of NARAL Pro Choice America — was asked Monday which of her opponents she respects the most. "Sen. (Orrin) Hatch," she said with only minor hesitation during questions from the audience after a speech to the National Press Club. She said the Utahn, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "is a thorn in my little side when it comes to judicial nominations." But, she added, "he and I have had...

Legend has long held that illegal aliens give American citizens cheap lettuce and cheap child care. Excepting for agribusiness and the upper classes, that legend is, in reality, a nightmare, in which the American middle and working classes pay and pay and pay for illegal immigration, and get nothing but grief in return. In states with heavy illegal alien populations, the budget of a middle-class family is full of hidden illegal alien surcharges. As a result, today’s middle-class American family with two full-time working parents has less discretionary income than its traditional forebear, in which the father alone was...

FITCHBURG -- Several hundred, mostly Latino people, filled the auditorium at Academy Middle School Saturday to hear about pending laws that could help immigrant children go to college. The Twin Cities Working Coalition for Latino Students organized the community meeting, which was held in Spanish and English. State Sen. Robert Antonioni told the crowd about a bill in the Statehouse that would allow students who spend at least three years in a Massachusetts school and graduate in the state to pay in-state tuition at state colleges, even if they don't have immigration documentation. "These students should be treated like everyone...

The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty For Immediate Release: Contact: Ashley Varner December 4, 2003 703-691-2301 avarnerphc@aol.com Aldrich Defends the Senate Judiciary Whistleblower Placed on Administrative Leave Fairfax, VA-Will the brave Judiciary whistleblower please come forward? There may be help available for you, if Gary Aldrich has anything to say about it. Last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) placed a Republican Committee staffer on administrative leave, after the release of Democrat documents revealing discriminating strategies for blocking certain judicial nominees. Aldrich expressed his disappointment in the Senate leadership for buckling under Democrat demands to punish the...

Fairfax, VA)-Will the brave Judiciary whistleblower please come forward? There may be help available for you, if Gary Aldrich has anything to say about it. Last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) placed a Republican Committee staffer on administrative leave, after the release of Democrat documents revealing discriminating strategies for blocking certain judicial nominees.Aldrich expressed his disappointment in the Senate leadership for buckling under Democrat demands to punish the Committee whistleblower. "Senator Hatch seems more outraged at his brave staff member than he is at the Democrat Senators who unethically stonewalled President Bush's judicial nominees.""I wish this brave...