Hot Air notes that Palin endorsed Hatch on Fox News and on her blog.
Here's the video:
Apparently not everyone agrees with Palin's endorsement, like Michelle Malkin who calls the Palin endorsement "inexplicable." Hot Air disagrees with Malkin's assessment.
As for “inexplicable,” I’d have to disagree there as well. Palin explains it pretty well in her endorsement piece, but the unspoken subtext is that Palin isn’t going to back someone who will get crushed in a general election. Bennett lost his seat because Mike Lee and the Tea Party out-organized him in the caucuses (which Ron Paul supporters did in this cycle in several states, including Minnesota). Had Bennett survived to a primary, Lee might very well have lost the nomination, and not by a small amount of votes. Hatch almost won the nomination outright at the caucuses over Liljenquist, and in a primary will coast to victory. Liljenquist is a long shot at best in a straight-up primary against Hatch.
I’ll follow Palin’s example and paraphrase Reagan: We shouldn’t consider someone who votes with us 70% of the time our 30% enemy. Hatch has a lifetime rating from theAmerican Conservative Union of 89.77, and a lifetime rating from the Club for Growth of 78%, better than Richard Shelby (AL, 77%), Jerry Moran (KS, 74%), Lamar Alexander (TN, 70%), and the two Senators from Maine, both of whom are in the 30s, among several others who score below Hatch. I’m sure Liljenquist would be a fine conservative in Congress, but our efforts shouldn’t be focused on getting rid of the guy with a 90% ACU rating. Palin made the right call.
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If Palin did not want to offend her friend Hatch, she could have just stayed out of it. By making this endorsement she sacrifices principle.
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Hatch Co-Sponsored PIPA; voted for the controversial National Defense Authorization Act 2012(NDAA); cosponsored the Individual Mandate for health care; voted for and co-sponsored Medicare Part D, a massive entitlement expansion; voted for and was lead sponsor of SCHIP, a massive expansion of government health insurance; voted for the Wall Street bailout (TARP).
I could go on. Hatch is not conservative.
I thank Hot Air for letting me know that the American Conservative Union and Club for Growth's ratings are completely worthless, and that Hot Air really is full of hot air. I will never pay them any attention in the future.