Posted by
Ed Lilly on Monday, January 26, 2009 11:11:35 PM
Byron York has a post over at The Corner at NRO on Timothy Geithner's nomination for Treasury Secretary. York commented on Sen. Orrin Hatch's support for Geithner, explaining in relevant part as follows:
Hatch is repeating an argument he has used in the Senate Finance
Committee — that a president ought to be able to get the appointees he
wants, providing they are not incompetent or corrupt.
I can understand that a lot of conservatives might be unhappy with Geithner's confirmation. And those who still labor under the misconception that Sen. Hatch is some kind of conservative might be flummoxed by his defense of Geithner's nomination.
But this is one of those days when the lessons of the Clinton years come in handy. During Clinton's presidency, we learned how very, very carefully a politician's language must be parsed in order to truly understand what people are saying, or not saying.
So in Hatch's case, if you read the explanation carefully enough, you reach the revealing truth that poor old Sen. Hatch couldn't refuse to vote for Geithner on grounds that Geithner is incompetent OR corrupt, because Geithner is both incompetent AND corrupt.
It's that darn conjunction that causes all the apparent confusion for Sen. Hatch. He couldn't wrap his head around what to do with a nominee who failed both tests.