RedState Slams Hatch for Backing Obama Appointees

RedState, one of the leading conservative blogs, is asking its readers to give Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) an earful for backing two of President-elect Obama’s Cabinet appointments.

In an e-mail sent Thursday to his readers, RedState editor Erick Erickson wrote that Hatch had said before the 2008 election he was unwilling to give Democrats a free pass. “Since then, Senator Hatch has expressed his love of Barack Obama and announced he would vote both for Eric Holder as Attorney General and Tim Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury,” Erickson wrote.

The blogger then lists the phone number for Hatch’s Senate office and asks readers to tell Hatch to oppose the two nominations.

RedState and other conservatives have highlighted Geithner’s failure to pay income taxes for several years and his employment of a housekeeper who lacked proper immigration papers. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has noted that Holder recommended the controversial pardon given by President Clinton to Marc Rich. Holder’s critics have questioned his ability to remain independent from the president.

Erickson mentioned that Hatch is up for reelection in 2010 and he warned the six-term senator that he shouldn’t be cooperating too much with Obama.

“It’s one thing to like Barack Obama,” Erickson wrote. “It’s another thing to roll over and be a useful idiot to the Obama agenda.”