Depending on whom you believe, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was either very confused or playfully quick-witted.
Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in history and a key figure behind the push for the “min-rothification” of defined contribution plans and limits on stretch IRAs, tweeted the following on Christmas:
“Grateful for this great Christmas honor from the Salt Lake Tribune. For the record, I voted for @SpencerJCox and @rudygobert27. #utpol”
The problem was the honor to which he referred was a scathing editorial calling for his own retirement.
The Salt Lake Tribune had earlier in the day named Hatch the “Utahn of the Year,” yet the designation is awarded to an individual who makes a significant impact for good or ill. In the case of the politico, the paper thought it the latter, and the editorial that followed can certainly be described as scathing.
“It would be good for Utah if Hatch, having finally caught the Great White Whale of tax reform, were to call it a career. If he doesn’t, the voters should end it for him,” the paper bluntly stated, before noting “his utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.”
Opponents were quick to point and laugh, arguing that it appeared the senator only read the headline, and not the piece itself.
David Corn of The Nation tweeted:
“This is very, very funny. Read the article Hatch thinks is an ‘honor.’ Oh, boy. Guess he read this article as closely as GOP senators read the tax bill before voting for it.”
The similarly aligned Talking Points Memo headlined its write-up “Hatch Fooled by Newspaper Editorial Calling for His Retirement.”
But his office pushed back, claiming the tweet was tongue and cheek, and that the senator is well aware of the paper’s editorial position regarding his tenure.
“You’d have to be very new to ‘Twitter_Hatch’ to think this tweet was anything but tongue-in-cheek,” Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock tweeted Tuesday. “This is at least the 4th editorial the Tribune has written in the last two years urging Hatch to retire. Might as well have a chuckle about it. On Christmas.”
The confusion follows similar misinterpretations of Time’s “Person of the Year,” which recognizes the individual who’s made the greatest impact in a given annum, for good (Martin Luther King, Jr.) or bad (Adolph Hitler).
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
