Hatch defended the program on the Senate floor Wednesday, declaring that innocent people had nothing to worry about when it came to the government snooping on what they say are would-be terrorists.
"I don't want to bruise anyone's ego, but if al-Qaida is not on your speed dial, the government is probably not interested in you," Hatch said.
Unfortunately, when newspapers hit the porch Thursday morning, several major news organizations - The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News - gave the attribution to Sen. Kit Bond, the ranking Republican on the intelligence committee.
To be fair, Bond did give all credit due to Hatch, according to the Congressional Record, noting, "As the Senator from Utah said earlier today," before launching into the quote. The reporters apparently missed it.
Missing out:
Jason Chaffetz, who bested Rep. Chris Cannon in Utah's June primary, made quite a deal out of Cannon's record of missed votes during the campaign. Chaffetz probably would be even more upset to see Cannon's record since the congressman lost the primary race.
The House has held 37 votes since the day after the Utah primary, and Cannon missed 26 of them. Most of those came in the week after the election when Cannon didn't return to Washington, but it still means his voting percentage since his loss is now around 30 percent.
Chaffetz, R-Corn Dogs:
Chaffetz, who oddsmakers overwhelmingly bet will take Cannon's seat, recently sat down with us at Five Guys, a tasty East Coast burger joint. The idea was to look past the campaign rhetoric and get a sense of what kind of man he is, what kind of congressman he may become.
The interview was wide ranging but did offer this moment of true insight. We were talking about his interest in soccer and other likes. We asked him to go on. He looked at a nearly empty container of fries, paused for a moment and said, "I like corn dogs, too."
Moving on:
Cannon's Washington office has already started to shed staff.
The lame-duck congressman will have to start speaking for himself more now that mouthpiece Fred Piccolo has jetted to join a Florida congressman's office. Piccolo begins work Monday for Republican Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis.
Bilirakis represents Piccolo's home district and has a section on his Web site for a "Gus Report," which is now empty awaiting Piccolo to write something. Anything.
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* BURR AND CANHAM report for The Tribune from Washington, D.C. They can be reached at tburr@sltrib.com or mcanham@sltrib.com. For more political tidbits, check out http://blogs.sltrib.com/utahpolitics.
