Orrin Hatch: “Well, I think it is because she is not a liberal. That seems to be the only mainstream the other side is interested in.…”

“Well, I think it is because she is not a liberal. That seems to be the only mainstream the other side is interested in. I cannot say she is all that conservative either. But the fact of the matter is, she is not a liberal Democrat. Here is a woman who has every credential in the world, as the Senator from Texas pointed out, who broke through the glass ceiling for women so women can now become partners in law firms, when that was tough to do. Here is a woman who has fought every day of her life to excel, who has excelled. Yet look how she is being treated, like she is 'outside of the mainstream.' Since they don't have any real legal arguments, any real philosophical arguments--they don't have any real arguments, and that is why we are getting a filibuster on one of the best nominees I have seen. By the way, she got the highest rating from the not-conservative American Bar Association, which during the Clinton years was called the gold standard. If you got a 'qualified' from the ABA and you were a Clinton nominee, that meant you were OK, you were in the mainstream. Here is a woman with a 'well qualified,' the highest rating from the ABA, and they are trying to say she is outside of the mainstream. That is just another misuse of terms because they don't have a real argument against her.”