On The Passing Of Mark Hatfield (R-OR) (Profile In Courage)...

[WillyT]

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The United States of America lost an incredible political leader last night when former U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR) passed away after a long illness. He was 89. In his two terms as Oregon's governor and five terms in the United States Senate he developed into what many called the "moral conscious " of the Congress, as he battled members of both parties by insisting that the needs of the "least of these in society" come first in budget debates, by fighting for civil rights before it was popular or safe to do so, and for taking on presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan over questions of war and peace and military spending. His politics were shaped by his deep Christian faith. There are lessons to be learned from his example today as politicians exploit religion for political gain in ways that he railed about.

In 1986, Senator Hatfield told Sojourners Magazine that as an evangelical Baptist he felt that:

I'm not one of those who believes you can compartmentalize between your public and private life, between your spiritual and secular life. As I understood my commitment to Christ, it was an integrated commitment in all aspects of my life. I often say that my first commitment is to the Lord, my second is to my family, and my third is to my constituents. Keeping them in that order, I feel, puts me in the best position to serve my constituents. I'm not suggesting my voting record should be blamed on the Lord. It's from my experiences, mixed with study, analysis, and intellect, that I take this position or have that viewpoint.

That way of thinking often got him into trouble. As Oregon's governor, before being elected to the Senate, he was the only governor in America not to support Lyndon Johnson's war in Vietnam. In 1968, Richard Nixon briefly considered naming Hatfield as his vice-presidential running mate but Hatfield's views on the war and record in support of civil rights drew opposition from Southern GOP leaders. Hatfield never felt easy about the controversy his positions sometimes created but he rarely wavered.

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-chuck-currie/christian-faith-mark-hatfield_b_921230.html

:patriot:

:kick:

[MineralMan]

1. Well, that's an old familiar name, for sure.

Gone, now...sympathies to his family. Other than that...

[stevedeshazer]

2. Hatfield was a mixed bag.

Lifelong Oregonian here.

He was elected Secretary of State when I was three, Governor when I was five, US Senator when I was twelve, and retired when I was 43. He had already served in the state legislature for several years by this time.

Oregon had a string of liberal Republicans running the state until the Reagan years. Hatfield was a big part of that along with Bob Packwood and Tom McCall.

Hatfield was a half-glass full liberal Republican. His opposition to war no doubt kept him from becoming Vice-President, something he was considered for. Instead, Nixon chose Spiro Agnew. Not good.

The current crop of Teabagger Republicans would have had Mark O. Hatfield tarred and feathered.

[WillyT]

3. Yeah, But... Aaahhh, The Good Old Days... No ???

I miss having actual policy debates with opponents with brains, common sense, and a political sense of fairness.

:shrug:

Just shows how far we've fallen, no?

:shrug: