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Hatch’s Office Cleans Up After He Says Party ‘Shot Their Wad’ On O’Care Repeal

FILE - This Feb. 22, 2017, file photo, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch speaks to the Utah Senate at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. Hatch is introducing a proposal that aims to remedy religious visa delays that the Mormon church says are disrupting the religion's missionary program. Hatch said in a news release Thursday, March 30, 2017, that some people are waiting nine to 11 months to get the religious visas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
FILE - This Feb. 22, 2017, file photo, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch speaks to the Utah Senate at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. Hatch is introducing a proposal that aims to remedy religious visa delays that the ... FILE - This Feb. 22, 2017, file photo, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch speaks to the Utah Senate at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. Hatch is introducing a proposal that aims to remedy religious visa delays that the Mormon church says are disrupting the religion's missionary program. Hatch said in a news release Thursday, March 30, 2017, that some people are waiting nine to 11 months to get the religious visas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) MORE LESS
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August 7, 2017 2:17 p.m.
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Listen up, internet: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) wants you to know there’s nothing sexual about “shooting wads.”

It all started with a colorful quote Hatch gave to Politico last week.

“We’re not going back to health care,” Hatch said, referring to Republicans’ failed efforts to repeal Obamacare. “We’re in tax now. As far as I’m concerned, they shot their wad on health care and that’s the way it is. I’m sick of it.”

Political observers were quick to snicker on Twitter. But a few hours after the article was published Monday, Hatch’s office clarified exactly what the 83-year-old senator meant.

The Mormon Republican’s office said he’d been channelling the Civil War-era term for the barrier between one’s gunpowder and corresponding musket projectile:

Hatch’s communications director, Matt Whitlock, seemed at least partly amused at the mix-up:

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Matt Shuham (@mattshuham)  is a reporter in TPM’s New York office. Prior to joining TPM, he was associate editor of The National Memo and an editorial intern at Rolling Stone.
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Notable Replies

  1. I think “shat their pants” is a closer approximation of what they did.

  2. “It’s not the crime, it’s the clarification.”

    You guys will screw up taxes too. You’re better off shutting up about all of it.

  3. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    So easy to believe he’s actually talking about 19th century muskets as that’s where Republican are still stuck in their social policies.

  4. Avatar for zd123 zd123 says:

    I find this pretty funny and applaud the staffer for keeping his humor about this. I have no trouble believing that 80-something Hatch, who has lived his life in a Mormon bubble, wouldn’t know any better. Now, if only his politics weren’t so execrable…

  5. It really WAS a gun term first. If you fire a shotgun even today you see the wadding, not the pellets. The wad is a real thing. “shot his wad” would refer to, say, a poorly trained soldier who forgot to push the actual bullet into the barrel before pulling the trigger

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