Aside from Tomi Lahren’s recent kerfuffle, Republicans’ clarion call for repealing and replacing Obamacare remains at a standstill. Sure, they managed to accomplish a few “symbolic” repeals of the Affordable Care Act, but the real guts of President Barack Obama’s landmark legislation remain in play. And while President Donald Trump, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and their allies continue to rail against it, others like Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have moved on to the party’s other big tentpole project — new tax legislation. Unfortunately for Hatch, his recent comments to Politico have overshadowed taxes for the moment.
“We’re not going back to health care. We’re in tax now,” the 83-year-old politician from Utah told the political blog. “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.” Of course, Hatch’s divisive comments here (and the attitude behind them) are sure to ruffle plenty of feathers among the GOP’s top brass, yet all everyone reading the article cared about was the senator’s use of the phrase, “shot their wad.”
Anyone with an internet connection and some familiarity with Urban Dictionary can tell you what the phrase means. I won’t recreate its precise definition (neither the sum nor its parts) here, though I will point out that some people would consider it to be vulgar. Including, depending on which story you’ve read, Sen. Hatch. One of the chief authors of the 2005 Family Movie Act, which allowed users to “filter” out language and other questionable items from DVD home releases, Hatch recently suggested streaming services like Netflix do the same. Meanwhile, back in 2011, the same Hatch dubbed Obamacare a “dumb-ass program” and an “awful piece of crap.”
Of course, per a series of 2011 letters to the editor in the Washington Post, shooting one’s wad doesn’t necessarily equate to sexual innuendo. The senator’s office even tweeted out a screenshot of a dictionary website’s list of various (outdated) meanings and uses of it.
As few of you were alive during the Civil War, here's a valuable jargon lesson on "wads" and the shooting of them. https://t.co/dOYvcfgImO pic.twitter.com/wk9aaNb3s2
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) August 7, 2017
Even so, the internet wasn’t about to let Hatch get away with using it unscathed.
I think I speak for all 7.4 billion people alive today in saying nobody wants to hear Orrin Hatch talk about shooting his wad. https://t.co/uMbbdIX6L6
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/Susan_Hennessey/status/894591019970375680
Is there really anyone left who was alive during the civil war? https://t.co/CV7SNZdUmg
— Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) August 7, 2017
Sure Hatch says they "shot their wad on health care," but does he plan to fisk any criticism of future tax reform legislation?
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) August 7, 2017
Blew it straight out of the Orrin Hatch, as we say in Provo. https://t.co/mOrPeDPupA
— L O L G O P (@LOLGOP) August 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/surfbordt/status/894591345427402754
(Via Politico)