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There was a striking — and illuminating — moment in an interview that Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) gave to NBC’s Chuck Todd on the “Daily Rundown” on Thursday.

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Senator Orrin Hatch: I will be honest with you. The Right is a multiplicity of various groups, some of which aren’t even Republicans, but who think they can control the Republican Party. And some of which have been good Think Tanks in the past but now are losing their reputation because of some of this radicalness.

Chuck Todd: Are you referring to Heritage?

Senator Orrin Hatch: Yeah. Of course I am. Heritage used to be the Conservative organization helping Republicans and helping Conservatives, and helping us to be able to have the best intellectual Conservative ideas. There are some real questions in the minds of many Republicans now. I am not just speaking for myself. For a lot of people that is, Heritage is going to go so political that it really doesn’t amount to anything anymore. I hope not. I am going to try to help it to survive and do well. But right now I think it’s in danger of losing its clout and its power around Washington, DC.

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Hatch’s willingness to so publicly bash Heritage — an organization now headed by his one-time colleague Jim DeMint — is evidence of the growing frustrations within the party about the clout that organizations such as Heritage Action, the political arm of the think tank, as well as the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club for Growth, now wield over Republican members of Congress. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/10/18/orrin-hatch-
vs-the-heritage-foundation/]

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