For those who think Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is out of this world - or those who think he has alien ideas - the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News explains why.
He's an extraterrestrial."A tabloid wrote about that two years ago, too," said Paul Smith, Hatch's press secretary. But the earlier story only identified five aliens among the 100 U.S. senators. The new story has a headline screaming, "12 U.S. senators are space aliens!"
So is Hatch an alien? "We can't say anything about that. People up on the home planet are watching every move we make. If we say anything wrong, we get zapped," Smith joked.
He added, "When you look at the makeup of Congress and some of the strange things it does, you shouldn't be surprised that a few aliens are here."
More seriously, Smith said Wednesday that he is surprised by the many phone calls he has had about the story - and that The Associated Press ran a national story about it. "It must have been a slow news day."
Other aliens, according to the tabloid, are Sens. Dennis Deconcini, D-Ariz.; Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.; Bennett Johnston, D-La.; Howell Heflin, D-Ala.; Chris Dodd, D-Conn.; William Cohen, R-Maine; John Glenn, D-Ohio; Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan.; Sam Nunn, D-Ga.; Al Simpson, R-Wyo.; and Phil Gramm, D-Texas.
The Associated Press reported that many of the senators were having fun with the story.
For example, Simpson's spokesman, Charles Pelkey, said, "We've got only one thing to say: Klattu barado nikto" - which was an alien code from the 1951 movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
Asked where in the universe his boss was from, Larry Neal, a spokesman for Gramm, said, "It's Remulak in our case. I don't know where the other guys are from."
When The Associated Press pointed out that Gramm could not run for president if he was not a U.S. native, Neal said Gramm's parents came from Remulak but he was born on U.S. soil.
A Heflin statement did not confirm he was an alien but said, "Yes, my parents were heaven-sent."
Kathy Gest, a spokeswoman for Cohen, said, "It is preferable to be a space alien than a space cadet."
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
`Lkadjr alj lkaerh'
Responding to charges she is a space alien, Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, R-Kan., said in her native tongue: "Texdl sfaerr ad rtaer adf aer v aer avc ;lkadjr alj lkaerh. Taer-qer vvaer er poiv qwerv wqer vvqer vlkjawer vvjkqer vlrpvaer." Kassebaum said of her mission on Earth: "Qwqekv kwii qerlkj jan lqerkj vmqqer rrrqewr Republican." She also addressed her future political plans. "Rva rovlw loova pour xlrkm werlkj 1996 ow xjr wlkem rlamver anlro andr and rlav rv," she said succinctly.