Yo Ho, Blow the man down...

GOP drug war warrior Orrin Hatch, long time critic of drug policy reform [via], has seen the light.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a musician in his own right, helped secure the release of Atlanta R&B producer Dallas Austin from a United Arab Emirates jail after a drug conviction, the senator's office confirmed Saturday.

The guy was sentenced to four years in a Dubai jail with immediate deportment thereafter. Orrin pulled some strings and got them to skip the jail part and go straight to kicking him out of the country. Seems they owed old Orrin a favor.

Austin's attorneys said they enlisted Hatch's help because he has influence with Dubai, the paper reported. Hatch this year supported the Dubai-based DP World in its bid to manage several American ports. In his statement, Hatch said he was "grateful to the leaders of Dubai for agreeing to provide a workable and compassionate solution for this situation."

He also said he was confident Austin "will learn from this experience."

As Outside the Beltway notes, "Perhaps the next time Hatch talks to President Bush, he might suggest similar leniency for the tens of thousands of non-violent drug offenders in federal prison in this country, but I won’t be holding my breath."

Yeah, I'm not holding mine either. I'm betting Hatch's enlightenment will last about as long as the blow he'll be sharing with his buddy in celebration and he will be colloborating with Mark Souder on the latest escalation of the drug war within weeks. It is an election year and all that "tough on drugs" talk sells well you know. And heck how many voters will remember this in November if nobody reminds them?

Man, if there was a law against hypocrisy, all these bozos would be jail. As usual, Heretik nails the graphic.