Palin tells the tea party to lay off Orrin Hatch

Sarah Palin defended Orrin Hatch, the Republican senator from Utah, Thursday evening, and said that the tea party should stop criticizing him.

"He is doing good in terms of trying to get a balanced budget and he has been for the last couple of decades," the former Alaska governor told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "We need to be agreeing and embracing his idea and working with him to make sure that that happens, instead of shooing him away and shooing him out of a tea party movement, if you will, when he agrees with such a basic fundamental principle that we must see implemented, and that's just simply balancing the doggone federal budget."

The comments are being touted by Hatch, who is under attack by factions within the tea party that hope to replace him next year with someone they regard as more conservative.

Hatch's YouTube channel posted a clip of Palin's comments. You can watch it below:

Palin and her political action committee played a large role in boosting tea party candidates across the country last year--including Delaware's Christine O'Donnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky--who used her support to help defeat Republican incumbents in primary races.

Palin's comments on Thursday suggest that she won't be mobilizing against Hatch, though it's unclear if others will follow her lead. FreedomWorks' political action committee, for example, has already launched a "Retire Orrin Hatch" campaign.