Yesterday, I was somewhere running errands, and I picked up an old copy of newsweek- the one with the “Bushwahacked” cover. I was flipping through, and I saw a striking picture of Bill frist in an elevator, with a bunch of aides surrounding him, the light seeming to frame him in a messianic sort ofway. it was a striking picture, and I thought to myself that if anyone’s career aspirations had gone down the tube this year, it was Frist. Funny this Bloomberg piece would show up today:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist last week rejected anything less than a full renewal of the Bush administration’s anti-terror legislation. He said he had “made it very clear” he wouldn’t accept a temporary extension of the USA Patriot Act, as Democrats were demanding.
Six days later, after threatening to allow the law to lapse, Frist accepted a short extension of the law. The Republican leader was forced to swallow that reversal because eight members of his own party had joined with Democrats to support an extension.
The Dec. 21 defeat capped a year of setbacks for Frist, whose leadership has been weakened by a series of missteps, divisions within his own Senate Republican caucus and a probe of his stock trades by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Most Capitol Hill observers now regard Frist as “the weakest majority leader in perhaps 50 years,” said Charles Cook, editor of the Washington-based Cook Political Report.
How much of this owes itself to events beyond Frist’s control, to the Democrats finally serving up some mild form of opposition, or other factors, I do not know. I do think, however, that years down the road, political scientists will trace one of the main causes of Frist’s weakness to his willingness to serve the White House blindly.
Tim’s previous take here.
KC
I have to say along these lines, that I thought, his stupid comments not withstanding, that Trent Lott really was an effective majority leader. Losing him at the helm was certainly a blow for Republicans. It’ll be interesting to read years from now what historians have to say about the WH and its allies replacing an effective and experienced majority leader with a Senator with significantly less legislative experience.
Tim F.
Hear hear.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Despite almost 140 years passing since Lee’s surrender at Appamottox, the GOP managed to lose a Civil War battle.
Nicely done, gentlemen.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Is Lott’s resignation as Senate majority leader still the blogosphere’s high-water mark for getting something done in the real world? I’d have to think it is.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
By the way, anyone else at work today? Ugh. You could shoot a cannon off and not hit anyone here, yet I’m still expected to be productive.
The Other Steve
Honestly, the best thing that happened to Democrats in the past several years was Daschle losing his seat. As a result they got Harry Reid.
Now you contrast Reid with Frist, and it’s clear Reid is a much better leader. They’re both soft spoken and fairly mild mannered. But Reid understands the Senate rules and he has no Presidential aspirations.
I don’t think Frist understands the Senate rules.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Reid has been a very pleasant surprise for the Dems.
Speaking of Daschle, when the nets reported his WaPost op/ed this morning I reacted with something close to contemptuous dismissal. What do you want, loser?
KC
What’s also interesting is the way Lott went down. He’s not the first Republican or Southern Democrat to say something racist. If the WH didn’t want to get rid of him, he’d still be in the leadership I think. After all, we recently had an AG with seemingly racist political underpinnings for a while. The GOP went to bat for him on several occasions, right? Moreover, from what I recall, the Lott scandal was really a non-scandal until a few weeks after he said what he said. The first I ever heard of it was when I saw Bill Kristol on television discussing it a few weeks after Lott made his remarks. Ironically, liberals were blamed publicly for Lott’s downfall by Republicans, though not all conservatives bought the talking points. Lott’s ouster was really masterful politics by the WH and their cohorts, that much is true.
GrudginglyAffirmed
Problem with Frist is that his base is in the White House and not in the Senate. Compare him to more recent leaders like Bob Dole and George Mitchell who commanded respect from other Senators on both sides of the aise and, well, there is no comparison. Bill Frist is little more than another White House power grab and there is no way he can command respect from even those within his caucus — let alone those on the other side of the aisle — when he is just a lackey for the administration and thus, for some, a symbol of executive overreaching.
What is perhaps most shocking is that Frist followed — roughly — another complete disaster of a majority leader — Tom Daschle. Yet, Frist makes Daschle look awesome.
One more comparison is worth making — Frist v. Reid. At every turn, Reid has beat the crap out of Frist. Who could forget Frist crying like a girl after Reid called the Senate into a secret session?!? Yet if you compare the two on paper, one would expect Frist to tower over Reid — he is more in touch with his party’s core views (Reid is clearly in the conservative wing of the Dem party, ie he is pro-life), he is more charismatic, better looking, has a great background, i.e. a doctor, etc. Yet Reid owns Frist. Just goes to show how important it is to have a base of power in the chamber, and not in another branch of government.
Larry
Isn’t this a good thing, that Frist in an ineffective leader? Imagine how bad things would be if he could ram the WH agenda through the Senate wih DeLay like tactics. Does anyone except the most tribal GOPer want Frist to be an effective leader. I’m happy he’s not.
Zifnab
Trent Lott was old guard. Southern, conservative, racist, and connected to the wrong people. Not surprisingly, he’s been a silent critic of the WH administration for some time. Catch him on the old episode of the Daily Show or try reading his book “Herding Cats”. He got robbed of his legacy and I can’t say I blame him for being a bit resentful.
But with Frist’s absolute bungling of politics, it at least shows were all the power lays. The fact that he’s still around and allowed access to an open mic is testimony to his continued influence on capital hill and to his continued solid base of support.
What continues to amaze me is that the WH has played such a masterful hand in gaining board position and yet bungled so horribly in pushing forward its agenda. How can you be so good and so bad at the same time. Admittedly, what Bush’s administration has accomplished in the past five years would have been seen as revolutionary (or ultra-reactionary depending on your view of history) if he’d done it a decade or two ago, but when you’re playing with a stacked deck it’s still amazing that you can lose this much.
Sojourner
Frist is the ultimate political whore. He stands for nothing and is driven solely by his voracious appetite for money and power.
Good riddance.
Mark-NC
Couldn’t have said it better! Frist is too busy licking Bush’s boots to lead anything.