Friday, September 23, 2005
Frist's Bad Year
2005 has not been a terribly auspicious year for Bill Frist. Any elation he carried into the new year stemming from his role in ousting Tom Daschle must have dissipated by now. The winter and spring saw him getting embroiled in the entire Terry Schiavo mess and the concurrent battle over judges, in which he attempted to paint the Democrats as being opposed to "people of faith." To his eternal discredit, he attempted to diagnose Schiavo from the floor of the Senate (a poor second opinion that was invalidated by a subsequent autopsy).
Frist has an eye on the 2008 GOP nomination and, having preached to the Falwell/Robertson choir, tried to cross the aisle on the stem cell issue. This, more than anything, just incensed his former fans.
Now, the good doctor is being investigated by the SEC for the sale of stock from his own company two weeks before it took a major hit. He had claimed that the stock was being held in a blind trust, but it would appear that he received updates about it nonetheless.
With that, the GOP enters the 2006 midterm season with both of its Congressional leaders under investigation. Frist's own chances in 2008 are looking poor. At the rate he's going, he'll have managed to generate his own scandal cloud, his own reputation for crass partisanship, and his own PR problem with the religious right. Kudos to you, Bill.
Frist has an eye on the 2008 GOP nomination and, having preached to the Falwell/Robertson choir, tried to cross the aisle on the stem cell issue. This, more than anything, just incensed his former fans.
Now, the good doctor is being investigated by the SEC for the sale of stock from his own company two weeks before it took a major hit. He had claimed that the stock was being held in a blind trust, but it would appear that he received updates about it nonetheless.
With that, the GOP enters the 2006 midterm season with both of its Congressional leaders under investigation. Frist's own chances in 2008 are looking poor. At the rate he's going, he'll have managed to generate his own scandal cloud, his own reputation for crass partisanship, and his own PR problem with the religious right. Kudos to you, Bill.
