Frist's Incompetence Makes the News

by emptywheel

The WaPo has discovered something we've been talking about for a while: Bill Frist is an idiot. Actually, they're a little more circumspect than that, asking simply if "Frist is up to the task of being President."

In true 21st Century hardhitting journalistic fashion, the WaPo carefully presents both sides of the Republican case. Presenting evidence that Frist is not up to the job of majority leader are two Republicans who bend over backward to compliment Frist while highlighting the problems he is having. There's Bill Dole, who explains "It's not easy being Senate majority leader." And there's Alan Simpson, who seems to suggest Frist is a lightweight--a smart one, but still a lightweight.

"I think he's very bright, but he had never been in hardball politics," said former senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), referring to Frist's comparatively swift and painless ascension to the leadership post in early 2003. "Politics is a contact sport."

There are some more strident critics (hey, who knew that Norm Orenstein is non-partisan?):

Some nonpartisan analysts see deeper shortcomings in the way Frist approaches difficult issues, such as judicial nominees and Bolton. He sometimes compounds his problems, they say, with ill-timed comments and actions that a cannier Senate leader might have avoided. "We still see a bumpy learning curve," said Norman J. Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

And then, to defend Bill Frist's claim to being a great legislator we've got ... Frist's staff--his spokesman and his chief of staff--who trot out a list of legislative accomplishments that might be admirable if they weren't talking about a Senate majority leader working with the luxury of a House majority and the Presidency.

It's a real softie piece--particularly since it's asking a question that has been out there for weeks. But I think they miss two important aspects to Frist's failure. First, Frist is unable to sense the boundaries of acceptable lies. For example, Michael Sandel describes how Frist's attempts to woo conservative primary voters has interefered with his ability to lead the Senate.

Frist has appealed to conservative activists through his decisions on judicial filibusters and the Terri Schiavo case. He drew widespread ridicule in editorial cartoons for his long-distance questioning of whether Schiavo was really in a "persistent vegetative state" after viewing her on a videotape. "His leadership of the Senate has faltered so far as he has tried to cultivate the constituency of Republican primary voters," Sandel said.

The problem, of course, that the folks clamouring for a Schiavo rescue were only a small subset of a subset of Republican primary voters--even most Christian voters didn't want Congress involved in the Schiavo affair. Frist could have see that by looking at polls. Or, simply, he could have sensed it would be unwise to express his "expertise" about Schiavo on taped interviews that can and will be played over and over to remind voters of his craven political move.

And, quite simply, he's got a tin ear for what voters are going to accept. One of the funniest things in the whole article comes when Frist's Chief of Staff is quoted trying to claim great things for his guy.

Frist's chief of staff, Eric M. Ueland, says the senator's team "rewrote the president's tax policy to move the tax cuts up earlier -- a decision that Frist made -- so we'd get more bang for the buck." He called the landmark legislation adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare "the Bill Frist prescription drug bill."

This is a record on which Frist is going to run for the Presidency? When our deficit will be so bad in 2008 that it's almost certainly going to be a central election issue (I wonder where Perot is these days)? Or, more importantly, when a bunch of seniors will have had almost three years to realize the Prescription Drug benefit is a big fat boodoggle for the pharmaceutical industry, but does little for seniors besides keep their intellects sharp just trying to figure out how to negotiate the benefit? Sure Bill, run on these two issues. I can only hope you get the GOP nod, if you're going to run around bragging about the Prescription Drug bill.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

we have to write this stuff for them?

I think the autopsy result was the last straw, given his statements on the floor of the senate. Our outrage was apparently noted, shaed, whatever.

[DemFromCT]

love the ending:

"Ueland said Frist is so reluctant to trumpet his endeavors -- such as brokering phone calls at 11 p.m. -- that many in the news media and public sell him short. "This is a very different kind of politician," he said."

So different, no one knows a thing he's done right. Ask Dobsen about hiding your light under a bushel.

[Mimikatz]

Wall Street Journal also has a huge article on Frist this am. A DeLay description "deer in the headlights" of him in the early days makes the headline. The article is not particularly favorable toward his legislative skills. Sees him as still in over his head and clearly running for Pres.

[Plutonium Page]

Via video, my diagnosis is that Frist is done.

[emptywheel]

Page:

A you basing that diagnosis on your expertise with all things nuclear?

[emptywheel]

mimikatz

Any chance you can give us a bit of that WSJ Fristie love?

[Kagro X]

I thought the video diagnosis was just icing on the "HIV/AIDS via sweat" cake.

This moron has singlehandedly devalued Harvard Medical degrees for a generation.

[Matt]

Who, exactly, is this "Bill Dole" person who knows something about being Senate Majority Leader?

[DemFromCT]

Hill Dole is Libbie Dole's husband.

emptywheel, let me know if you need the WSJ article.

[Redshift]

Ornstein works for an outfit that declares they're dedicated to advancing conservative goals, but they don't say Republican goals, so clearly they're nonpartisan. I mean, if the Democrats would just become extremely conservative, I'm sure the AEI would support them, too!

[Kagro X]

A play henceforth to be known as "Rove's gambit."

[RonK, Seattle]

DecembristMark Schmitt skewered Frist to the wall with his April observation that the guy doesn't know where his votes are.

[silence]

I suspect that this article is actually part of a PR push by Frist. It can't be a coincidence that the WSJ is also running a profile of Frist today.

[emptywheel]

silence

You're probably right. Too much of a coincidence.

Gotta give him credit. As bad as Frist's case is, his PR may be working better than Bush's.

[Mimikatz]

Emptywheel: Sorry, I had to have a root canal earlier. That is not a joke.

Frome the WSJ (which is a joke):

"His restless nature and supreme confidence have led him into waters over his head." [Schiavo, judges]

"When he decided to enter politics, he had to work out whether he was a Republican or a Democrat. In the wake of his recent difficulties, he is under new pressure to explain what makes him tick. The answer isn't clear." [He inherited a variety of political views; his mother was against the Vietnam War.]

"This unusual cocktail of influences makes corralling the Senate, one of the most willful of America's political institutions, a particularly tough slog. When he arrived as majority leader, 'it was sort of like a deer caught in the headlights: What do I do with this thing?' recalls Tom DeLay . . . ."

He acknowledges his reputation has taken a beating, but sees a turnaround coming. Perfect for this Admin.

There's lots more, and I hope Dem from CTY sent it to you.

[Mimikatz]

Here's more:

Hias father was a conservative from Mississippi. Not only was his mother outspoken against the Vietnam War, she supported McGovern in 1972. Her huge family argued politics while his father built HCA. His mother bought air conditioning for poor families and gave away buckets of KFC. His mother and aunt were schoolteachers, and the aunt (who appears to have supported school integration) was the one who got him to vote for Henry Foster for Clinton's Surgeon General.

In the Senate he was overshadowed by Fred Thompson, which caused him to befriend older Senators like Domenici. He has made missteps, but can be tough. He campaigned against Daschle and Cleland. "Once he makes a decision to take someone's heart out, he does it." Says Judd Gregg.

But his penchant for taking risks backfired this spring, as he quickly locked himself into a position where he had to psuh the nuclear button. But by his best count, he never had more than 50 votes, plus Cheney. (So how many did he need?) He left the impression of not being in control. He says he was right to stand on principle. "That's part of leadership. There would have been no deal to broker if I hadn't stood on principle." (??????)

He says it is unlikely the WH will provide more info on Bolton.

He acknowledges Schiavo was a mistake (or close to that).

He says he doesn't really want to be President--maybe head of WHO. The WSJ reporter doesn't believe him.

[DemFromCT]

I sent it, Mimikatz... what a gasbag Frist is. Trent Lott probably contributed on deep background for both pieces, and McCain filled in the rest.

[emptywheel]

Thanks Mimikatz, and I hope the root canal wasn't too painful. I thought they might have said something useful with which to supplement the WaPo fluff. But I guess the further right you go the fluffier the Fristie PR pieces get.

As I said to silence, this pathetic bid looks like a more successful attempt to reverse falling approval ratings. But then, without a big win soon, that's probably an overstatement.

[James]

Media expectations for the GOP are so low that all he really has to do is not blunder on a Supreme Court fight or on some kind of spending or highway bill.