David Axelrod

I Miss Trent Lott

When Bill Frist was appointed Senate majority leader a few years ago, I didn't know what to expect. But now he's done something I didn't think possible:

He's made me nostalgic for Trent Lott.

Sure, Lott offended with his glowing tribute to Strom Thurmond's segregationist Dixiecrats. But at least the helmet-haired former cheerleader from Mississippi had the self-awareness to realize that majority leader was probably as far as he could go.

In contrast, and as noted in today's New York Times, Dr. Frist has been operating from the moment he replaced Lott for a shot at the White House in 2008. Time and again, Frist has used his leadership position to pander to the Right, in hopes of outflanking Senator John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination.

Most loathsome was his role in promoting the outrageous Congressional intrusion into the tragic, end-of-life drama of the Schiavo family. His bogus, video-based "diagnosis" of Terri Schiavo's brain activity should not only exclude him from the presidency, but should have caused the licensing authorities in Tennessee to consider yanking his stethoscope.

And now Frist is promoting a destructive, draconian immigration position that is bitterly dividing the country, a move calculated to boost his stock with the wingers who may determine the Republican nomination.

Frist isn't the first panderer to run for President, and he won't be the last.

But he shouldn't be allowed to use his leadership position in the Senate to do it.

David Axelrod: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 4:19 PM, Apr 03, 2006 in Government Accountability
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