Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that he was junking his plans to run for president.
Frist’s bail-out was a natural by-product of the Nov. 7 Bush-buster election. A senator of little import, the Bushies picked him to run the “sweetest little club in world” according to their usual criteria of loyalty to the family creed and mediocrity.
He couldn’t even deliver on those, pulling the rug out from Bush on stem cell research with an eye to his presidential run, and failing to be even mediocre in steering GOP legislation to the (p)resident’s desk.
Like Dan Quayle’s, Frist’s rise was quirky and unnatural, as the administration dispatched with the party’s organic pecking order in search of someone who looked good on paper (doctor instead of lawyer), but was dull enough not to outshine the guy at the top. Once the guy on top was gone, or in this case de-fanged, each was left hanging in the wind with naught but a fancy title on their resume to show for doing the Kennedybunkport shuffle.
Frist will not be missed, because we hardly knew he was there. Bush stands a better chance of getting something out of the Democrats whom, however many their flaws, come prepared to govern rather than to obstruct and de-fund.
During his tenure Frist oscillated between absent and demagogic. His shameful rush to the stage in the GOP production of the “Terry Schiavo Story” helped seal his fate and that of the party as a bunch who shot first and let God sort it out.
The American people were more patient and deliberate in coming to judgement. Frist’s drop from the presidential sweepstakes is evidence of their final verdict.
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