Posted on 08/30/2006 8:08:21 AM PDT by yoe
I spent part of the day today with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. He is, of course, a very impressive guy: a physician, a heart and lung transplant surgeon, an upstart politician, a hands-on doctor in places like Sudan and New Orleans, and one of the most powerful people in our government. Despite those obvious accomplishments and Frist's skills as a legislator, I've always felt that he lacks the executive persona necessary to be a strong Presidential candidate.
Maybe. But I was impressed by the close-up contact I had today. Frist is deadly serious about the war on terror, the pre-eminent issue of our era. He tells a chilling story of receiving a call from President Bush a week before the recent British airline bomb plot was disrupted. The message at that time, communicated to less than a handful of top federal officials, was that a terrorist plan was known to be in progress which could kill several thousand Americans, but there was no assurance that it could be stopped. It was stopped, thankfully, and news accounts suggest that the very terrorist surveillance programs now under attack by the Democrats were instrumental in saving thousands of American lives. Senator Frist is fully committed to using all of the appropriate tools at our command to win the war against Islamic terror, and September will see a series of legislative initiatives designed to strengthen our defenses against the terrorists.
Frist is also acutely aware of the relationship between petroleum prices and the funding of Islamic terror. Energy independence is not just a desirable economic goal, it is a national security mandate. Hundreds of millions of dollars are needlessly being poured into the coffers of terror-supporting states because the Democratic Party blocks every effort to develop our own energy resources.
The Majority Leader also made a point on taxes that surprised nearly all of his listeners. If you take a family of four, with an average American income of $64,000 per year, and assume that the Democrats regain control of either the House or the Senate and block the extension of the Bush tax cuts, as they are committed to doing, what would be the impact on that average family? A federal tax increase of 58%. That's what the Democratic Party stands for.
Based on my observations today, Senator Frist is a highly viable Presidential candidate. His intelligence, competence, judgment and reliability cannot be questioned. His views are compatible with those of the Republican base across a broad range of issues. He needs to beef up his Presidential persona, by, for example, learning what to do with his legs when he is addressing a group. (Then again, President Bush never mastered that particular skill.) But such cosmetic issues are minor.
When Republican voters start thinking seriously about a candidate for 2008, if they are concerned by the quirkiness of both John McCain--whom, by the way, Frist was careful to praise today--and Rudy Giuliani, should he run, and if they look for a more mainstream conservative candidate, Frist should be at the top of the heap. With all due respect to Senator George Allen, it would seem that Senator Frist has a more powerful claim on the loyalties of the party's faithful.
Consider me impressed.
Frist as President?... Hmmmm... ONLY if Pee Wee Herman is Press Secretary...
Rudy will have a hell of a time winning the GOP's primary
One can only hope so. The more important question is which of all the other clowns on the current list will be nominated.
I can't think of a single one who would be anything more than the "lesser of two evils" type candidates they have put up in the past.
I live for the day I can actually vote FOR someone.
didn't he vote to give amnesty to illegals and also to give them government checks? No thank you.
The man is a spineless wimp of the 1st order...I like a better handle for him Senator "Limp Wrist"
How did Frist do on the FR popularity poll? Not all that well IIRC.
Hell no.
i CANNOT believe that hindraker of powerline published this #@$#@$. It almost seems like a satire piece. I suspect hindraker got stars in his eyes when he met him and thats why he wrote this piece. Frist might have a good resume, but he's a weak leader. If it comes down to allen and frist as the conservative alternative allen will squash frist.
A candidate meeting your criteria will be a ways off.
I can think of several that I would like to see run that I think could win the GOP nod, but probably won't. The best of the bunch would be Jeff Sessions. James Inhofe and Sam Brownback are also good. In the house, Mike Pence and JD Heyworth come to mind.
And any of these guys would take out McCain or Rudy, IMO. There will definitely be a conservative in the race and its better for him not to announce yet anyway.
Frist, unfortunately one of my 2 CINO Senators, has a backbone of jelly, a NumbersUSA immigration report card of D-, and a speech delivery that makes George Bush sound silver-tongued.
If you're desparately wanting to have a conservative in the White House for a change, stay away from Frist.
No.
Probably never. I favor a candidate who believes in the constitution and will sacrifice his/her career and even his/her life to defend it.
I know of no liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat who is willing to do that, or even wants to.
There is your golden opprotunity to run for office.
I don't need to be formally rejected to know my ideas are going to be rejected.
No one who believes in what I do, and would actually do it, could ever be elected in America today.
Sufficient numbers of people do not value the Constitution, freedom, small government, or individual responsibility. In fact, very few do anymore.
Conservatives cannot leave people alone and neither can liberals.
I hear that the tibes of southern Chad are pretty much autonomous from gov't interference. Give that a shot. LOL
That isn't the goal.
Government is necessary, and proper. It is the role it takes that is debatable.
Government is necessary to defend the rights of the citizens. That doesn't happen in places like Chad.
Doesn't this rate a 'Weenie Alert' or something?
I would inititally settle for a candidate who would actually shrink the size of government and eliminate programs. In short, someone or some party that would actually go in the right direction.
We are going the wrong way and can never achieve the goal by going away from it.
You hit a key point. The role of gov't is debatable. In order to advance your ideas, win the argument and get your way, you need to be clear and concise and persuasive. If you think that the rest of humanity is just too stupid to be reasoned with, you will have lost all hope of influence.
Bill Frist: Milk Toast Man of the Year
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