Posted on 11/10/2008 7:31:34 AM PST by rudman
Editor's Note: William Frist, the former Republican majority leader of the U.S. Senate, is a physician. He was elected to represent Tennessee in the Senate in 1994 and served two terms before deciding not to run for re-election in 2006. NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Now is the time for a new beginning. And how it is approached may well turn on the often overlooked fact that both the president-elect and the vice president-elect are products of the U. S. Senate. ---- I encourage Democrats not to repeat the missteps made by Republicans by excluding thoughtful debate. And I encourage the American people to stay involved with the intensity manifested by heightened participation in the democratic process.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I’d much rather have the guy who hauls my trash, or the guy who just laid some tile in my house, in charge, than US Senators, or for that matter, nearly any professional politician groomed by “elite” Ivy League schools.
Dead serious comment.
Frist is a physician. He ought to know better.
This is one of the reasons the GOP is in the shape it’s in...
Bill Frist is a MOROOON!
I have a question: Senator Obama (IL) & Senator Biden (DE) will have their Senate replaced (filled) by who? Appointed by the IL & DE governors? If so, then the people have no say or vote in the matter. How long will the newly apponted Senators to the IL & DE seats vacated by Obama & Biden last before the appointed Senators are up for election?
I believe Biden was re-elected in Deleware this election
And of course Obama in 2004
So in 2010 there is a chance to flip Obama’s seat in Illinois
Of course, I still think Ryan would have beat Obama in 2004 if not for the details of his divorce being leaked
Vice President-elect Biden cannot now occupy the seat that he won. Therefore, there will be someone appointed to his vacated seat. Does that "non-elected" person get the full 6 years before the people of Delaware get to decide?
"Of course, I still think Ryan would have beat Obama in 2004 if not for the details of his divorce being leaked"
Yes, I heard Rush say that all of Obama's elections were not by winning, but by eliminating the competition.
I've been reading at www.lonlang.com about repealing the seventeenth amendment to the Constitution. Thus, the selection and election of Senators would revert back to the state legislatures.
I can’t believe this clown would surface at this time. Doesn’t he realize he contributed to the weakening of the GOP?
Hard to believe he’s an M.D. Let’s hope he does a better job at medicine than he as majority leader.
Govs. Blagojevich and Minner, both Ds.
If so, then the people have no say or vote in the matter.
The Constitution has always left it up to the states (for the legislatures to decide, usually, but not always, by giving the full authority to the Governor). So, voters do have a choice by holding state legislators accountable.
How long will the newly apponted Senators to the IL & DE seats vacated by Obama & Biden last before the appointed Senators are up for election?
They'd both be up to permanently assume the seat in 2010. In IL, the person would be running for election to the new term to being in 2010. In, DE, it would be for the rest of Biden's term which ends in 2014.
The only good news is that this spineless RINO is no longer in the senate.
Eff you....."The Republican's excluded thoughtful debate?????" NO...WE...DID...NOT....We EXCLUDED the RIGHT DEBATE....we're not going there ANYMORE....and that's why all these Pubbies are coming out and ululating to the lefties....they KNOW IT!
Frist is just the kind of gutless, no cajones, country club RINO that has weakened the GOP. You are a nice man Dr. Frist
but stick to practicing medicine. We don’t need your brand in DC.
I've been reading at www.lonlang.com about the proposal to repeal the seventeenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution so that state legislatures (not governor) would select and elect the Senators. the citizens would directly vote for their Representatives, but not the Senators. However, the citizens would also elect their state legislators (Delegates or Assembly-person) who would then select and elect the Senators for each state. There is no mention (that I can find) of 'term limits' but it would be great if the state legislatures that select and elect the Senators just sent each one for one 6-year term and then the next legislature send the next ones...staggered of course.
Bill Frist needs to keep his mouth shut. He has done enough damage
He became a brain surgeon so he could see what he didn’t have.
Gee, I had to look twice to see that this wasn’t from the CNoNion.
Another non-conservative Republican eunuch.
I wrote to LONLANG [Anacronym for: Laws Of Nature And Nature's God] to ask them if the state's legislaures had termlimits for the Senators the elected...
I agree that the various state legislatures should select, then elect the Senators rather than by popular vote of the citizens.
My question is: I cannot find in my reading how long those Senators are to serve? I'm also an advocate of 'term limits' so that Senators such a Robert Byrd, Joe Biden or Ted Kennedy spend their entire life entrenched in Washington in the U.S. Senate like mini-Presidents or life-long Justices. Presidents seem to come and go, but Senators are forever."
They wrote me back and it was quite an education for me:
LONLANG: "Both the original U.S. Constitution (Art. I, Sect. 3, Cl. 1) and the 17th Amendment fix the term of senators at six years. Neither imposes any limit on the number of terms a person may serve.
Yes, we have drifted a long way from what the founders expected - public officials serving part-time or with minimal pay, with a robust democratic process ensuring that office holders would be rotated out of office frequently and regularly. They never envisioned that the system they set up would enable people to serve in the same office for 40 years and to be compensated handsomely ($169,300 in 2008). And this doesn't even come close to approximating the value of free postage privileges, expense accounts, travel budgets, etc. which virtually guarantee that any senator will become rich.
Term limits become necessary simply because the people aren't doing their job. It is the job of the people to rotate out their elected officials frequently, and they simply aren't doing it. I have even come to believe that lifetime appointments for federal judges is a mistake. I understand why it was set up that way - to keep judges (and the judicial process) protected from political influences. But the same thing would be accomplished if the appointment process remained the same, but judicial terms were limited to 10 years.
What we have birthed in our country is a system of nobility - anyone can become part of that nobility, theoretically, but once someone gets in, you can never get them out. And then they all get pensions at taxpayer expense when they retire. Go figure! Public service was supposed to be a sacrifice, not a means of enrichment.
Trent Lott, Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell.
The Three Stooges.
The answer to Democrats prayers since 1996.
This is why we need a new conservative party. The GOP is stuck on stupid.
And you can’t fix stupid.
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