No one has had as crappy a year as Bill Frist — except perhaps the President, but that’s another story. The Senate Majority Leader has been hounded by charges of personal corruption stemming from allegations of insider trading, which is a phony story that maintains legs because of a largely failed effort to explain to the media what happened.
For Frist, it’s very unfortunate to have been lumped into the DC scandal story as the number three rogue — right behind Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay. Frist is an honest pol in government for all of the right reasons, and doesn’t have a dishonest bone in his body. Regardless, he’s getting sucked into the sleazy DC insider rathole, and no longer wants to deal with the B.S. of running for the Presidency.
Under the header, “Frist Doesn’t Sound Like a Candidate,” The State’s Lee Bandy writes:
“U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist blew into town Saturday sounding — and acting — like something other than a potential 2008 presidential candidate.
“The Tennessee Republican came and went almost unnoticed — which apparently was the way he wanted it. There was little advance publicity and virtually no media.
“The venue was the 125-member state GOP executive committee, not exactly a fountain of youth. His brief address lacked any red meat or applause lines normally reserved for stump speeches.
“He’s not running for president,” surmised Columbia-based political consultant Terry Sullivan.”
Bandy then explains the insider trading allegation, and the fact that Evangelical voters are upset with his
support for stem cell development.
If Frist is really serious about a run for President, there’s no way there would be no advance publicity and no media — that’s just not the way it works, especially for a neighbor from Tennessee presumably hoping to emulate the ‘ol Lee Atwater South Carolina firewall a la Bush 41 and 43.
This is a significant development, and good news for George Allen — whose staff was busy working the phones today.