Party support in Senate erodes around Frist

[Moloch]

WASHINGTON -- Senate majority leader Bill Frist, heading a 55-to-45 Republican majority, might have expected to deliver a pile of legislative gifts this month to the White House, which had hoped to end the year with $40 billion in budget cuts, approval to drill for oil in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, and the full extension of the Patriot Act giving expanded powers to law enforcement.

But Frist, a Tennessee Republican with his eye on the White House, found his party in a pre-Christmas dogfight yesterday, with GOP lawmakers joining united Democrats in a series of embarrassing setbacks for President Bush and the Republican agenda.

The budget-cutting bill went through, but it required Vice President Dick Cheney to cut short an overseas trip to cast the tie-breaking vote. Further, Democrats succeeded in challenging a technical point on the bill that will force the House to vote on it again, delaying its adoption until at least late January.

Dismissing suggestions that it would be unpatriotic to block a defense bill, most of the Democrats -- joined by two Republicans -- staged a filibuster to block $453 billion in defense appropriations because the measure included authorization to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The defense appropriations bill later passed, stripped of the drilling authorization.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/12/22/party_support_in_senate_erodes_around_frist/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+National+News

[Charlie Brown]

1. Is Frist leaving office after next year?

Seriously, I haven't heard anything about him running for reelection yet, and his term expires at the end of '06. If Frist is gone, and Santorum is defeated, who in hell will be the new party leader? McCain?

[babylonsister]

2. I think Lott was again making noise about it. Frist might

have far bigger problems on his plate.

[AlCzervik]

5. yes he announced a long time ago that he's "Retiring" from the senate

and we all know he wants to be president but i think the insider trading scandal hurt him big time as well as the fact that he can't get his own party to toe the line for him.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. He wants run for president in 08

He hopes to inherit *'s mantel and get the dumb dumb mentaless vote.

[eve_was_framed]

25. he may be in prison before too long, if justice truly exists

[IronLionZion]

30. Oh, I hope so

But unfortunately Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will be the party leader.



You better believe that Santorum will suffer a humiliating defeat in 2006. People just don't like that guy. His campaign strategy seems to be just lying about his record and trying to act moderate. We finally have a strong Democrat who is actually from our state challenging him.

[seafan]

3. Frist looks positively defeated in this pix. These guys are losing control

..they know it and they can no longer hide it from all of us. Notice the woman's expression beside him.



Bill Frist dealt with a political dogfight yesterday on Capitol Hill as other GOP senators sided with Democrats on key bills. (Lauren Victoria Burke/ Associated Press)

[ClintonTyree]

17. Ever notice the eyes on these scumbags?

Dead, empty, lifeless, soulless, like shark's eyes. The eyes are the windows of the soul and there's no doubt there isn't any soul within Frist's dead eyes.

[babylonsister]

18. Physician: first do no harm. What happened? nt

[JudyM]

33. Odd as it sounds, I think you can often tell a rethug by his/her eyes.

And stiff facial features.

[DemonFighterLives]

31. dumbass leaves with saying Merry Fristnas

He means Merry Fitzmas.
He is such a goof, how could anybody talk about him as president without breaking out laughing. The good doctor looks like his blood drained out.
I was wondering what was wrong with the lady next to him. It looks like she has a mask on- her bodice is pure white while her face is brown?
Perhaps the mad doctor was practicing his face transplant techniques.

[pberq]

4. Good news! K&R

[MichiganVote]

6. heh,heh,heh....

[Mr_Spock]

7. Here's a bag of coal for Christmas!

:rofl:

[upperleftedge]

8. The dark winter will soon be over

And America will emerge from this nightmare, rubbing her eyes and watching the vermin scurry back under their rocks. Frist, Delay, Cheney, Bush, Rummy, will be gone. New voices will be heard. New leaders will step forward. Yep, it's gonna happen. We will throw the Republicans out, and we will stop the war in Iraq. We might even make some progress in the war on terrorism.

You don't know, it could happen. What was the John Lennon line? "War is over if you want it."

Peace & Impeachment in '06

[burrowowl]

26. I thought things were going

good when Nixon was impeached and Carter was elected President.
THEN CAME RAYGUN and America has been going down the tubes since then. Things were better under Clinton but many not good things occurred during his administration, e.g. the so-called Welfare Reform was not very democratic, you may say what could he have done with a Repuke congress ....
Like an oil tanker on a collison course with fregate can the fregate get out of the way in time but the tanker cannot change course very quickly, it is physics.

[TheGunslinger]

9. "united Democrats"...not a phrase often seen in the "liberal media"

nice to finally see that!

[NYC Liberal]

10. Gee..you mean when Dems actually stand up for themselves

they can get things done..even when they are in the MINORITY!

Hopefully they will learn now or have learned.

[greiner3]

12. Maybe frost will join b*** for a nightcap;

And toast to the good ol days.:rofl:

[rodeodance]

13. repugs tune of it is unpatriotic is getting mighty BORING

Dismissing suggestions that it would be unpatriotic to block a defense bill, most of the Democrats -- joined by two Republicans -- staged a filibuster to block $453 billion in defense appropriations because the measure included authorization to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The defense appropriations bill later passed, stripped of the drilling authorization.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. The best thing to come out of this would be for Lott to get his seat back

Lott and the bushies are hardly friends. Frist, on the other hand, is an erstwhile and largely ineffective and inept lapdog.

It seems to me that a tussle every now and again between the Senate leadership and the cabal would be fun to watch.

[Chipper Chat]

20. Start the flaming, but -

I've always kinda liked Trent Lott. I never considered him a neo-con but just a fundie. He got a raw deal from his own party after the Strom Thurmond snafu. And he sings! Frist was definitely a step in the wrong direction.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. I won't flame you

I never disliked Lott like I do many other repubs. He was never mean spirited like many of the others (Ted Stevens or Jim Inhoff, anyone?). He's partisan, to be sure, but that's okay as long as you're not an asshole about it. He's never shown me he's an asshole.

[Chipper Chat]

22. Maybe that's whay there was a "convenient" coup

by the Fristians to get him out of hte top spot. Or maybe Trent was just too buddy-buddy with Ted Kennedy.

[Spiffarino]

23. I never liked his "nudge nudge" racism

He courted the racist low-life voters from the beginning, and it came back to bite him on the ass. I was glad somebody finally shot a video of him in "stealth racist" mode.

Folks who didn't know what he was about were finally able to put two and two together, and it got him tossed out. It was beautiful.

[anitar1]

24. Yeas,yes--I agree with that. Lott is a wiley one whereas Frist is

one who thinks he is above us peons.Would be fun towatch. Lott would like to take down those who humilated him.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

15. Peace & Impeachment 06

That has a nice ring to it. Good mid-term elections slogan, especially if the slime keeps leaking out of the repubnagoon tanks for the world to see.

[ClintonTyree]

16. Frist would do better keeping his eyes in "the big house"........

rather than the White House. That crooked, sadistic son of a bitch has absolutely NO chance of ever being elected President with the amount of shit in his background. Good luck, holy Bill. You ain't goin' nowhere, asshole! :mad:

[muntrv]

19. Video diagnosis

Of course Frist is losing support.  What do you expect from a
moron who says Terri Schiavo is conscious based on video tape?
 Hey Fristy, was that beta or vhs?  Ever heard of DVD?  Is
your phone rotary dial?

[Moloch]

29. Hi, muntrv!

Welcome to DU!

[klebean]

27. did he now?

"The budget-cutting bill went through, but it required Vice President Dick Cheney to cut short an overseas trip to cast the tie-breaking vote."

Now that's hard work!

[tirechewer]

28. The thought of this Bozo....

That freaking Frist and his Bozo the clown mentality literally makes me want to froth at the mouth like a rabid dog.

I was reading about his "charitable" foundation which is nominally to help victims of AIDs in Africa, but it was really a way to funnel the bulk of the donations into political "consulting" fees which are phenomenally high, and to keep his campaign staff together and "working" for the foundation.

I contemplate the good old IRS trying to pull the 501(c)3 from that Episcopal pastor who said the war in Iraq is wrong and should be ended because it was in the judgement of whomever pulls their strings a "political" statement, and I about pop like crayfish fried without oil. Then the IRS lets Frist pull this crap while enjoying a tax exempt status for his "foundation" without question, or challenge. Yes, he did give a little bit of what he collected as "charity", but the patterns of and operations of the foundation make it very clear that it is first and foremost a political entity abusing non profit rules.

And has anyone mentioned lately that he had full knowledge and control over his "blind" trust? Insider trading, fraudulent manipulation of assets he is not supposed to have access to while he holds public office, and now a "foundation" which is really a political organization. What more could we ask for? Is this a Renaissance man or what? All that and his much vaunted diagnostic skills in the Schiavo case.

The real question is, though, does that man now know or did he ever know his ass from a hole in the ground?:argh:

[Demeter]

32. You Are Pretty Dirty (or Stupid) When the GOP Won't Touch You

Poor Frist. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. Unless it happened to Rove, or Bush, or Cheney, or Rumsfeld, or Condi, or DeLay....

Wait a minute! It DID happen to DeLay! Two down, so many to go....

[DinahMoeHum]

34. Yeah. Limp-Fristed Asshole.

:evilgrin: