Congress: Frist Priorities

When Senators voted against repealing the estate tax, Majority Leader Bill Frist was devastated.

"This tax is so unfair,” he wailed.

Unfair? At a time when 37 million Americans are living below the poverty line and programs from Medicaid to Head Start are being cut to reduce the budget, the estate tax that impacts only a wealthy few is unfair?

Let’s face it: Bill Frist should be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2008. He is their poster boy. He represents everything they stand for, and these guys will stand for a lot: reward the wealthy, penalize the poor, pander to the religious right, and every time the party is in trouble give America a “wedgie” to distract us.

A worsening war in Iraq, pain at the gas pump, a total breakdown of our health care system, a national debt in the trillions of dollars--that may be keeping you awake nights, but not Frist. Even before he led the charge to repeal the estate tax, Frist and his GOP “values” team was already on the move with legislation to curb broadcast “indecency.” (You might recall this is a Frist fall-out from a long ago Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.) While making the boob-tube (no pun intended) safe for viewing might not be that important to millions of Americans struggling to pay the rent, it struck a symbolic blow for Frist’s Presidential ambitions.

After all, the Religious Right pretty much decides who wins GOP Presidential primaries. And nothing concerns them more than bosoms unbound at Super Bowl halftime shows. Frist is sure these good folks will cool John McCain’s jets and give him the nod, but he takes nothing for granted. He wormed his way into their hearts during the Terry Schaivo debacle, when he viewed a videotape and gave his opinion as a medical doctor that she showed every sign of recovering. Turned out they were both brain dead, but his pronouncement was widely admired by conservatives and the religious right, and that’s where the votes are.

Ever since he took over as Majority Leader, Frist has demonstrated an almost awesome ability to separate the wheat from the chaff, always bringing the chaff to the floor. High gas prices? Frist had a solution: a crisp 100 dollar bill to every taxpayer, telling the Knoxville News: “That’s big bucks for a lot of people”. And you thought he was out of touch.

The other day Roll Call had a photo of Frist looking particularly troubled and thoughtful, so I read the cut-line: “Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist speaks at a press conference on the definition of marriage.” Another loser in the Senate, another wedge-issue winner for the `08 primaries.