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December
18, 2002, 8:45 a.m.
Bill
Frist
MIA.
By NRO Staff
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EDITOR’S
NOTE: The newspaper accounts tell us that Senator Trent Lott is taking
the names of who is or isn't going to stand by him while he tries to maintain
his hold on power by any means necessary. Well, so is NRO. We know the
senators want this matter to operate by the super-secret rules of the
Skull & Bones Society, but it's too important for that. Excuse us
for noting the performance of senators at a crucial time for the GOP.
here is Bill
Frist? Shouldn't a prospective Majority Leader for the Republicans exercise
some noticeable leadership during this crisis for the party?
Frist is an attractive
spokesman for the GOP, coming off an impressive off-year election, with
a warm relationship with the White House. His work on bioterrorism has
been impressive and farsighted.
But his foremost
quality during the Lott affair has been playing cute — he's deciding
whether or not to run for Majority Leader, and issuing carefully hedged,
nebulous statements.
This is not an edifying
spectacle, especially seeing as Frist stands to benefit from the fallout
of two unfortunate products of the current environment: the backlash against
Nickles for going first, and the media's pressure for a new leader without
Trent Lott's supposedly racist voting record.
Frist can make it
clear he doesn't want to glide into the post on the backs of his colleagues,
by declaring definitively on Lott and defending the party from the obloquy
being heaped on it by Left-wing critics (and by Lott).
Of course, if Frist
wants to be president someday he might be well served by not becoming
Majority Leader, a job that tends to compromise its occupants. Either
way, he can demonstrate his leadership — whether as a future Majority
Leader or presidential candidate — by helping bring this episode
to a swifter end.
Come on, senator.
You've made life-and-death decisions — this shouldn't be so difficult.
Read NRO:
On Nickles. On
Santorum. On McConnell.
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