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December 18, 2002, 8:45 a.m. Bill Frist MIA. By NRO Staff

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.