Frist Says He Will Prevail in the Long Run.
With lawmakers returning from the Memorial Day recess, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, faces a crucial test of whether he can re-establish his authority after a rapid sequence of events that many say diminished his standing and exposed a lack of experience in Congressional intrigue.
Adversaries, independent analysts and even some allies say the Senate leader was wounded by a compromise on judicial nominees achieved last month by a handful of Republicans who bucked him, including Senator John McCain, a potential presidential rival in 2008. The damage to his image was made worse, they say, when Democrats blocked another important White House nominee just a few days after the judicial agreement.
"It is recognized that this gang of seven has weakened him," said Paul M. Weyrich, a veteran conservative activist and Frist supporter, referring to the Republicans who circumvented the majority leader to avert a potentially explosive showdown on prohibiting filibusters against judicial nominees.
"The short-term evaluations, I believe, will prove to be shortsighted and wrong after we get judge after judge after judge after judge through, plus at least one Supreme Court nominee and an energy bill," Dr. Frist said after a lecture at Harvard, where he received his own medical education. "And we will get Bolton."
[Q]uestions left by the judicial cease-fire - coupled with Dr. Frist's handling of other issues, like his determined intervention earlier this year in the medical case of a brain-damaged Florida woman - have prompted some nervousness about Dr. Frist among Senate Republicans, though they express it privately for the most part.
"If you think of every other Senate leader, they have been creatures of Congress," said Thomas E. Mann, a Congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution. "They knew the institution, they cared about it, they wanted to make it work."
The filibuster fallout has also sparked a bit of impatience at the White House, where President Bush has been clamoring for an energy bill and took what some saw as a subtle jab at Dr. Frist in a recent press conference, when he criticized "the leadership there in the Senate" for failing to provide a vote on Mr. Bolton.
Democrats say that if Dr. Frist has problems, they are of his own making. They saw his push against the filibuster as part of a calculated effort to deepen his appeal to conservatives in anticipation of a possible White House run and said his uncertain handling of the fight reflected his own unease with the idea.
"Clearly, McCain bettered him," said Marshall Wittmann, a former aide to Mr. McCain who is now with the Democratic Leadership Council. He and others say that Dr. Frist is simply learning the hard way what others from Lyndon B. Johnson to Bob Dole discovered as well - running for president from the majority leader's post is politically awkward, at best.
Dr. Frist said he hoped the coming days would see reduced Senate tensions, but he conceded that the public image of the Senate was dim at the moment.
(6-5-05, The New York Times.)
Adversaries, independent analysts and even some allies say the Senate leader was wounded by a compromise on judicial nominees achieved last month by a handful of Republicans who bucked him, including Senator John McCain, a potential presidential rival in 2008. The damage to his image was made worse, they say, when Democrats blocked another important White House nominee just a few days after the judicial agreement.
"It is recognized that this gang of seven has weakened him," said Paul M. Weyrich, a veteran conservative activist and Frist supporter, referring to the Republicans who circumvented the majority leader to avert a potentially explosive showdown on prohibiting filibusters against judicial nominees.
"The short-term evaluations, I believe, will prove to be shortsighted and wrong after we get judge after judge after judge after judge through, plus at least one Supreme Court nominee and an energy bill," Dr. Frist said after a lecture at Harvard, where he received his own medical education. "And we will get Bolton."
[Q]uestions left by the judicial cease-fire - coupled with Dr. Frist's handling of other issues, like his determined intervention earlier this year in the medical case of a brain-damaged Florida woman - have prompted some nervousness about Dr. Frist among Senate Republicans, though they express it privately for the most part.
"If you think of every other Senate leader, they have been creatures of Congress," said Thomas E. Mann, a Congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution. "They knew the institution, they cared about it, they wanted to make it work."
The filibuster fallout has also sparked a bit of impatience at the White House, where President Bush has been clamoring for an energy bill and took what some saw as a subtle jab at Dr. Frist in a recent press conference, when he criticized "the leadership there in the Senate" for failing to provide a vote on Mr. Bolton.
Democrats say that if Dr. Frist has problems, they are of his own making. They saw his push against the filibuster as part of a calculated effort to deepen his appeal to conservatives in anticipation of a possible White House run and said his uncertain handling of the fight reflected his own unease with the idea.
"Clearly, McCain bettered him," said Marshall Wittmann, a former aide to Mr. McCain who is now with the Democratic Leadership Council. He and others say that Dr. Frist is simply learning the hard way what others from Lyndon B. Johnson to Bob Dole discovered as well - running for president from the majority leader's post is politically awkward, at best.
Dr. Frist said he hoped the coming days would see reduced Senate tensions, but he conceded that the public image of the Senate was dim at the moment.
(6-5-05, The New York Times.)
posted by Sid Cottingham | 9:00 AM
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