Paging Dr. Perfect (Dowd alert)

The New York Times ^ | 12/22/2002 | Maureen Dowd

[Pokey78]

WASHINGTON — We knew they were good. We didn't know they were this good.

With a spectacular triple bank shot, Karl Rove and George Bush, the Butcher Cassidy and Sundance Kid of politics, blew away Trent Lott, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Only a week ago, it looked as though Trent Lott could survive, and if he didn't, Don Nickles or Mitch McConnell might step up. But then Mr. Bush authorized the first executive action of his presidency, a stealth assassination of Mr. Lott.

How could the president not finish him off, when the hapless Mississippi senator not only supported Strom Thurmond over Thomas Dewey in '48, but Jack Kemp over George Bush père in '88?

With a cat-burglar finesse that wowed Washington, W. and Karl spirited away the majority leader job and waltzed a Tennessee heart surgeon into it, anointing the urbane Bill Frist the fresh new conservative face of the Republican Party.

"They've created a real live player here," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist. "He comes off as a friendly doctor, which is what he is."

The Boy King and the Boy Genius plucked Dr. Frist from the chorus and made him the headliner, despite misgivings, as Mr. Rove muttered to pals, that the doctor might be too ambitious, too big for his scrubs.

This White House does not like to have any other stars besides Mr. Bush, or independent spirits, or anyone who ever supported a rival. That is why they never recruited Rudy Giuliani to run homeland security, or Warren Rudman for the 9/11 commission, or John McCain for the cabinet. They prefer bland team players they can control.

"They don't want to give anybody else any oxygen," said a former Bush administration official.

So why did they give the 50-year-old surgeon, who didn't even vote until he was 36, room to operate? His elevation makes him a hot prospect for 2008. Not only does Dr. Frist occlude Dr. Rice's vice-presidential hopes, should Dick Cheney decide to leave. He eclipses Jeb, the brother who snatched the presidency for W. and is waiting for his own shot, the brother who spoke up to help W. boot Lott.

"43 has done everything in his presidency not to be 41 and he doesn't want a 44," said a family friend. "He doesn't want to be part of a Bush sandwich. In his own family, he's still ranked as the fourth best politician, after his mother, father and Jeb."

James Carville notes the rule of White Houses: "Help thyself first."

Dr. Frist was the answer to the White House's immediate problems, and certainly he's been a team player, backing up Mr. Bush by retreating on AIDS funding he cares about and crimping stem cell research he knows would revolutionize medicine.

In the long run, maybe W. and Karl reckon that the top Senate job isn't a flattering showcase for a contender trying to impress the conservative base. The suave surgeon will turn sausage maker, playing footsie with moderates, making deals for votes.

The doctor has faced conflict questions over his family health care empire and health industry contributors, and has been scolded for racial insensitivity. Democrats, dying to embarrass the Republicans again, are poring over his records.

Yet you can't underestimate a man who persuades people that cutting open their chests is a good idea.

As Senate campaign chairman in the midterms, Dr. Frist resuscitated his party and won the Senate back. As the first doctor-Senator elected since 1928, he routinely resuscitates Capitol Hill tourists who go into cardiac arrest or pass out; he revived Strom Thurmond the last time he collapsed on the Senate floor.

He works round the clock, often gets by on four hours of sleep, has three sons, yet still finds time to volunteer, operating on AIDS patients in Africa and checking on monkeys' hearts at the National Zoo. He was a calming presence during the anthrax attacks on the Hill and the bioterror debates.

He's a Princeton grad and Harvard med school grad who flies planes and owns a house in Nantucket. He looks like a TV anchor, and has a far smoother bedside manner than Tom DeLay and Dick Armey.

Senator Clinton was hoping that Mr. Rove and Mr. Lott would overreach with a majority Senate, and frighten suburbanites.

But now in 2008, St. Hillary might face Dr. Perfect — a man who not only talks about saving the health care system, but saves lives on his way to the Senate floor. 

[Pokey78]

Move over Michael Douglas, Maureen's in love!

Mrs. Maureen Frist. Maureen Dowd-Frist. Bill & Mo.

Don't count on it Mo!

---

From Oxblog:

IMMUTABLE LAWS OF DOWD

1. Ashcroft never deserves credit.

2. Offering constructive solutions to problems, instead of whining endlessly about them, is a sign of weakness.

3. The People Magazine principle: all political phenomena can be explained with reference solely to caricatures of the personalities involved ("Dubya" is stupid; "Poppy" is an aristocrat; Cheney is macho-man; etc.). Any reference to the common good or even to old-fashioned politicking is, like, so passe.

4. It is much better to be cute than coherent.

5. Maureen knows best. Her long years as a columnist (doing basically what your great-aunt Tillie does in the nursing home bull sessions, but getting paid for it) have given her deep insight into foreign relations, politics, welfare, the Constitution, and all other topics. To disagree with Maureen in any way is not only a sign of being wrong, it's a hallmark of pure evil...or at least membership in the NRA, which is pretty much the same thing.

6. It is usually possible and always desirable to name-drop and name-call in the same sentence.

7. The particulars of my consumer-driven, shamefully self-involved life reveal universal truths.

[Dog]

This is the first time I have clicked on a Dowd article.....never again... the woman is whacked.

[VRW Conspirator]

Dowd have another shot of booze. You might start making sense. In the meantime, shut your fat mouth.

[Petronski]

I only got this far:

"They don't want to give anybody else any oxygen," said a former Bush administration official.

Oh yeah, Mo, with your history of fair play and credibility, we'll take your word for it on this quote, no need for attribution.

[dighton]

Photo: © Alphapress.com

Catherine chooses island life for her children.

[Maigrey]

Dang. I need some of what she's been smoking. She's whacked out if this is how she intreprets reality!

[Miss Marple]

LOL! Don't you love her family psychonalysis of President Bush and his ENTIRE family?

How about how he doesn't want anyone to shine? I guess Mo missed all those press conferences with Rumsfeld, the lionization of Colin Powll, Condi Rice's face on the cover of Newsweek, Rudi Guiliani's help in the campaign, Cheney's speaking engagements, Lynn Cheney's book and interviews, Laura Bush's near-perfect performance as First Lady, etc. etc.

Maureen Dowd is full of Cr*p!

Oh, and that private jet pilot Bill Frist flies his jets to Africa, where he does free heart surgeries on poor people.

[Jeff Chandler]

This White House does not like to have any other stars besides Mr. Bush, or independent spirits, or anyone who ever supported a rival. That is why they never recruited ...John McCain for the cabinet. They prefer bland team players they can control.

 

Huh?!

[MadIvan]

Maureen Dowd is full of Cr*p!

And as we note with pleasure, still unmarried. ;)

Regards, Ivan

Live from New York!

[AngrySpud]

" ... a stealth assassination of Mr. Lott."

I'll be generous and allow her to make her point that the White House had a role in getting rid of Vacant Lott. If so, it was not an assassination, it was a Mercy Killing. Lott was brain-dead.

[Dog]

You on this side of the pond Ivan???

[Lowcountry]

Please note for future reference the following thought culled from the Dowd ramblings:

Democrats, dying to embarrass the Republicans again, are poring over his records.

This explains the dems way of thinking and explains the pubbies weakness. They work hard to may us look bad instead of making themselves look good. Meanwhile, the Republicans are the only party actually capable of being embarrassed which makes it work.

[MHGinTN]

I really need to ask a question, Pkey: What does the stunningly beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones have to do with the dowdy Ms Dowd article?... Am I having a senior moment, or is there soemthing soemone could supply as explanation that would help?

[Miss Marple]

You know, more than anything recently by this idiot spinster, this particular column really ticks me off.

She is projecting Bill Clinton's behavior onto President Bush. I KNOW who thought he was the Sun King, and it isn't President Bush!

Plus, I am steamed at the attempt to make the Bush family seem consumed with sibling rivalry, when in fact it is one of the most loving and NORMAL families I have ever seen.

This is, the more I think about it, one of the most poisonous things she has written.

But then, what can one expect, from a barren spinster, who sees Laura Bush, the quiet librarian, as First Lady, while she, the vivacious Mo, sits alone gazing across the newsroom at Adam Clymer and R.W. Apple?

[jimbo123]

[Mr. Jeeves]

Maureen Dowd is Michael Douglas's ex. He traded her in on Catherine Zeta-Jones - a good deal, by all accounts.

[Peach]

Welcome to NY and the USA, Ivan. Happy holidays.

[MadIvan]

You on this side of the pond Ivan???

Yes, just arrived today for my holiday. But nowhere is a holiday spot for me without an internet connection. ;)

Regards, Ivan

[SamKeck]

They prefer bland team players they can control.

Were that true Ms. Dowd, they would have shitcanned Colin Powell long, long ago.

[Brandon]

His elevation makes him a hot prospect for 2008. Not only does Dr. Frist occlude Dr. Rice's vice-presidential hopes, should Dick Cheney decide to leave. He eclipses Jeb, the brother who snatched the presidency for W. and is waiting for his own shot, the brother who spoke up to help W. boot Lott.

Perhaps Maureen can name for us the last Senate Majority (or Minority) Leader who was elected directly from the Senate to the Presidency. The fact, is members of Congress are never good bets, and those holding leadership positions are the poorest bets of all, because they have to make compromises that anger the party faithful.

But whatever, Maureen. Don't let a silly little thing like reality interfere with your fun.