Frist won't rule out run for president in '08

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 2/21/5 | J.J. Stambaugh

[zbigreddogz]

Other then the fact that he's solidly conservative, good looking, well known, fairly well spoken and a medical doctor?

I honestly can't ever figure out people who say Frist is a non-entity. He's no Ronald Reagan, but he's more charismatic and has a more attractive bio then quite a few other people who have been president. Certainly more so then LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, or Bush Sr.

[Bahbah]

Do you have a cabinet position or ambassadorship in mind?

Not quite sure yet. Do you have a country to which you are partial, other than ours of course.

[Laura Earl]

Wul I shore ain't gonna heft ya up on muh shoulders!

[Conspiracy Guy]

I like a few, but not to live in. But I figure you'd prefer a telecommute cabinet post. Work from home and all.

[zbigreddogz]

Jon Corzine D-NJ. Chair/CEO, Goldman Sachs and CO and Affiliated Entities, 1994-1999 But he basically bought his Senate seat. He spent something like $97 gazillion dollars of his own money all for a job that pays $154,700 a year. Something stinks with that. Rediculous. Sure, that gave him some advantages, you can sell yourself more often, but if money only works if the voters are going to buy what you are selling. Dashle outspent Thune by 12million to 8 million. We know how that turned out. I'm not saying I have any love for Corzine, but he won his seat because the NJ voters bought what he sold. They may have made a mistake, but the voters put him into office, and I doubt you would be complaining if it were the same situation with Steve Forbes.

[Conspiracy Guy]

xsmommy has donated $4.

[TomGuy]

FR needs a new rule: No more iffy's about who will run in '08. lol

If we respond to every article that some lamebrain reporter speculates some egocentric politician is 'considering running', we will have spend millions of posts and quatrillions of bandwidth on these silly speculations over the next 3 years.

SAVE FR from this horror worse than more pix of Helen Thomas.

[zbigreddogz]

Man! I wish we had you in the Senate! You'd make sure those Justices got confirmed a long time ago!

Now, just to make things clear: How exactly would you have done it?

[BlackRazor]

I honestly can't ever figure out people who say Frist is a non-entity.

It's probably because no one is really fired up or passionate about his presumed candidacy. Frist strikes me as the type of candidate who is everyone's second or third choice - the safe alternate in case the top choice doesn't make it. There are all kinds of people on FR who are fired up about Condi '08 or Sanford '08 or even Allen '08. But I've yet to come across many people who are jumping up and down for Frist. That lack of buzz or excitement may cause people to downplay his chances.

[zbigreddogz]

I'm not disagreeing with you, I just don't get why.

I can understand Owens and Stanford getting lots of Buzz, very Conservative, popular Governors and all, and I can understand Rice, black woman conservative, so smart etc.

But I don't see why George Allen and Sam Brownbeck seem to get more Presidental Buzz then Frist.

I mean, it seems to me he has some unique strenghts too: Already high name ID with swing voters, a good bio, especiall the fact that he spends his free time deworming orphens in Africa, good looking, fairly well spoken, right on most of the issues people here care about, part of Bush's team without being under his wing too much A'la Al Gore and Clinton, etc.

Like I said, I understand that he's NOT getting much buzz, around here, what I don't understand is WHY.

[ran15]

Good post. Also besides charisma the platform does matter. Especially to the people in power who will choose who to back. And I don't mean that in a conspiracy style, just they don't want a lunatic rising up, even if hes popular.


Frist has the combination of all Republican core beliefs, which every other candidate I have seen so far has at least one major flaw. Eg, Guiliani is pro-abortion, and pro-higher taxes.

Frist is pro-life, pro-free enterprise, 'ownership society', tort reform, low taxes, even more limited government then GWB, pro-defense, pro-free trade, pro-immigration, relatively pro-gun rights.

That is a long list, but he is the only one besides Jeb and GWB on the national stage I have seen atm who has that platform(admittedly I don't know all the contenders well, so would be happy to hear others). So the field isn't as wide as it seems when you start thinking what each candidate's platform would be.

And the platform I just laid out is how to keep America as a superpower and more importantly to continue growing the standard of living, in the years to come.

[gogeo]

Other then the fact that he's solidly conservative, good looking, well known, fairly well spoken and a medical doctor?

Are you looking for a President, or a son-in-law?

[Goldwater4ever]

Americans for Better Immigration, a group dedicated to reducing immigration, gave Frist a "0" along with Charles Rangel, Hillary Clinton, and James Moran. Nuff said....

[TomGuy]

Now, just to make things clear: How exactly would you have done it?

By following procedure. When the first fillibuster (note that this had never been done before--between a name going out of committee but fillibustered on the Senate floor), Frist should have immediately called for a ruling from the chair. Such a ruling would have been that the attempt was out of order. Frist would have moved to continue business--voting on the nominee. First not only blinked, but he run and hid under his desk--and allowed the Dems to pull this stunk on some 20 names.

[iconoclast]

Frist is a wonderful human being, but he really lacks in the charisma department.

Amongst others.

[BlackRazor]

Like I said, I understand that he's NOT getting much buzz, around here, what I don't understand is WHY.

Ironically, I think his position of leadership actually hurts him in this regard. When the Republicans are unable to get past Democratic filibusters, Frist takes a lot of the blame because he's the leader. I think he's perceived by many as being an ineffectual majority leader by many on FR.

[Laura Earl]

And I have finished the book! Liked the ending. :)

[democrats_nightmare]

I agree lets see if Mr. Frist can grow a backbone to get Bush's appointees to the courts confirmed. Frist seems quite bright and has overall great qualities but to be a leader you foremost have to have courage and a backbone. He just seems a bit wimpy to me.

[azhenfud]

"Let's see how you do on Judicial nominations, first."

His name is Frist....;-)

[ran15]

That is the test, and so far hes been failing at it. Now with 55 Reps in the senate he should be able to get past the filibuster issue. If he still can't, and wimps out then ya his political career is finished.

On the other hand if he can get by the filibuster then it would show leadership and with pro-life judges would be making a real difference in real life. Not just an academic difference in a debating society.