It's not easy being Bill Frist these days. He wants to be President but that pesky role he has as Senate Majority Leader is making it hard for him:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says his high-profile job is a "terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible" post for seeking the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.Oh, poor Bill Frist. Do any GOP elected officials actually like their jobs? Of course, it's an even worse when they do a terrible job.
Yesterday, Frist tried to pull of an event for an immigration group and the press to make himself appear more balanced on the immigration issue. In fact, he's been one of the anti-immigrant leaders in Congress. But we heard a great story about how a funny thing happened on the way to Frist's event: Congressman Joe Crowley showed up and took it over.
Even though Frist's office arranged the event in the Capitol yesterday, Frist didn't show. He sent a staffer to brief the group and the press that showed up (including Telemundo, Univision, and Telivisa, and the newspaper Hoy.)
Crowley was actually the only lawmaker who showed up. His view on immigration is the polar opposite of where Bill Frist stands. Crowley spoke in favor of legislation that includes a guest worker program and a clear path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented living in America. He blasted the GOP enforcement-only legislation passed in the House, and then talked about how Frist's proposed bill is similar to that House legislation.
Heard that the crowd loved it. They even started chanting which you can imagine left the Frist staffers shifting uncomfortably and smiling nervously to each other. So, the Frist sponsored event, which was supposed to be a way for him to misrepresent his position on the issue, didn't turn out that way thanks to Crowley.
We love hearing these stories. Joe Crowley shows that Democrats can play hard ball politics while standing up for their values. That is a very good thing.
And, if Frist's operation is this pathetic and clumsy, his presidential campaign is going to be a blast to watch.
