Michael J. Totten: Frist Unfit

March 29, 2004

Frist Unfit

It looks like Bill Frist isn't the best person the Senate Republicans could have found to be their majority leader after all. He's an improvement over Trent Lott, thank heaven for that. But the best they have? The most fit for the job? No. He is not.

Frist accused Richard Clarke of committing perjury without evidence.

“Mr. Clarke has told two entirely different stories under oath,” Frist said in a speech from the Senate floor, alleging that Clarke said in 2002 that the Bush administration actively sought to address the threat posed by al-Qaida before the attacks.

Frist later retreated from directly accusing Clarke of perjury, telling reporters that he personally had no knowledge that there were any discrepancies between Clarke’s two appearances.

Maybe Clarke did perjure himself. I don’t know. His testimony is classified. More important, Frist doesn’t know either. He said himself that he doesn’t know. Yet he stood there in the Senate chamber and called a man a criminal. As if it were a fact.

Josh Marshall says this will permanently change the way he sees Frist. The same goes for me.

Richard Clarke annoys me as much as he annoys his next critic. But that doesn’t mean it’s open season on him and that anything goes.

I haven’t seen the GOP attack machine in such an overdrive since the Clinton days. I’m used to seeing this kind of behavior lately from the Democrats. Now they’re both at it. In full force. At the same time.

This “national security” debate is all about the election. It has nothing to do with national security at all.

Posted by Michael J. Totten at March 29, 2004 07:55 PM

Comments

Perhaps Frist spoke too soon. But what's the big deal? Frist is basically right, in spirit if not in letter. And he's put Clarke on notice. Who's to say that just because his sworn testimony is classified that he can't be nailed for perjury anyway? We know he's made so many contradictory statements that it's very likely that classified or not, if the impetus is there, he can be nailed for it. I don't see the problem with Frist.

Posted by: David at March 29, 2004 09:15 PM

David: I don't see the problem with Frist.

It's smear first, ask questions later. You don't like it when the left does it.

We'll see. If Clarke's testimony gets declassified and Frist is wrong, he's really going to look like an ass. And if Clarke did lie under oath, I dearly hope he is prosecuted.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at March 29, 2004 09:20 PM

This is why I despise party politics. You have to be too much of a slimeball to get elected to any significant office. In either party.

That's why I have to hold my nose every time I vote.

Posted by: Boyd at March 29, 2004 09:40 PM

The sad thing is, Bill Frist really is the best the Republicans have to offer.

Posted by: Kimmitt at March 29, 2004 11:21 PM

Kimmitt> John McCain is probably the best one of the bunch, and a leader should be more willing to listen to the other side. Partisan sniping is best left to whips, though sadly whips wind up as leaders out of a patronage system, and the results are not good (Gingrich, DeLay, Pelosi, or Bonior -- as a possible Speaker or Majority Leader).

Posted by: Green Baron at March 29, 2004 11:29 PM

Green Baron: Partisan sniping is best left to whips

Ah, yes, can't forget the whips. They're the worst by far. They are aptly named, aren't they?

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at March 29, 2004 11:38 PM

Ah, election year. When no good gets done for the country. It's these election years when I wonder if we wouldn't be better off with multiparty systems. Something so that no party has a majority. Does anyone believe that the real issues relating to national security, social security, medicare, tort reform or tax complexity will be addressed this year? Nah, me neither. No wonder so many people have no interest in politics. Our politicians are the type of people that would be fighting over the best methodology for scanning for icebergs before staffing anyone to the position while the ship is at sea. They sicken me.

Posted by: Jim M. at March 30, 2004 05:26 AM

From MJT:

"This “national security” debate is all about the election. It has nothing to do with national security at all."

Couldn't agree more. I would also add that this is exposing a fundamental weakness in our government. If I were a member of Al Quaida, I'd be struggling to stop snickering long enough to plan my next attack. Maybe I'll just say "BOO" if the form a leaked threat of a possible attack on the NYC water supply and watch the "alert level" go from periwinkle to chartruse while Replicans and Democrats blame each other over who allowed this to happen.

....annoying...

Posted by: Joe at March 30, 2004 06:14 AM

Enh. Enh. I'm non-partisan but I can see why Frist's attack is politically necessary. The media took too much notice of Clarke's nonsense and played it up until it politically damaged the President. The simple narrative had to be challenged harshly in order for the other side to get air time.

Posted by: Undertoad at March 30, 2004 07:14 AM

I'll have to agree with Kimmit. Senate Republicans, and Senators in general, are second string. Count the number of Presidents that have been state governors.

Posted by: Zhombre at March 30, 2004 07:40 AM

Pointing out how Clarke is contradicting himself = attack? I don't understand. If he said something entirely different under oath in one instance than what he is saying now, isn't that a really serious issue that needs to be addressed?

He is making scurrilous, over-the-top partisan attacks. The Republicans' attempting to refute those attacks by revealing inconsistencies in his statements is an example of the "Republican attack machine"? That's always the basic formulation in mainstream media, but it's sad to see it filtering into blogs. Same as it ever was I guess.

Posted by: Eric Deamer at March 30, 2004 08:43 AM

Eric: Pointing out how Clarke is contradicting himself = attack?

No, I did that too. But Frist called Clarke a criminal without knowing whether he is or not. That's a whole different level. And if Frist is going to "go there," he had better be right, not just hoping the guy is guilty. He delivered that accusation in the Senate chamber.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at March 30, 2004 08:52 AM

I see what you're saying. I saw a replay of Frist's speech and I actually thought it was effective. Then, I was surprised to learn that Frist was backing down from his statements and saying that he wasn't sure if Clarke's earlier sworn testimony was contradictory. This made it seem like a pretty dumb move, and Frist is nothing if not a smart, savvy politician. I don't quite know what's going on here.

I guess what I was reacting to was the phrase "GOP attack machine". I don't have time to Google it now, but I'd bet that if you did research you would find that it seems that it's only the Republicans who have an "attack machine" (Whatever that is exactly) while you'd be hard pressed to find reference to a "Democratic attack machine". Frankly, that's just preposterous on its face, but I think it's an example of an idea that the major media have done so much work hammering home that it's become received wisdom.

Posted by: Eric Deamer at March 30, 2004 09:09 AM

As someone who deals with comparmentalized info and confidentiality (litigation) I can see how Frist could say that without there being a hypocricy. Frist talks to someone who does have personal knowledge. That person tells him, "I can't tell you what he said, because it is classified, but I can tell you that there is no way to reconcile what he said then with what he said now. They can't both be true."

If I was Frist, and I trusted that person, then I would be comfortable saying that the stories are different with no personal knowledge about what he said in the classified hearing.

Posted by: Phelps at March 30, 2004 10:00 AM

Phelps suggestion sounds right. And I'll bet the reason Frist backed down is that he got told they're not going to declassify the briefing for whatever reason.

Eric Dreamer makes a very good point about the bias of the lamestream media; it gets more and more obvious everyday, and more and more people are becoming aware of it.

Frist certainly has said nothing worse than any Democratic partisan you care to name.

Posted by: eric at March 30, 2004 01:20 PM

Yeah, but that doesn't make what Frist did okay. I'm not going to give him a pass on that just because he's doing the same thing that makes me queasy when a Democrat does it.

Posted by: Sortelli at March 30, 2004 07:09 PM

Ugh!

Michael, again I say, "kudos to Bill Frist." Congressional party leaders aren't supposed to be nice. If they're doing their job the right way, they're doing their best to be like Lyndon Johnson. They shouldn't be preening and positioning themselves to be President someday the way Daschle does because it makes them less effective in doing their job. They should be, in short, selflessly ruthless. They should be slime and they should be the biggest partisan bullies on the block. I'm not even defending the system here, so much. I'm just saying that so long as we have parties at all, the party leaders need to be the worst of the worst to be at their best. That has to be the way it works and you know it.

I'm 21, Michael. Please don't force me into the role of stone-cold realist. I'm supposed to be the idealistic one, remember?

Posted by: Grant McEntire at March 30, 2004 08:13 PM

PS...

And to all those who are so upset that Frist has utterly abandoned his former mister-nice-guy image, try and look at it another way.

Frist may very well be abandoning his higher ambitions to be the very best conservative he can be. I think there's something to be appreciated in that, and I'm a Democrat. Here you have a guy who is in politics for two reasons, the same two reasons all politicians are in politics: To Move An Ideological Agenda and to Flatter Their Ego.

So Frist is faced with either serving himself or serving the ideals he believes to be the right ones. And he opted to serve his ideals.

When damn near every Senator in Washington anymore is there first and foremost because THEY want to be President...in a sick and twisted kind of way, I actually wish more of them would act so selflessly.

Lyndon Johnson accomplished the vast majority of his ideological goals WHEN HE WAS IN THE SENATE!!! If he plays his hand right, Bill Frist may turn out to be a more powerful figure than the next 2 or 3 Presidents combined.

Posted by: Grant McEntire at March 30, 2004 08:28 PM

Grant: Michael, again I say, "kudos to Bill Frist."

As is your right!

Funny to have a Democrat say this to me. You say I'm too right, then I veer left and you pounce. But, hey! That's why I like having you around. I appreciate the unpredictable.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at March 30, 2004 08:33 PM

Michael...

This isn't so much a left-right thing to me, it's just politics in general. I happen to detest what Frist is doing just as much as you do. If you're look to make sense out of it, or why I of all people would be saying it, do try to remember that I'm a poli-sci major who knows a whole hell of alot about history. That's where I'm coming from.

And I appreciate the "veering", by the way. I'm still ever-so-slightly to your left, you know. Keep up the good work.

Posted by: Grant McEntire at March 30, 2004 08:48 PM

Michael> It's funny that whips or House leaders aren't in the Constitution (if I recall only the Speaker is), though I imagien they get paid an extra stipend for doing their detestable job. Of course partisan loyalty is even stronger in Canada or the UK. I imagine a fellow like Arlen Specter or Zell Miller would be in big trouble with their party if we were that strict about political loyalties.

Posted by: Green Baron at March 31, 2004 03:34 AM

GREEN BARON...

We need a Centrist Party in the worst way. Someone to buck dogma and stand up for common sense.

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