Is Frist Ineffectual?

Is Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist really a leader? Many in his party don't think so. The doctor who said AIDS can be caught from tears and wrongly diagnosed a woman from a video tape wants to be president. Some of his colleagues say his decisions on behalf of this party are driven by his ambitions to occupy the Oval Office.

Exerpt from the LA Times:

Complaints about the patrician Tennessean by fellow Republicans intensified this week, sparked by his decision to force Senate debate on illegal immigration. Some GOP lawmakers say his move spotlighted a squabble within the party over a hot-button issue in an election year.

"We should have had a much more ambitious process of trying to build consensus and bringing people and different views together before we engaged in debate on the Senate floor," Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) told reporters.

But grumbling about the majority leader and the decisions he has made were evident before the flap over immigration.

"People have noticed that the [Senate] agenda is driven, at least in part, by issues that he wants to have on the floor, to have accomplishments on," said one senior GOP Senate aide.