Scratch another Republican off the 2008 list

By Doug Patton
web posted August 1, 2005

 On ABC’s “This Week” program, George Will questioned how
 Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s change of position on the
 issue of embryonic stem cell research could simultaneously hurt
 his chances of becoming president and still be politically
 motivated. Will’s contention that both things cannot be true is
 just plain wrong.

Bill Frist, like so many before him, has committed a massive
political blunder by mistaking adoration from the Washington
media establishment for popularity with voters. Speculation now
abounds among the talking heads that Frist is “putting principle
over politics.” Those people live in a dream world. A man driven
to seek the most powerful office in the world does not throw
caution to the wind on an issue as central to the values of his
party as this one.

No, this is clearly a case of Potomac fever. The Washington
landscape is littered with those who have fallen victim to that
politically fatal disease, and the United States Senate seems to
be an incubator for it. Just as Republican Senators John McCain
of Arizona and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska mistakenly believe
they are scoring political points by rushing to the microphone
whenever they see a chance to bash their own president, Frist
has made a similar miscalculation.

The truth is that the base of the GOP is so disgusted with the
lack of loyalty to the conservative cause in the GOP-controlled
senate that none of these men has a prayer of getting the 2008
GOP presidential nomination. And as the first lesson in Politics
101 clearly teaches, he who cannot be nominated cannot be
elected.

Frist seemed briefly to be on the right track in his quest for the
presidency, and he was beginning to win over conservatives who
initially distrusted his positions on social issues. As the senate’s
only physician, his courageous stand to stop the murder of
helpless Terri Schiavo endeared him to those in the conservative,
pro-life base of the Republican Party, which holds a lock on the
nominating process simply by virtue of the fact that they vote —
religiously.

Frist should consult the record of his moderate senate colleague
from Tennessee, Lamar Alexander, for advice on how to lose
the Republican nomination for president. You may recall that
Alexander, whose resume` at the time included serving as
Tennessee’s governor and as secretary of education in the
cabinet of President George H. W. Bush, tried to run for the
GOP presidential nomination himself in 1996. Remember the
plaid flannel shirts? He got nowhere.

Frist might also look to the misfortunes of another former
governor and senator, California’s Pete Wilson. After
abandoning his pro-life position, Wilson forfeited any chance of
becoming the Republican nominee for president. His weak run
for the highest office in the land was almost an embarrassment.

Republicans who believe they can gloss over the burning issues
of our time — the war on terror, illegal immigration, protecting
traditional marriage, the right to bear arms and especially the
sanctity of human life — are in for a backlash in 2008. The base
of the GOP is fiercely conservative, and those who disregard
that base simply cannot be nominated.

The influence of the mainstream media, as it is still laughingly
known, no longer exists outside New York and Washington,
DC. Among informed voters, it has been replaced by talk radio,
cable television and the Internet. Yet, the iconic elites who
comprise the most exclusive club in the world, the United States
Senate, still don’t get it. This could go a long way toward
explaining why so few of them have ascended to the presidency.
Add Sen. Bill Frist to their number.

Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a
political speechwriter and policy advisor for federal, state and
local candidates, elected officials and public policy organizations.
His weekly column can be read in newspapers across the
country and on selected Internet web sites, including
www.GOPUSA.com. Readers can e-mail him at
dpatton@neonramp.com.

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