With friends like this
From the Catholic League:
Senator Bill Frist formally broke today with the Bush administration’s opposition to embryonic stem cell research. Commenting on the break is Catholic League president William Donohue:
“Here is what Senator John Kerry said when running for president: ‘I believe life does begin at conception.’ Here is what Senator Bill Frist is now saying: ‘I believe human life begins at conception.’ They now agree on one more thing: They will do absolutely nothing to protect the beginning of innocent human life.
“Frist is worse than Kerry. Kerry, a lawyer, said his position on the beginning of human life was based on ‘my Catholic belief.’ Frist, a physician, says that while his Christian faith informs his position, there’s more to it: ‘But, to me, it isn’t just a matter of faith. It’s a fact of science.’
“And it’s a fact of politics that Frist is such a hypocrite. His change of heart has nothing to do with any scientific breakthrough: there is no new evidence suggesting that the human embryo does not constitute human life, nor is there any evidence that embryonic stem cell research can be performed without killing embryos. What’s changed is that Dr. Duplicity wants to be president.
“Frist still calls himself ‘strong[ly] pro-life,’ and says he gives ‘huge moral significance to the human embryo.’ Furthermore, he says the human embryo ‘is nascent human life,’ explaining that we should ‘treat that embryo with dignity, with respect.’ Which raises the question: If it’s okay to snuff out the beginning of human life, how much dignity and respect may logically be accorded the dead?
“Frist says he is not going to run for senator of Tennessee again. Now it’s up to the Republican leadership to make sure he has no future role to play in their party. Who knows, if Frist becomes increasingly Kerryesque, maybe the Dems will draft him?”
"Dr. Duplicity" is classic William Donahue. Whenever I hear a politician described as "strongly pro-life" my skepticism kicks into high gear. For example Senate Minority Leader Reid was described the same way and of course promptly worked to help to exclude any judge who might possibly diminish abortion in any way. Of course this type of hypocrisy is nothing new to the GOP either. From the President on down there have always been caveats when it comes to abortion as if a human person is less a human person if conceived via rape or incest. That the child should be executed for the crimes of the father. Rapists don't get the death penalty but their children are eligible for it. Politicians like the majority of Americans do not have a firm grasp that personhood begins at conception. They only truly accept that political careers begin at polling. Truly all we have now is poll-iticians and in the case of Bill Frist will abandon what should inform is though as both a doctor and a Christian for a possible presidential run. It reminds me of Chesterton's quip that is a shame how few politicians are hung.
Scrappleface has it's own hilarious take.
(2005-07-29) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist today announced his support for expanding federally-funded stem cell research in hopes of finding a cure for his own addiction to tax dollars.
"Although I am a conservative, my addiction drives me to steal money from average Americans and spend it on my pet projects," said Sen. Frist. "Perhaps government-owned scientists will be able to conquer this unfortunate condition by slicing up human embryos."
The Mighty Barrister also has more on Bill Frist's pro-life record and past statements.
Known as 
In Senator Frist's tenure as Senate Majority Leader, all praise must be quite faint. And now with his capitulation to the moderate wing of the Republican Party, differing only in degree and comity from clowns like Durkin and Schumer, Frist has taken himself out of serious consideration for a 2008 Presidential bid by the strongest and most loyal wing, the Conservatives. This is a mistake that many GOP moderates often make. They don't understand that many of us vote issues not party labels.
They also do not realize that moderates rarely if ever become beloved to their constituency. They are tepid in our mouths that react immediately in spitting them out. Frist, in his bow to the forces of death, just wrote his political epitaph.
I was never real excited about Sen. Frist but I was going to eat my spinach and vote for him in the '08 primary -- I see he's relieved me of that duty.
Frist is now Hist[ory] in Republican politics.
Sweet.
Shameful. Disgraceful.
Crap breaks away and floats to the top, they say...
Can any of you really expect anything less from someone who lets the Senate Democrats attack the President's Judicial Nominees (David Pryor and now Judge John Roberts) for being devout Catholics?
What about that Hippocratic oath thing, him being a doctor and all... Frist, do no harm.