Frist Backs Away From Religious Right (Again)
by TChris
Senator Frist wants to be President Frist. Not long ago, Frist believed he could secure his party's nomination by pandering to religious extremists. To that end, Dr. Frist thought it appropriate to question the conclusion drawn by Terry Schiavo's physicians that Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state. Frist was wrong (basing a diagnosis on a videotape rather than an in-person examination turns out not to be a prudent way to practice medicine), but being wrong on the facts has never deterred the religious right from pressing forward. Why, then, has Frist again backed away from an extreme position of importance to the religious right?
Frist championed legislation to force federal intervention in Schivo's case, but the federal courts were appropriately unwilling to get involved in a dispute that had been fully litigated in fair state court proceedings. Today Frist claimed the experience "taught him that Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions." First said he doesn't agree with "the moral sense" of the federal court's decision in the Schiavo case, and he defended his call for federal review. He nonetheless claims to recognize the reality that most people don't agree with the religious right's desire for federal intervention in end-of-life decisions.
Frist snubbed the religious right when he stopped supporting the president's position on stem cell research. By signaling a retreat from his support for federal intervention in end-of-life decisions, Frist snubbed them again. Has Frist decided that pandering to the religious right is no longer a straight path to the presidency?
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