Fence It, Frist, You Gutless Wonder

Kaus thinks Frist, the feckless Majority Follower of the Senate, is backing out on the border fence.

Commenting on Feckless' appearance on Stephanopoulos' show:

But then, with a guilty, knowing grin,** he added: "Right now I got a feeling the Democrats may obstruct it."

The grin was the giveaway. It's easy to let the fence bill drop and blame Democrats. Wink, wink. But a forceful majority leader who actually wanted either a) a vote or b) a sharpened issue against the Dems wouldn't give up just like that. He'd call a press conference to demand that the Democrats allow a vote. Put a spotlight on the issue. Make Harry Reid come up with an equally well-publicized explanation for why the Democrats oppose this popular common-denominator measure. That would be hard for Reid to do without hurting Dem election chances, and he might not do it--resulting in a Democratic cave-in and a vote. And the fence Frist says he wants.

Why isn't Frist doing this? Is he as feckless as he seems? Makes a big deal of the border fence one day--drops it a few days later. Or did someone get to him--someone from the "pro-comprehensive" White House, perhaps, who doesn't want to pass the popular parts of reform this year for fear the unpopular semi-amnesty parts might not pass next year? Or maybe Sen. McCain, another GOP "comprehensive" champion, told him that if he went ahead with the fence, he'd never be McCain's running mate. (At the moment, such a VP slot looks like Frist's main hope of a continued career in elective politics.)

No question the White House is working against The Fence. As to "electoral possibilities," we ask: "WHAT 'electoral possiblities'"? His first mistake is thinking that McPain will actually get nominated by anyone besides McPain's own John-Andersonesque Personal Party...

HT: PowerLine