Frist speech falls flat before Republican Conference home-state crowd

The Fix, by Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog
Posted at 04:40 PM ET, 03/11/2006

Frist's Uneven Address


Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist struggled to ignite a home state crowd during his speech this afternoon at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

The Tennessee Senator went through a litany of conservative causes celebres including the removal of "activist" federal judges from the bench, balancing the budget, and cutting taxes. He also invoked the names of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean -- the boogeymen (and woman) of the Democratic Party. "This is the difference between us and them," said Frist of the opposition party. "We know what we believe, we know where we stand, and we know where we are going. They are the party of no."

But, his delivery struggled to live up to his rhetoric as Frist was more often rewarded with polite -- rather than passionate -- applause. Frist has long labored under the stereotype that he is a wooden (and overrehearsed) speaker and he did little to remedy that problem today.

However, should Frist win the conference's straw poll, scheduled for tonight, his uneven performance this afternoon might well be forgotten. The conference is being held in Memphis's storied Peabody Hotel, and a stroll around the lobby shows that the Frist operation has dedicated significant time and resources to turning out their supporters this weekend. Frist hats and t-shirts abound. The question now is whether they will turn out the vote....


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"You suck, you creepy nazi fukker!!!"

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

with a 'homeless' stuffed kitten to tease that pos....yech!

My daughter has a crazy orange cat. He can be quite charming, and has turned guys who don't like cats into fans, because he loves guys and acts like a little dog, not a cat. But if he gets his nose out of joint he poops on the offender's bed or pees on the laundry. My daughter adopted him when she was an undergrad living with four other girls who weren't really fond of him. He's on happy pills now. And she now has her own apartment and adopted a companion kitty for him. He's better... usually. :)

I sometimes think crazy goes with orange in cats.

Oh yeah, orange cats are nutso! I love 'em . . .

In fact Autumn is acting crazy right now. I've a step-ladder in the front bedroom, so I can theoretically paint the thing someday . . . but it has become a grand toy. We were just playing. I throw the belt from my bathrobe over the top of the ladder, and she attacks it. Gets wild-eyed and ends up hanging by a rung with one paw, and doing some serious gymnastics for a seven year-old cat! But she never got fat like the other cats, so her kittenish behavior is easier to maintain . . .

Oh, and she STILL CHASES HER TAIL!

Yep, she'll be laying on the rug after grooming, and she'll see the tiny white tip of her ringed tail flick out of the corner of her eye. Now, she's not a dumb cat, like say, Whiskers. She is quite aware that it is her tail and that it is SILLY to chase her tail. She'll get a sheepish look about her . . . right before she attacks her aft appendage! But attack she does, and it is a hoot to watch. I've about died laughing the few times she's done that while in the bathtub--she just becomes an orange blur.

Then there's the really bad behavior which you mention about your daughter's cat . . . Autumn has been very high maintenance, that's for sure. But she sure is fun at parties! ;)

My dad also has a crazy orange cat named Max! Runs in the family, I suppose.

Thanks for the stories.

:hi: (we need an orange cat smiley)

Gordy is really a sweetheart, he just has those ...erm...personal expressive habits. He started out in life as a barn cat, was run over by accident. The farmer brought him in to the vet, but when he learned Gordy would need surgery on his leg, he decided to put him to sleep because they have a lot of cats. I thought it was remarkable that he actually brought the cat in for care. The vet is a sweetheart, she fixed him up (operated, put in a pin) and he became an office cat. He was ornery in his own at night. The girl child was helping out in the office and decided to adopt him. Well, she was encouraged. :eyes: He is, indeed, high maintenance, however, he has a charming personality. Perhaps he is psychically related to Robert Downey. The happy pills are a good thing.

Let's hear it for the karma coming due...!

to pad the vote...

http://mydd.com/story/2006/3/11/14642/0847

He's had more missteps than ..... hell, I dunno ..... and he comes off like an undertaker.

The Schindler's Daughter episode alone will kill him.

I think even Hillary could beat this guy.

Frist won the straw vote with 440 votes..
Second was Mitt romney...with 200 something...
third was Bush tied with geeze i can't remember,maybe Allen, they each got 140 votes
What a bunch of hooey....

-- to steal from Reynolds Price's memorable line.

For a slayer of innocent animals, he's a stupefyingly dull speaker.

I heard his voice for the first time on the radio. His voice was like scraping your fingernails on the chalk board...nauseating. Obnoxious.

He's a helmet-haired, stiff-assed, felicidal wack job who's being investigated for insider trading and who just stepped all over his dick on the Dubai Ports World sale. And then there's the Terri Schiavo debacle. Oh, yeah, give us Frist. It'd be like shooting retarded fish in a teacup.

funny yet true!

Guess that would be President helmet-haired, stiff-assed, felicidal wack job..if the pubbie wet dreams come true in 2008.

I think you covered his finer points very well, Ocelot!

:rofl: :spray:



(Wonder why the Repukes have such consistently bad hair and fashions? Does "Uncool" come in a bottle? I just don't get it . . .)

To have Cat Killer the Repub nominee. But I can (wet) dream!