Politics: Bill Frist’s Short Leash Leads to Karl "Dr. Evil" Rove

An item in today’s Washington Post demonstrates the media lifespan (less than a single news cycle) of an independent thought in the head of newly-installed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Frist appeared to exhibit some PR savvy in resisting immediately announcing his firm support for Bush federal judicial nominee, Charles Pickering, Sr.

Remember, Pickering was voted down by the Senate Judiciary Committee last year for several reasons, not least of which was his decision to attempt to reduce the sentence given to a man convicted of burning a cross at the home of a mixed-race couple. Pickering went so far as to call the U.S. Justice Department to express his concern about the harsh sentencing given in response to this racist act.

Here’s the chunk from the Post that counts (if you read closely, you can hear Rove’s head snap round in the return between the first and second graphs):

While Pickering appeared to be "extraordinarily qualified" and to have a "long commitment to promoting civil rights," Frist said he wanted to "look at the information and the facts" before coming to a conclusion about any of the 30 judicial nominations that Bush sent to the Senate on Tuesday.

A Frist aide said later that Frist supports Pickering's nomination.

Now if we could get some serious coverage of this and Frist's little feline problem, that would be something.