Tennessee's Shame

I can thank Bill Frist for turning me into a political blogger. I'm so angry with him that I am damn near physically ill.

I have to come clean. I voted for the ninny. Not once, but twice. The first time, I was naive and young and swayed by the fact that I met him in person and he is actually a very charming person. He still had the very dorky haircut and wore the goofy American flag tie. I was working for the local paper and I was the one chosen to interview him. Now I realize it was because I was the only Republican in the newsroom. At the time, I thought it was because of my hard-hitting newswriting. But anyway. I liked him. I bought into the whole "doctor-turns-politico" deal. We were in the midst of sweeping change in Tennessee. Fred Thompson was busy driving his way around the state in a red pickup truck (and I admit, I still like ol' Fred) and the old guard was on shaky ground. "Native" son Al Gore wasn't looking so golden and politics was a hot topic around town. I dutifully took my Frist buttons and bumper stickers (for some reason, I have none for Thompson) and went about my Republican duty and voted for him. I was jubilant when he defeated Jim Sasser. I'd been raised to hate Sasser. I felt I'd done my duty.

Six years later, I hate to say it, but I wasn't much brighter. I voted for him again. Honestly, I wasn't really paying much attention to the Senate. I'd just had my third child, I was in the throes of post partum depression and I, gulp, actually thought George Bush was charming. I was among one of the more rabid Al Gore haters in Tennessee, so I was happy to vote for anyone who would make him and the Democrats look bad. Plus, Frist hadn't really done anything terribly obnoxious at that point. He was still very junior. The only Senator we ever really heard about was Fred. Frist only got mention when he did CPR on someone.

Now I realize the error of my ways. The man is a power-hungry freak with some sort of radical right-wing love affair that I somehow completely missed out on. Contrary to popular belief, everyone in the state of Tennessee does NOT go to church three times a week and we don't wait for our preacher to tell us what to think and how to vote. The idea that a SENATOR, much less the senate majority leader would align himself with a group as repugnant as the Family Resource Center and be a party to this "Justice Sunday" bullshit is just mind boggling. I cannot believe that anyone can stand up with a straight face and try to argue that it is even remotely "fair" to try and change the rules when the game isn't going your way. I can only imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would have taken place had this happened when the Democrats were in power. And to think that it is because he is trying to do the bidding of the smarmy evangelical groups who are demanding payback? I feel ill. I apologize to the American public for my vote back in 2000.

Bill Frist isn't the reason I'm Republican No More. I'll go into that later, but he is most definitely why I'm about to be VOCALLY RNM. He? must be stopped.