Depends on your definition of "prevail"

According to the NYTimes: Frist Says He Will Prevail in the Long Run

Adversaries, independent analysts and even some allies say the Senate leader [Bill Frist] was wounded by a compromise on judicial nominees achieved last month by a handful of Republicans who bucked him, including Senator John McCain, a potential presidential rival in 2008. The damage to his image was made worse, they say, when Democrats blocked another important White House nominee just a few days after the judicial agreement.

"It is recognized that this gang of seven has weakened him," said Paul M. Weyrich, a veteran conservative activist and Frist supporter, referring to the Republicans who circumvented the majority leader to avert a potentially explosive showdown on prohibiting filibusters against judicial nominees.

So how does this mean "prevail" to Senator Frist?

But in an interview, [Frist] said he believed his stewardship would be vindicated in the days ahead once he shepherded through a string of legislation and judicial nominees. That should begin this week, he added, with votes on Janice Rogers Brown and William H. Pryor Jr., two federal appeals court candidates whose nominations have been filibustered by Democrats.

"The short-term evaluations, I believe, will prove to be shortsighted and wrong after we get judge after judge after judge after judge through, plus at least one Supreme Court nominee and an energy bill," Dr. Frist said after a lecture at Harvard, where he received his own medical education. "And we will get Bolton."

He will get Bolton. Okay, so let's assume that he does... Then he just looks like a partisan hack who would obey Bush and the White House as if Dubya is God, even at the cost of our international image.

And also... if the Republicans don't get every single judge that King George wants... does that mean that the criticism on Frist is correct after all? Oh, I'm so giddy I can't wait.

The majority leader said the judicial impasse would have never been broken had he not forced the issue by threatening to prohibit filibusters and engaged in an extended buildup to the vote, creating pressure for a compromise.

"Without that sort of leadership, there is no deal to be cut, there are no brokers to deal, there is no deal to be brokered," he said.

Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, who was one of the seven Republicans who worked with seven Democrats to fashion the compromise, agreed.

"You have to look at things from the long point of view," he said. "We couldn't have reached the compromise but for Bill Frist having the courage to set a date, saying we are going to use the constitutional option. He has clearly prepared to call the roll and roll the dice."

I'm laughing. In that hollow, sarcastic, ironic laugh. Since when did Frist decide to credit himself for the compromise? Oh, right. Since everyone started acknowledging the Democrats and the compromise group as some sort of victors.

Do they realize that the same can be said of Harry Reid? If he'd gone along with their rubber-stampin' plan in the first place, there would have been no compromise and no voice for dissent?

Yet questions left by the judicial cease-fire - coupled with Dr. Frist's handling of other issues, like his determined intervention earlier this year in the medical case of a brain-damaged Florida woman - have prompted some nervousness about Dr. Frist among Senate Republicans, though they express it privately for the most part.

Oh gosh, can't forget how he diagnosed Terry Schiavo by watching a short clip of her. Yes, what medical brilliance. Oh, and since when do heart-and-lung surgeons, who are brilliant in their OWN specialization, know better about cerebral functions than a patient's long-term doctor and brain specialist?

The filibuster fallout has also sparked a bit of impatience at the White House, where President Bush has been clamoring for an energy bill and took what some saw as a subtle jab at Dr. Frist in a recent press conference, when he criticized "the leadership there in the Senate" for failing to provide a vote on Mr. Bolton.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said that the remark was meant to refer only to the Democratic leadership and that Dr. Frist is a highly regarded partner of Mr. Bush. "The president talks with him on a fairly regular basis, and he's someone we work closely with to move forward on our shared agenda," Mr. McClellan said.

Hahahahaha. So the White House thinks the compromise is bad because it undermines their oppressive power over Congress. Frist is supposed to be the one herding his majority to cowtow to Dubya, Dobson & Co. Reid only wanted to preserve the tradition of filibusters. SEVEN Republican senators broke from their ranks, while under Frist's watch, to kill the Nuclear Option and satisfy one of the Demorats' primary goals. So exactly how did Scottie and the White House come to see Frist as some sort of infallible leader and Reid as the ineffective demagogue (a paradoxical statement)

Democrats say that if Dr. Frist has problems, they are of his own making. They saw his push against the filibuster as part of a calculated effort to deepen his appeal to conservatives in anticipation of a possible White House run and said his uncertain handling of the fight reflected his own unease with the idea.

"His presidential ambitions are pushing him to do things he is uncomfortable with," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

It's going to be SOOOOOO fun watching the GOP primaries. I'm rooting for McCain, but I want Cheney to win the primary. Why? Because next to him, even John Bolton looks like Santa Claus.

While some Senate Republicans say Dr. Frist should have moved faster on the filibuster issue, senior lawmakers like Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Finance Committee, say Dr. Frist has the confidence of his colleagues and is showing an important attribute of leadership: sticking to his guns despite a setback.

"He has not been discouraged at all by what happened," Mr. Grassley said.

So that's like some Republican trend in leadership. Whatever you come up with, stick with it. Even when you're DEAD WRONG, illegal, unconstitutional, or the worst- undemocratic. Not that any of THEM care about democracy.

Wow, this is the first time I've thought seriously about the GOP Primary in 2008. So much focus on the Democrats and Hillary. Personally? An Edwards-Obama ticket.