Think Progress

Bachmann Says Dole And Frist Represent A ‘Non-Pro-Freedom Agenda’ Because They Want Health Reform - Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Today on her radio program, Laura Ingraham interviewed guest Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and asked her about the ideological direction of the Republican Party. The pair discussed recent statements made by retired GOP Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist (TN) and Bob Dole (KS) in support of some type of comprehensive health reform.
Dole has called [...]

Specter rips GOP: ‘A Party of obstructionism.’ - Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who until late April of this year was a lifelong Republican, castigated his former party this morning on Fox News. Specter ripped the GOP for refusing to be a good-faith negotiator in the health care debate:
On the Republican side, it’s no, no, no. A party of obstructionism. … You have responsible [...]

Inhofe Falsely Claims Reconciliation Never Used For ‘A Major Tax Bill’ - Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

During an appearance on conservative talker Steve Malzberg’s radio show yesterday, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist continued his effort to walk back his claim that if he were still in the Senate, he “would end up voting” for President Obama’s health care reform.
Malzberg asked Frist whether Democrats would “ram this through using reconciliation.” [...]

Former GOP Majority Leader Bill Frist on Senate health legislation: I’d vote for it. - Friday, October 2nd, 2009

In an interview today with Time’s Karen Tumulty, former Republican Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist dismissed the GOP’s balking over health care legislation. Underscoring how much Republicans have become the “party of no” and how much the Senate Finance Committee legislation has been watered-down, Frist said that if he were still in office, he [...]

ThinkFast: September 29, 2009 - Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

The Senate Finance Committee will be voting on at least three versions of a public option as it reconvenes today. “The Senate floor is more favorable to the public option than the Finance Committee,” admitted Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), adding, “But we certainly want to begin the debate. … The more focus there is on [...]

Fox News: The Notion That Republicans Are Trying To Block Health Care Reform Is A ‘Conspiracy Theory’ - Monday, August 24th, 2009

This morning on Fox and Friends, host Brian Kilmeade did a segment defending the Republican Party against accusations that it is trying to “sink” health care reform. “[D]oes this conspiracy theory really hold any water?” asked Kilmeade, adding that it was “a bit of a reach to blame the GOP.” The two Republican guests on [...]

Fox, CNN Falsely Label Budget Reconciliation Process As The ‘Nuclear Option’ - Thursday, August 20th, 2009

As it becomes increasingly clear that Senate Republicans are more interested in scuttling President Obama’s agenda for political gain than they are in actually negotiating on health care, the White House and Senate leadership are looking at a process known as “reconciliation,” which would allow some health care reforms to pass the Senate by a [...]

Steele says he fears health reform because it could be like the GOP’s intervention in Terri Schiavo’s case. - Friday, July 24th, 2009

In 2005, President Bush, along with congressional Republicans, decided they could use the tragic case of Terri Schiavo — a severely brain-damaged woman who had been incapacitated for the past 15 years — as a “great political issue” to get the pro-life base “excited.” Congressional Republicans forced both chambers into a special session with four [...]

Frist On Using Reconciliation Process To Pass Health Care Reform: ‘It’s Legal, It’s Ethical’ - Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

On May 1, Congress passed President Obama’s budget, which included language allowing for the use of the budget reconciliation process to pass health care reform with a simple majority in the Senate. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) said any use of budget reconciliation by Obama would be “regarded as an act of violence” against Republicans, and [...]

Manuel Miranda: Latinos are ‘not like African-Americans. We think just like everybody else.’ - Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Manuel Miranda, who was busted for hacking into the files of Senate Democrats while he served as an aide to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), is leading the conservative charge against Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. At a Heritage Foundation lunch for conservative bloggers today, Miranda discussed how conservatives could [...]

Disgraced former Senate Republican aide calls on McConnell to filibuster Sotomayor. - Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Right-wing activist Manuel Mirdanda coordinated a letter that will be delivered to Senate Republicans today from “more than 145 conservatives” calling for a filibuster of the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Going further than the letter, Miranda told Politico that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) should “consider resigning” his leadership [...]

Besides Harman, which lawmakers tried to block the NYT’s wiretapping story? - Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

On Monday, the New York Times confirmed that in December 2005, its Washington bureau chief, Philip Taubman, “met with a group of Congressional leaders familiar with the eavesdropping program, including Ms. Harman. They all argued that The Times should not publish” its story on the National Security Agency’s wiretapping. So who are those other “Congressional [...]

After Trying To Abolish Filibusters Of Judicial Nominees In ‘05, GOP Threatens To Filibuster Obama’s Nominees - Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

In 2004, frustrated by successful efforts by Senate Democrats to block 10 of President Bush’s judicial nominees, Senate Republicans threatened use the “nuclear option” to remove the minority’s right to filibuster judicial nominations. “One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end,” said then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) in a speech to [...]

The Return Of Schiavo: Conservatives Plan To Revive Embarrassing Debacle To Block Obama’s DOJ Nominee - Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

One of the saddest, most hysterical crusades by conservatives over the past few years involved their intervention in the case of critically brain-damaged woman Terry Schiavo. Conservatives — including former Senate majority leader Bill Frist and former House majority leader Tom DeLay — brought the personal tragedy to national attention in 2005 by trying [...]

Hitting Back At Obama Team, Perino Insists Bush Did Not Ban Stem Cell Research - Monday, November 10th, 2008

On Fox News Sunday yesterday, John Podesta, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition chief, said Obama would move swiftly to overturn a range of executive orders by President Bush, “whether that’s on energy transformation, on improving health care, on stem cell research.” Podesta explained, “I think across the board, on stem cell research, on a number of [...]

Bill Frist builds his own border fence. - Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Today, the Tennessean reports that former senator Bill Frist is “building an 8-foot wall around his home.” Frist’s contractor, however, is running into zoning regulations, which prohibit the enormous wall from being built too close to the adjacent avenue. Frist also wants to “put up gated entrance gates.”

ThinkFast: December 18, 2007 - Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Some FBI agents are challenging the CIA’s description of al Qaeda captive Abu Zubaida “as an important insider whose disclosures under intense pressure saved lives.” They say his “credibility dropped as the CIA subjected him to” waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation” measures.
A USA Today/Gallup Poll found that Americans gave the president, congressional Democrats, and congressional [...]

Daschle: ‘New Paradigm’ Of Foreign Policy Links Global Poverty With Security - Monday, June 11th, 2007

Today, the ONE Campaign launched ONE Vote ‘08, which will push presidential candidates to “make the fight against global poverty a key foreign policy and security issue.” ONE Vote ‘08 plans to spend at least $30 million to educate voters on the fight against global poverty. Watch the campaign video featuring U2’s Bono, New England [...]

ThinkFast: May 29, 2007 - Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

Eight U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq on Memorial Day yesterday, “making May the deadliest month of the year for U.S. troops in Iraq.”
“Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has withdrawn his name from consideration for World Bank president.” Former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Paul [...]

WH giving Frist ‘close scrutiny’ as Wolfowitz replacement. - Thursday, May 24th, 2007

Last week, ThinkProgress reported that the Bush administration was considering Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) to replace Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that Frist is receiving “especially close scrutiny for the job.” He is also a “favorite of Mr. Bush’s national-security adviser, Stephen Hadley, according to one [...]