Frist's Bill, Tom's Delay

CBS News | Frist's Bill, Tom's Delay | September 30, 2005 12:33:10: "Anyone who thinks that Bill Frist's presidential prospects have been extinguished by a few questions about a rancid-looking little stock sale that may or may not be insider trading is either blissfully naive or a confirmed amnesiac. Bill Clinton, remember, got to be president even with the Gennifer Flowers tape hanging around his neck, and George W. Bush survived questions about a drunken-driving arrest and whether he was AWOL from the National Guard.

So Frist sold high just before the stock went low, and there is some suggestion that he got regular updates on what was in his 'blind trusts.' He may have been just living by the Reagan-era doctrine of 'trust but verify.'

For most Americans, adultery and driving after you've had a snoutful are more accessible demerits than the convoluted rules about blind trusts and the strictures against profiting from privileged information. So I say we have to assume that the direct damage to the senator's presidential chances, whatever they were to begin with, is going to be minimal. "