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Frist's presidential ambitions damaged

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A poor "political ear" and an ill-timed stock sale have harmed the presidential ambitions of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Texas, a report said.

Frist is under investigation for the June sale of stock in HCA Inc., the for-profit healthcare giant founded by his family, just before the price tumbled.

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Frist should have sold the stock when he came to Washington in 1994 and now is second-guessed on any healthcare legislation, said Charlie Cook, editor of the non-partisan Cook Political report.

"It sort of seems a waste that one of the few people in the Senate with any insight, any unique knowledge, has to keep his hands off," Cook told The New York Times. "But unfortunately that's the situation he's put himself in."

Earlier, Frist was criticized for his handling of the Senate fight over judicial nominees and saying a brain-damaged Florida woman in a right-to-die case appeared responsive in a videotape.

While Frist is cooperating in the stock sale investigation, Vanderbilt University Professor Bruce Oppenheimer said the case shows Frist "doesn't have a good political ear."

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