Frist Fence Feebleness

Michelle Malkin is underwhelmed by the Republicans` ” empty, election-season, unfunded border fence gestures.”

She points to a Mickey Kaus story, where Kaus has the goods on Frist`s failure, which he attributes to one or more of “Phoniness, fecklessness, or a corrupt bargain,” (with the White House, not the Dems.)

Frist Fence Flakeout?

Has Sen. Frist given up on the border fence? It sure sounded that way on George Stephanopoulos` This Week. The Senate Majority Leader said a bill containing the proposed 700-mile barrier was “hopefully what we`ll be voting on the floor of the Senate this week.” But then, with a guilty, knowing grin,[The grin is at about 9:18 in this video] he added: “Right now I got a feeling the Democrats may obstruct it.”

The grin was the giveaway. It`s easy to let the fence bill drop and blame Democrats. Wink, wink. But a forceful majority leader who actually wanted either a) a vote or b) a sharpened issue against the Dems wouldn`t give up just like that.

On the issue of “Phoniness, fecklessness, or a corrupt bargain,” fecklessness is almost always the way to bet with the Republican leadership. Corruption is more interesting, but fecklessness does more damage.