Frist Goes To New Orleans

[visionary]

Senator Frist becomes Dr. Frist in New Orleans

Majority leader takes on role of volunteer physician in disaster zone

The Associated Press

Updated: 9:54 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2005

WASHINGTON - Bill Frist took off his senator’s coat on Saturday and flew for New Orleans as a medical volunteer.

But what he found among the thousands needing treatment from Hurricane Katrina was a rescue effort in chaos: patients sleeping on luggage conveyors, teams of nurses who didn’t know each other’s names and a total communication breakdown.

“In the airport right now there is no communication between one unit and another,” said Frist, R-Tenn., the Senate’s majority leader and a surgeon.

“No coordination with how many people will be coming in the door 10 minutes later,” he told The Associated Press. “That’s sort of the most disappointing thing. It’s probably the greatest failure.”

Frist left Washington around 4:30 a.m. Saturday on his private plane. He spent most of the day helping to treat thousands of victims at Louis Armstrong International Airport and the New Orleans Convention Center.

He spoke by phone from a helicopter shuttling him between the two, taking a 45-minute tour above the flooded streets of downtown.

Frist also said the federal government had acted too slowly in dealing with the hurricane’s aftermath.

“Given the escalation of catastrophe that occurred over the first three days, absolutely I would have liked to see the federal government respond quicker, more rapidly, with better command and control centers and much improved communication,” Frist said.

“I’m not going to get into finger-pointing now. I did call for oversight hearings — I wouldn’t have done that if I weren’t concerned. We’ve got to do better.”

The senator spent the day treating diabetics for low blood sugar and dealing with cases of high blood pressure and dehydration. Though he is a surgeon by training, there was no need to perform surgery on Saturday, he said.

After overnighting in Nashville, Tenn., following his day in New Orleans, Frist planned to return to the Gulf Coast on Sunday to work in storm-ravaged areas of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as returning with supplies to New Orleans.

He plans to be back in Washington by the time the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday. He said the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts will go forward as planned.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9192863/

[Larry]

WASHINGTON - Bill Frist took off his senator’s coat on Saturday and flew for New Orleans as a medical volunteer.

Undeclared Presidential Candidate Bill Frist decided that there were a lot of TV cameras in New Orleans right now, and that they were mostly showing pictures of people suffering, and that the majority of voters were blaming this suffering on the GOP, and flew to New Orleans as a medical volunteer.

(A volunteer with a private jet and orders for people to transport him to New Orleans, and then transport him around New Orleans whenever he wanted.)

But what he found among the thousands needing treatment from Hurricane Katrina was a rescue effort in chaos: patients sleeping on luggage conveyors, teams of nurses who didn’t know each other’s names and a total communication breakdown.

“In the airport right now there is no communication between one unit and another,” said Frist, R-Tenn., the Senate’s majority leader and a surgeon.

“No coordination with how many people will be coming in the door 10 minutes later,” he told The Associated Press. “That’s sort of the most disappointing thing. It’s probably the greatest failure.”

There wasn't a single important person to meet me when I arrived. Many of them, aparantly, had not been informed of how important I was.

Frist left Washington around 4:30 a.m. Saturday on his private plane. He spent most of the day helping to treat thousands of victims at Louis Armstrong International Airport and the New Orleans Convention Center.

He spoke by phone from a helicopter shuttling him between the two, taking a 45-minute tour above the flooded streets of downtown.

He spent most of his time treating patients, but found time to borrow a helicopter so that he could be shuttled between the two biggest groups of reporters, since the reporters (lacking hellicopters at their command) were mostly confined to one location or another.

Frist also said the federal government had acted too slowly in dealing with the hurricane’s aftermath.

“Given the escalation of catastrophe that occurred over the first three days, absolutely I would have liked to see the federal government respond quicker, more rapidly, with better command and control centers and much improved communication,” Frist said.

“I’m not going to get into finger-pointing now. I did call for oversight hearings — I wouldn’t have done that if I weren’t concerned. We’ve got to do better.”

I'm not going to get into finger-pointing right now, but I've scheduled live, televised finger-pointing for later, when people, hopefully, won't be as concerned with the actual events going on here.

The senator spent the day treating diabetics for low blood sugar and dealing with cases of high blood pressure and dehydration.

He spent his time handing out candy and water.

Though he is a surgeon by training, there was no need to perform surgery on Saturday, he said.

There were no functioning operating theatres in either hospital he visited, and no need for his specialty, so he spent his time at each location functioning as a medic.

After overnighting in Nashville, Tenn., following his day in New Orleans, Frist planned to return to the Gulf Coast on Sunday to work in storm-ravaged areas of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as returning with supplies to New Orleans.

After flying in for a one-day visit and helicopter tour, he then flew completely out of the state. He plans, tomorrow, to make brief visits to two other potential photo ops, in addition to revisiting the places he "helped" today.

He plans to be back in Washington by the time the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday. He said the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts will go forward as planned.

There are no plans to allow what may be the biggest natural disaster in our nation's history, to disrupt plans to appoint a man who has critisized Reagan for being neither partisan nor activist enough to a lifetime appointment.

(In case you can't tell, my opinion of Doctor Frist is rather low. Yes, I understand that, frankly, his job in the party command structure of the GOP Senate is to be the designated extremist, so I may be allowing my opinon of his positions and his tactics form my opinion of him as a person. OTOH, I can't imagine how any person who posesses even a tiny sliver of humanity could possibly make some of the statements that he has.)

[NoCalMike]

I wonder if he decided to diagnose the problem from watching a two mintue video on tv.

[visionary]

Wow Frist goes down there and helps save lives, and he gets bashed...why am I not surprised.

I thought of making a joke about it being a photo op...to head people off. Sad...

I guess you all would rather he had stayed away and not helped out?

Pretty shameful...

[Larry]

I guess you all would rather he had stayed away and not helped out?

What do you suppose that hellicopter that shuttled him around was doing yesterday?

For that matter, what do you suppose the medical staff of those two hospitals were doing yesterday? And how many of them do you think are sleeping on clean sheets, tonight?

[Fred Jones]

A lot of medical people are either in route or already on the ground taking care of people. They will actually work the entire day and many days to come instead of flying in for a few hours of token help. My own brother, paramedic, left yesterday and is down there right now helping out. I didn't read that on the news, however.

[visionary]

Is your brother the majority leader of the Senate?

Anyway this is just silly, I guess no good deed goes un-whined about.

What would you all have said if Howard Dean had been doing it...isn't he supoosed to be a doctor?

[Tarhog]

(In case you can't tell, my opinion of Doctor Frist is rather low. Yes, I understand that, frankly, his job in the party command structure of the GOP Senate is to be the designated extremist, so I may be allowing my opinon of his positions and his tactics form my opinion of him as a person. OTOH, I can't imagine how any person who posesses even a tiny sliver of humanity could possibly make some of the statements that he has.)

Always have to throw in the disclaimer, don't you Larry?

A better disclaimer might have been 'I don't actually know Bill Frist or whats in his heart, but I reserve the right to pretend I do and to assign the worst possible motives to his every action'.

I don't think this is funny or cute. Unless you're in New Orleans helping out currently, who are you to lob grenades? Be honest - it wouldn't matter what Frist was doing right now - you'd still be mocking him...

[Larry]

Always have to throw in the disclaimer, don't you Larry?

A better disclaimer might have been 'I don't actually know Bill Frist or whats in his heart, but I reserve the right to pretend I do and to assign the worst possible motives to his every action'.

I don't think this is funny or cute. Unless you're in New Orleans helping out currently, who are you to lob grenades? Be honest - it wouldn't matter what Frist was doing right now - you'd still be mocking him...

1:

I'll point out, I didn't mock him yesterday. I mocked him when he made a whirlwind, maximum-exposure tour of a place that the National Attention is focused on.

2:

Actually, if you'll notice, the disclaimer was to point out an admitted lack of firsthand information.

Yes, your phrasing is also (barely) accurate.

Perhaps a more middle-of-the-road phrasing of my position would be "I don't personally know him, I can only judge him by his actions and his words."

I've admitted that I may be prejudiced against Doctor Frist based on his previous political actions. I intentionally pointed it out, just in case somebody read the post and accidentally mistook it for verified, factual, information.

I'll point out, I'm perfectly willing to say the same things about Jesse Jackson's attempts to use this event for publicity. (I may have, but I don't think so.)

[JimboDaMan]

Always have to throw in the disclaimer, don't you Larry?

A better disclaimer might have been 'I don't actually know Bill Frist or whats in his heart, but I reserve the right to pretend I do and to assign the worst possible motives to his every action'.

I don't think this is funny or cute. Unless you're in New Orleans helping out currently, who are you to lob grenades? Be honest - it wouldn't matter what Frist was doing right now - you'd still be mocking him...

No, TH, that's not mocking. Mocking would be saying something like, "I'm surprised he didn't just diagnose them over the TV like he did with Terri Shaivo." But I'm above that kind of thing.

As far as mocking whatever he does, I doubt it. Had the man either 1) stayed at home and worked the problem thru Congress, or 2) volunteered his medical services and took whatever assignments came his way, I'd be perfectly fine with that. But how many medical personnel were ferried between the two most prominent sites by precious helicopter? Especially a surgeon who, in the midst of the greatest natural disaster to befall the US, can't find a single patient requiring surguery? Yet has the time to distance himself from the situation - not by finger-pointing, oh no - but by calling for an investigation of why others in the administration failed so miserably?

[Fred Jones]

Is your brother the majority leader of the Senate?

Anyway this is just silly, I guess no good deed goes un-whined about.

What would you all have said if Howard Dean had been doing it...isn't he supoosed to be a doctor?

No, my brother is not majority leader of the Senate. He is just someone in LA to help out and assist people that are injured. Nothing more and nothing less.

If Howard Dean was doing it I would be saying the same thing. If Hillary went down there I would be saying the same thing. The difference is they didn't go.

[Tarhog]

No, TH, that's not mocking. Mocking would be saying something like, "I'm surprised he didn't just diagnose them over the TV like he did with Terri Shaivo." But I'm above that kind of thing.

As far as mocking whatever he does, I doubt it. Had the man either 1) stayed at home and worked the problem thru Congress, or 2) volunteered his medical services and took whatever assignments came his way, I'd be perfectly fine with that. But how many medical personnel were ferried between the two most prominent sites by precious helicopter? Especially a surgeon who, in the midst of the greatest natural disaster to befall the US, can't find a single patient requiring surguery? Yet has the time to distance himself from the situation - not by finger-pointing, oh no - but by calling for an investigation of why others in the administration failed so miserably?

I stand by my statement. And the fact that the 2nd sentence off your keyboard references Terri Shaivo speaks volumes. Because what a lot of this uproar is really about is political payback and has zero to do with real concern for the people suffering in the Gulf states.

[Larry]

I stand by my statement. And the fact that the 2nd sentence off your keyboard references Terri Shaivo speaks volumes. Because what a lot of this uproar is really about is political payback and has zero to do with real concern for the people suffering in the Gulf states.

Or perhaps it has to do with some people who, based on previous actions, have formed an opinion of someone who appears to be a partisan political opportunist.

(If you'll re-read my "disclaimer", I even pointed out that, at least as I understand these things, that the "job" of majority/minority whip was to be an ultra-partisan for "his side", but that my personal opinion of some of Frist's actions caused me to conclude that he seemed far too (zealous? partisan? unethical?), even for the justification of "it's his job" to apply.)

It's the liberal in me: I'm even willing to admit that maybe the reason he's willing to use the label "Doctor", while sprouting his party's political pseudo-science as fact, is because he honestly thinks it's his job. Part of that whole "nobody's really bad, they just sometimes do bad things" liberal thing.

[Prosperity]

Always have to throw in the disclaimer, don't you Larry?

A better disclaimer might have been 'I don't actually know Bill Frist or whats in his heart, but I reserve the right to pretend I do and to assign the worst possible motives to his every action'.

I don't think this is funny or cute. Unless you're in New Orleans helping out currently, who are you to lob grenades? Be honest - it wouldn't matter what Frist was doing right now - you'd still be mocking him...

:laugh: what a joke. It is completely obvious what he is doing, why else would he want it to be such a big publicity event going around to reporters saying he wants to help people as a doctor after leeching off people as a politician in his career. You don't have to know what is in someone's heart to make an accurate assesment of their motives based on present and past actions.

[twa]

I tend to lump him with some others who came to HELP and use it as a platform.

But I am rather cynical by nature when it come to politicians

[Ignatius J.]

FoxNews had a small segment on al gore. They said that they had a fox exclusive which was a camera in an airport that tried to follow al gore around. We have no idea what he was doing because he didn't bother to stop and give interviews. I don't think he's done any since fox called it exclusive.

Doesn't that make you think that al gore was actually trying to help? If frist were doing anything important he wouldn't have had time for cameras. The guy is a joke. Donate your helicopter to run rescue missions and do some actual work to help out if you want some credit.

[chomerics]

I'm not going to call out Frist because he is doing something. Do I THINK there are alterior motives? He's a politician isn't he? EVERY politician has alterior motives. . . well, ALMOST every politician has alterior motives, I still think there are a FEW good ones out there (the idealist in me). It did look like a photo op, and I am sure it was a complete set up to make him look good for his presidential run, BUT he was helping, and he was actually giving a hand. He gets credit for actually caring to help, even if you do think it was for other reasons. Personally, I could care less if he was using it for publicity, hell he's down there helping, so at least he gets to use it for doing work which helps others.

[jpillian]

Saw that with Al Gore. Who knows what he was doing down there -- but how refreshing that a politician was staying out of the limelight.

I'm certainly not an Al Gore fan, but good at 'em!

Anyone else see the article about the Manning brothers leading some relief efforts to New Orleans?

Their only real off weekend before the season starts? Now THAT is commendable.

No idea about Frist's motives, but if it WASN'T a photo op, I think the better approach would have been a bit more low key.

[Cskin]

Undeclared Presidential Candidate Bill Frist decided that there were a lot of TV cameras in New Orleans right now, and that they were mostly showing pictures of people suffering, and that the majority of voters were blaming this suffering on the GOP, and flew to New Orleans as a medical volunteer.

I don't normally agree with you Larry... but I think you're spot on here. This was a photo op... nothing more nothing less. If he were truly concerned about the plight of the people hit by Katrina.... he'd ask to be excused from the Senate and spend a month or two down there adding his expertise to the medical community there.

Furthermore, his attack of the "delays in federal aid" is simply a quote he can pull up in 08 as evidence of his opinion so as to better serve the centrist backdrop that will ulitmately help win the Presidency. He appeals to the "Bush didn't do enough" crowd while tiptoeing along the "still a republican and help me win the White House" crowd.

He's begin to remind me more and more of Mr. "I'm just like JFK" Kerry. :doh:

Well said... Larry-O

[Cskin]

Hey... if AL Gore wants to be the figure head down there and be the point person for the federal response to this crisis.... I stand behind him. I've never cared for him politically, but if he has the mind to wrap around the crisis and get the people moving in the right direction..... than I say..... GO GORE GO!!!!!!

I will say that I'm fearful he might at some point declare he invented the helicopter.... or the pumping station.... or air-powered boat. :doh: I know... I know.. not funny... .well.... come on guys... lighten up you bunch of Francis's.

[NavyDave]

So you are saying Frist wasn't genuine in being there to help.

Unlike Hillary who flew to the middle east during Thanksgiving a few years ago to bash Bush, err show support for the troops.

Shame that she was overshadowed by Dubba Ya who was there himself

[Larry]

So you are saying Frist wasn't genuine in being there to help.

Unlike Hillary who flew to the middle east during Thanksgiving a few years ago to bash Bush, err show support for the troops.

Shame that she was overshadowed by Dubba Ya who was there himself

Granted, Hillary was there, I believe, five days.

Whereas dubbdyew was there long enough to pose for a photo, (with stage props), at a 4:AM Thanksgivving dinner. (The schedule just happened to be timed to make that day's news releases, back in the US.)

(Although, I agree with you. Hillary was there for a photo op, too. She was just there for longer.)

[JimboDaMan]

Hey... if AL Gore wants to be the figure head down there and be the point person for the federal response to this crisis.... I stand behind him. I've never cared for him politically, but if he has the mind to wrap around the crisis and get the people moving in the right direction..... than I say..... GO GORE GO!!!!!!

I will say that I'm fearful he might at some point declare he invented the helicopter.... or the pumping station.... or air-powered boat. :doh: I know... I know.. not funny... .well.... come on guys... lighten up you bunch of Francis's.

Hey! Who you callin' Francis??!!