Online Casino Foe Resurfaces as Health Care Flip-Flopper

Bill Frist, the person who snuck the web casino payment processing ban through Congress now wants everyone to grasp he supports the health care bill, when it benefits special interests, but probably not because that offends his radical right base.

The former Senate Majority Leader who snuck the UIGEA online casino payment ban right into a port security act in 2006 has reappeared after supposedly retiring from politics that very same year. Bill Frist is creating controversy again by first telling a reporter for Time magazine that he'd vote for the health care package as currently composed within the Senate, then days later denying he meant such a thing.

Frist helped push in the course of the Internet casino prohibition by attaching it to an urgent homeland security issue that came up for vote in the dark at the day Congress adjourned for the year, avoiding scrutiny while assurring passage by linking it to such crucial bill. Capitol Hill rumors attributed political aspirations for a Presidential run behind Frist's support of the religious right's anti-gambling agenda.

Now Frist have been caught seeking to play each side. He told Time's Karen Tumulty of the health care bill, "I MIGHT finally end up voting for it."

"As leader, I MIGHT take heat for it," Frist said. "THAT IS WHAT leadership is all about."

Frist noted considered one of his favorite parts of the bill is the requirement that folks without insurance be required to shop for it, a notable break from Republican ideals but certainly in step with insurance companies, which might love the forced business.

Frist then changed his mind when questioned by ABC News Radio, saying, "People attempt to put words in my mouth. I don’t support the Baucus bill as written today."

Apparently Frist used to be again covering his bases for potential future political appeal, just as he tried to do with the web gambling bill. This time, he made certain to say what Big Insurance desired to hear, then attacked the Democrats to undo damage done to his conservative core.

If the U.S. ever wants a sneaky, underhanded politician with a record of legislating against due process (the army Commissions Act), flip-flopping on both health care and stem cell research to soothe both sides, breaking medical ethics (within the Terri Schiavo case), and supporting torture, Bill Frist could be able to answer the call.

Published on October 5, 2009 by TomWeston

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