Correction on Frist

Yesterday morning I had a posting where I, among other things, attacked Frist and the media for Frist's vote that killed the Patriot Act.

I was incorrect in that attack.

In parlimentary procedure there is a motion typically called "Reconsider". This allows anyone on the PREVAILING side of a vote to ask the body to reconsider their vote. In other words it allows someone to say, "I know we won, but I think we made a mistake and need to RECONSIDER the action. Let's revote."

It is very common in contested votes to have someone on the losing side switch at the last minute to give the losing side a little more time to get their points heard. Sounds like a very sneaky thing to the people that are not used to parliamentary procedure but there is a purpose behind it. It is used to help a body recover from making hasty decisions.

Where I erred (and the article did not mention this either) is that Bill Frist's vote was a last minute switch to enable him the right to move for reconsideration. He actually is on America's side.

My apologies to the Senator from Tennessee.

I wish the WHOLE story would make it into the media reporting.