Bob Novak, whom I believe is one of the worst human beings in this country, has an op-ed out today echoing sentiments I wrote not too long ago on my blog: that Bill Frist is a miserable failure as Senate Majority Leader. Though I rarely agree with Novak, this is one instance where I think he is partially right.

The main point that Novak tries to impart in the reader is that Frist has been terribly ineffective as Majority Leader. While Bob and I think this is bad for different reasons (he thinks it's bad because he's a rabid, right-wing ideologue, I believe it's bad because he's tarnishing the bipartisan legacy of the Senate), I think his premise that Frist is no good is correct. The two prime examples Novak cites are the Class-Action reform bill and the FMA, both big losses for the Republicans; he believes that both were caused by Frist's inability and the relative strengths of the Democratic leadership.

This is one point that I also agree with. Although some of us in the blogosphere like to attack Mssrs. Daschle and Reid for their moderation, they have proved to be an effective team. Even if they were unable to stand up to the extremely popular post-9/11 Bush (you can fault them, though I wouldn't), credit must be given to the Democratic leaders for capitalizing on the shift of popular opinion away from the President in recent months, with the successes of blocking judicial nominations, getting on conference committees, blocking the unfair Tort reform, and stopping the FMA serving as just a few examples of their successes.

They might not be the greatest leaders the Senate has ever seen, but they have been doing a commendable job as of late. As a result, let's be happy we have Daschle and Reid rather than Frist and McConnell!