Frist revealed hypocrisy and willingness to compromise that forced him to quickly shift between inconsistent positions. He revealed to the Republican right that he was unreliable when it came to their pet causes: compromising on estate taxes by trading off on minimum wage; abandoning the fundies' desire for an absolute ban on embryonic stem cell research; and flipping in a last minute 180-degree conversion to acquiesce the Bush administration position on immigration. But it was gay marriage about which Frist inanely blathered most, supporing anti-gay consitutional amendments and saying inexplicably that "years of de facto same-sex marriage in Scandinavia has further weakened marriage."
A heart surgeon, whose father co-founded a company that owns a chain of hospitals, Frist was a multi-millionaire when he entered politics and quickly rose to the top of the Republican ranks in the Senate filling Trent Lott's shoes after Lott's ignominious exit from the post. He displayed a combination of arrogance and desparate naivite, intervening in the most egregious and public manner in the Terry Schiavo case. "He was widely criticized for pandering to religious conservatives by injecting himself into the debate over Ms. Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed. Frist viewed a videotape of the woman, then publicly questioned the diagnosis of her doctors. An autopsy later confirmed their judgment, not his." (365gay.com)
With Frist out, out-going Massachussets Governor and all-but-announced Presidential contender, Mitt Romney, has a clearer field and, theoretically a better chance for the support of the fundamentalist, extremist Christian right. You could hardly find a more obsessively anti-gay politician today than Romney. He really loves gay marriage, he talks about it constantly. What a fantastic campaign theme, Mitt. Take it all the way to the Bible Belt. Run to South Carolina and then to the Deep South. Try it in Iowa, though I can't see you'll get far in New Hampshire with it (conservatives there tend not to enjoy government telling anyone what to do in their persona life). As Frist bows out, Romney is probably salivating at his good fortune. Frist's past as a Senate leader gave him great fundraising opportunities, so Romney won't have to compete with Frist for precious primary season cotributions. We all know early conservative money will be important. Can McCain get that money? Perhaps. Let's see how far to the right McCain is willing to go to.
For the record, even in announcing his retirement from politics, Frist cited the Bible. Can these people ever stop dragging religion into the public realm?

"In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close," he said. "I do not intend to run for president in 2008."