Despite GOP delusions to the contrary, Bill Frist has never been an attractive presidential candidate. He’s an awkward patrician who was elected to office with the help of family connections (sound like any other senators from Tennessee?).

But I still can’t believe how foolishly he’s squandered his one selling point: his medical expertise. The stories about him experimenting on stray cats during medical school were bad enough, but he has now abused his authority as a physician to misdiagnose Terri Schiavo (a fact now confirmed by her autopsy despite his protests to the contrary) and suggest that HIV could be transmitted through saliva or tears.

And as Bob Dole (among others) could have predicted, Frist’s tenure as Senate Majority Leader has made him less electable, not more. Conservatives are angry at him for the nuclear option deal, and protecting the senators who wouldn’t co-sponsor George Allen’s anti-lynching resolution is not exactly a selling point for independent voters (via Atrios).

Is Frist going to be the Phil Gramm of 2008?