Who are you and what have you done with Bill Frist?

Wow. I was completely floored when I read about the speech Bill Frist gave on the Senate floor today, a fact that isn't all that surprising. What is surprising is that for once it was the good kind of floored.

Frist threw his support behind a bill to expand federal funding for stem cell research. This raises some obvious questions, like "Where am I?", and "What kind of weird science fiction bullsh*t is this?!".

In all seriousness, I am extremely impressed for two reasons. First of all, I have always maintained that the restrictions placed by the president on stem cell research in 2001 were one of the more tragic decisions of his presidency. While Frist's comments obviously were not as forceful as I think the issue warrants, any step towards undoing the damage the president has done is a good one.

Even more remarkable are the political implications of the stand. Frist, considered an '08 presidential hopeful, probably dealt himself a huge political setback with this decision. Whether or not a candidate can win the presidency without the support of conservative Christians is debatable, but certainly weathering a Republican primary would be damn near impossible. To think that a politician may have carefully thought through an issue and made a decision based on reasonable principles, even to the detriment of his political ambitions, is pretty reassuring. And especially to do so now, less than a year after Americans resoundingly voted "No" in 2004's referendum on rational decision making.

Maybe I'm just so downtrodden by watching the Dems get kicked around these past few years I'm overreacting to mere table scraps from the right. But I don't think so. Hearing Bill Frist say "It's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science" was like being in the twilight zone, but in a good way. His words certainly stand in stark contrast to fellow '08 hopeful Mitt Romney's sudden and politically convenient religious awakening.