Dumb Question: What could have made Frist think he could get away

[Seansky]

with selling the stocks? SEC has been really tough on several cases. Could he have something on somebody powerful enough for him to think he had it covered? Or was just really cocky and dumb?

[Erika]

1. The corporation was family owned

and as Pat Buchanan said insider trading was more than likely. The Republicans have been extremely cocky and arrogant.

[napi21]

2. People who are in power think they can get away with anything.

I suspect he still thinks this will all go away. I've witnessed a number of these kind of insider trading investigations. They're very hard to prove, but this one looks really bad because it was his whole family that also sold the stock. One person might be able to say they just sold it for a purpose, but the whole family is a really tough sell...even to an idiot!

[alittlelark]

3. They think the cloud of 9-11 has wafted them into immunity

They have become cocky and CARELESS.... oh, and GREEDY.

[mcctatas]

4. Because they have god on their side silly...

and apparently she got sick of their bullshit and decided to smite them:evilgrin:

[Seansky]

5. funny

[johnnypneumatic]

6. these guys have been getting away with horrendous crimes

for years and no one has come after them. Frist could hardly expect something as innocuous as insider trading to pull him down, in the same way that Al Capone, who for saturday night entertainment would murder someone with a baseball bat to the head, would never expect to go to jail for income tax evasion...

[hvn_nbr_2]

12. Exactly. They own all the regulatory apparatus.

The real question would be if he thought he couldn't get away with it, why in the world would he think that?

[moondust]

7. Well...

with all the underhanded stuff that Republicans DO get away with--up to and including an illegal, unnecessary war costing thousands and thousands of people their lives and limbs and billions and billions of tax dollars--it isn't too hard to imagine that some of them may have actually convinced themselves that they are untouchable no matter what. They control the gov't and lots of money. What they can't use "the system" to destroy they can probably buy.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. A friendly media.

Unfortunately, they're bought, but not completely paid for.

Yet.

[kestrel91316]

9. It's called "hubris".

[SammyBlue]

10. Crass, unmitigated chutzpah

nothing more.

[johnaries]

11. I'm glad you admitted that it was a dumb question, because

the keyword in your question was "think". "What could have made Frist THINK...".

I'm ashamed to say that Frist is a Senator from my state - but I can tell you that he stopped "thinking" a long time ago.

Actually, there was a time when he wasn't that bad. But, after Bush promised him to address AIDS in Africa if Frist would just drink the pretty colored water in the glass - well, Frist just went totally insane after that.

[Tsiyu]

13. I learned this lesson about republicans from Newt Gingrich and Limbaugh

You just give them enough rope, they will hang themselves.

They honestly believe they have some Divine Annointing and that no matter what they do, they will never face responsibility or punishment.

They begin to believe their own propaganda.

That's always the beginning of the end for them, it seems.

[Seansky]

14. then the end is already here, the end has started yeeehhhh

[Tsiyu]

16. Let's freakin' hope so

I've had enough of the hell that is the Repuke version of America

[FloridaPat]

15. * got away with it and he;s Frists' boss.

[soothsayer]

19. bingo! cat killer musta' watched Moore's film

[Historic NY]

17. His goose is cooked once the blind trust records are subpoena...

the SEC changed their inquiry to a full investigation. They will have a lots of questions to ask Frist and the managers of his blind trust. The funny thing is he shouldn't even know if he still had stock in the company, since the trust is supposed to divest owned stock. He seemed to know, he still held considerable stock which is against the rules.

[chalky]

18. Lack of conscience and a belief that everyone around them isn't

smart enough to catch them.

Coincidentally, it's the same "logic" that compels a sociopath to escalate from torturing small animals to stalking humans.

[EST]

20. He probably just realized that it had to be done now, so that it

would be old news when he runs for president. I have done enough reading of right wing web sites to realize that their urge to gang up around and protect their own, whether on the idea of "may be a crook but our crook (ala Saddam Hussein)," or "our worst is better than their best" is the driving factor is debatable.
I shudder to think of this as a common human malady, affecting all, no matter the shape of their consciences. These people do not see their struggle as a battle for the leadership within the mafia, but as war between good and evil, with themselves on the side of good. If the right wing has its way, Frist will be considered squeaky clean within six months.

[radwriter0555]

21. What makes you think he won't? He'll be exhonerated by the SEC just like

george was.

Republicans don't *go* to jail.

For reference, see "Ken Lay..."

[Seansky]

25. man, will that piss off lots of others that didn't get away with and those

of us who got screwed by insiders....

[radwriter0555]

28. ken lay ring a bell? or bush? the GOP gets away with what they want to...

after all, they're the GOP.

[i_c_a_White_Ghost]

22. Though you can't lock up these guys

& though they are reprehensible, their own cronyism is dragging them through the mud.

[librechik]

23. silly, it was a blind trust, he didn't know!

yeah, right...

[Seansky]

26. ha, ha, forgot how bling the trust was.

[LynneSin]

24. He's republican - they all think they can get away with it

But they aren't anymore

[BuyingThyme]

27. Any news on the Frist front today?