Frist offense

Politics | Senate majority leader torments pro-lifers, tickles advocates for embryonic research with a stem-cell reversal, and tempts the president to his first-ever veto | John Dawson, Lynde Langdon

For the past several months, Majority Leader Bill Frist had the job of overseeing in the U.S. Senate six proposals to escalate embryonic stem-cell research. In the Bush administration's eyes, Mr. Frist's job was simple: Stop all six and spare the president from having to veto a bill for the first time in his four-and-a-half years in office.

Mr. Frist took the podium well before 9 a.m. on a drowsy Friday—a day regarded by many as a congressional travel day—to announce before a sparse Senate audience that he had changed his mind on embryonic stem-cell research. After supporting Mr. Bush's nuanced research approach for four years, the former transplant surgeon announced July 29 that he would now support more aggressive study of embryos.