The best thing to ever happen to gay rights in the country is Bill Frist’s decision to introduce a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Everyone knows this is a lame attempt to pander to the evangelical voters he needs to win the Republican presidential primary. And that’s the point. Everyone knows this, even evangelicals.

Consider the record Frist has piled up as Senate Majority Leader.

His solution for higher gas prices–a $100 tax rebate–was so pathetic that even Rush Limbaugh asked if the Senator thought Americans were a bunch of whores. Frist was intent on using the nuclear option to stop Democratic filibustering of conservative judges but was undercut by seven members of his own caucus who joined seven Democrats to avoid mutually assured destruction.

When it comes to flip-flopping, Bill Frist makes John Kerry look like a monomaniacal ideologue. First Dr. Frist was against stem research before he was for them. First he was against the Dubai Ports deal before the White House pulled on his leash and explained the price of his promotion to majority leader and then he was for it.

And then there were the simply bizarre moments when the Harvard trained doctor sounded like Pat Robertson. He wasn’t sure if kissing causes AIDS but he was quite sure that the video of Terri Schiavo proved that she was not in a permanent vegetative state.

With enemies like Bill Frist, the gay marriage debate should look forward to gaining more and more friends.