Separation of What?

Just when I thought that my opinion of the Republican regime in Washington couldn't go any lower, I pick up this tidbit from the October American Prospect:

Cheney regularly attends Senate Republican caucus meetings, sometimes accompanied by Karl Rove. Just in case Cheney and Rove needed help keeping the caucus in line, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, was handpicked by the White House to succeed the ousted Trent Lott.

I knew that Frist was little more than a sockpuppet for the Whitehouse, but this is ridiculous. The Senate is in an entirely different branch of government than the president, and it should have its own prerogatives and agenda; even if both are controlled by the same party. Sad to say, it will take a Democratic victory this fall to restore something as basic as the separation of powers.