Barney Frank

[Kirkland Laing]

Kirk,
Frank has been a member of the House Financial Services Committee since 1991 (and is currently the chair). The HFSC is one of two government entities responsible for oversight of Fannie Mae. From 1991 to 1998, Barney Frank was in a romantic relationship with Herb Moses, who was an executive at Fannie Mae. I understand the housing industry collapse is bigger than this single issue but wouldn't you say he was in a position to be monitoring the housing loan industry and had a clear conflict of interests?

Yes. But he was in no position to do anything about the deregulation of various parts of the financial system that caused the meltdown, the GOP running the committee during the formation of the bubble. F and F only played a bit part in the meltdown and if they'd never have existed the meltdown would have happened exactly the same. All the vitriol thrown at F and F, Barney Frank, Jimmy Carter etc. since the meltdown happened is because they're the only vague tangential things that can be used to blame the left or the Democrats for the financial collapse. But in reality, when you look at the facts and the evidence, they had nothing to do with it. Frank had a conflict of interest, so what. Every committee member has one, they all get campaign donations from financial firms. It's what they do on that committee when they're running it that counts. Frank wasn't running it till 2007 by which time the bubble was bursting and it was too late to do anything. You can blame him for not doing anything 2002-7 when the problem was forming and nothing was being regulated, but you then also have to blame everybody else on the committee but especially the people who ran it and had the power, the GOP members. Blaming Frank makes as much sense as the loony blaming of Jimmy Carter.

I am probably guilty of singling out Frank b/c I just personally find the man repugnant but dont worry I do blame all of that committe. Our politicians seem to only fix the roof once all the furniture is floating.

The committee people are all just small time anyway. The real action goes on at the Fed, Treasury, White House, with bankers, banking lobbyists and the ex-bankers who generally head the Fed and Treasury. They're the guys who did all the damage.

[RozzySean]

Why are most politicians such chicken shits? oh well the benefits of being from a liberal district, you get to call stupid people stupid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWwyjwmYMEs

I used to live in Barney Frank's district. Mostly I can't stand him and I happy that just outside his heavily gerrymandered district. And though I support universal coverage, I happen to think Obama's plan is poorly thought out and that he's not being honest with the public about what the plan really is. He is once again showing that he's more style than substance who is great at inspiring but poor at leading. That being said, it is an insult everybody who died in the holocaust and fought against the Nazi's to compare Obama to Hitler, even if it's satirical. I don't think she was even being satirical.

You can't have an honest debate about anything if you are going to base it emotionally charged language, draw ridiculous false analogies, and create hysterical exaggerations. I don't blame Frank for saying what he did, but as a US representative, he should have shown more class. That's not about liberal or conservative. He should have pointed out that it was poor question based on a false premise and asked her to rephrase her question civil and adult manner and if she couldn't do that, asked her politely to be quiet.

It's really too bad that universities no longer require a course in LOGIC as a part of their core. Then maybe people could recognize more of the strawman, slippery slope, and red herring arguments that are put out as propaganda. Trust me, this often applies to the crap liberals put out all the time just as much, if not more, than the far-right.

[RozzySean]

Barney Frank is a fat queen.

So what? He's an idiot from the ultimate limousine liberal district. You're first point about him being a big part about what screwed the economy was good. Saying that makes you sound like a bigot. You're too better than that, Lyle.

Instead, why not point out the closest this country has ever come to universal health care was a Nixon plan, supported by Ted Kennedy, that was killed by LIBERAL labor unions who did not want to lose health insurance as a bargaining chip and didn't give a damn about the non-union working class.

If Obama had any stones at all, he's answer back with cold hard facts instead of trying to create a single payer plan in a backdoor, sleazy way (and I promise you, that what will we will have in 10 years if this thing goes through). Only it won't work, because it's not being done right. If that's what you want, go out on the line and say it. The solution to the problem is clear as day, but neither side wants to lead on the issue and everybody is clouding the debate will emotion and foolishness.

[Youngblood]