Barney Frank on 60 Minutes
By Johnny Roosh
I watched Leslie Stahl’s 60 Minutes interview of Barney Frank online and made a couple observations.
First of all, the media’s pronounced bias (or Leslie’s for that matter) manifested itself conspicuously, and it was even before the interview began.
Leslie Stahl’s lead in, emphasis mine:
“Barney Frank has been called the smartest guy in congress, which is lucky for us since he works on some of the thorniest issues around. The fourteen-term, sixty-eight year-old Harvard educated Democratic (she dips her head in approval) Congressman from Massachusetts is chairman of the house financial services committee, which means his portfolio includes banks, housing, and now the auto industry.”
Let’s be clear on one thing. Fourteen terms of Frank ‘n Beans has not been “lucky” for any of us.
Frank has purportedly spent his career becoming Congress’ de facto expert on America’s banking system and Wall Street only to oversee – nay, become complicit in – the biggest failure of both in modern times?
Lucky us!
Leslie Stahl asks Barney Frank about the unfairness of some people getting bailed out of their mortgages while others work two and three jobs to pay theirs. He justifies the program by asking is it unfair that one neighbor loses his job and gets unemployment while the one that doesn’t lose his job doesn’t? He justifies one policy with another as if they are the same thing. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
He’s been at the center of both the 700 billion dollar rescue for financial institutions, and the bailout attempt for the car companies that failed in the Senate.
As they say, the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime.
I learned from the interview that it’s not the only time he’s been at the center, or on the scene of a crime for that matter.
The lowest point of his life he says…when he found himself in a sex scandal. A male hooker that Frank had hired told reporters that he had run a prostitution ring out of the congressman’s apartment. An investigation concluded that Frank didn’t know anything about it but he was reprimanded and went to the floor of the house to apologize.
Never mind the fact that Barney Frank hired a hooker. He has a prostitution ring run right under his nose and escapes culpability on the basis of ignorance. Never mind the fact that he gets to keep his job. He is charged with overseeing our nation’s financial systems.
Only in a Liberal America.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Harvard educated? Just like W!
December 16th, 2008 at 11:57 am
nevermind the fact that the President, through ignorance, led us into war about WMD that didn’t exist.
nevermind the fact that the President, through ignorance, didn’t understand the starkly obvious internecene powder-keg, and conflated Wahabism with Shiaa/Sunni resentments.
nevermind the fact that Frank was four-square on the opposite side of people like Phil Grams for most of the 90’s and 2000’s on banking deregulation.
John, you’ve proved again (for example blaming CRA) that you don’t quite get this issue.
Frank is responsible (in part), for sure, but he WAS the MINORITY leader on this committee during the periods of the worst, most agregious conduct. The interstate banking reforms were passed by Republicans – not liberals – and you need to be honest about that. This revisionist history is not reflecting credit upon you, nor conservatives. Your laissez-faire capitalism failed to police itself, and catastrophe has ensued, and Barney Frank holds some responsibility, but about the same amount as you do. He was complicit in not forstalling changes – to the extent he could have – that allowed the financial markets to slip all the collars, and you are complicit, in that YOU advocated for removing those same collars as a panacea to all ills.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
That’s right! It’s G.W.’s fault!!!
December 16th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
BTW, my reaction to the story was that it was content light. She asked him some rather pointed questions, and frankly (no pun intended) he ducked them.
They DIDN’T go into the genesis of this problem in much detail – they didn’t explore the nonsense from folks like O’Reilly to debunk some of the misinformation, and they didn’t talk about what might be needed to fix things.
It was FAR less than it should have been as a story – given the venue and time available.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Badda, when you start your reading comprehension work, you may want to focus on the commentary about Phil Grams – you seemed to miss that.
That said, W was asleep at the switch, he was the President, of the majority party that held both houses of Congress for 6 years. You can dissemble all you like, but your party owns much of the blame. Further, they held the house from 1994 through 2006, again, this sits with the Republicans. You had the power to pass or vote down bills, especially things on banking reform, for 12 years. This problem started showing up in 2005 in obvious factors, meaning prior to Jan 2007 when the Dems took over the house. Blame Frank, after all, you have to have someone to blame clearly so long as it’s not you.
The irony is that JR’s post is:
“It’s ALL THE DEMS FAULT (Frank’s specifically)” – which you somehow find OK, but object to facts being pointed out that it’s NOT, and then you belly-ache about simple (though frankly explained) realities – and say my coments are simplistic.
*laughing* to quote Flash.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
So, peev, you think a guy who let a queer hooker run a prostitution out his own house and didn’t know what was going on is just the guy to oversee the US banking system. Got it.
*laughing*
December 16th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
For those not familiar with Peev,
His OCD can be tough to believe.
His comments are rife,
With his lack of a life,
It’s enough to make most of us heave.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I’m going to turn on the Peev Emulator.
[Peev]Badda,
Blah, blah-blah, blahblah blah, blah-blah, blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah blah, blah-blahblah.
You’ve got a larger number of fingers point back at you. You are a Rethuglican hate-mongering hate-monger with hateful hate brewing at a level of hate-point-five on the hate-o-meter. You hate gays, hope, change, hopeful change, changeful hope, hopey changitude, and changy hopeitude.
You also speak hateful hate-speech and believe that which is both hateful and wrong, but mostly wrong and anti-hopey.[/Peev]
Stop your hate-itude, Penigma. You look so foolish when you do that… and we all know how you normally look. Don’t make it worse… we implore you.
Embrace the change, the hope, and the anti-fuming/frothing.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Frank deserves a spot in the Homo Hall of Fame……he cornholed America.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Maligna,
Do you have the same reply saved in MS Word and then just cut and paste on every post here?
If you don’t, there’s your tip for the day. I just gave you back a half hour a day that can now be spent posting drivel on your own blog since I see you haven’t seen fit to to do since November the 9th.
…not that anyone’s noticed until now.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Do you have the same reply saved in MS Word and then just cut and paste on every post here?
Doubt that, JR. Most versions of MS Word have spell check.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
[chuckling]
December 16th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Peev’s never been much for spelling
He’s more about Internet yelling.
Correctly-spelled words,
Are just for the birds.
Can Peev be any more repelling?
December 16th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
when you start your reading comprehension work
Speaking of which – did you ever reply to my response to your brainfart about St. Thomas and “Bishop Tuto” yesterday?
I mean, since you’re on the subject of reading comprehension and all…
December 16th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Bishop Tuto
I remember them – they sang that phone number song with Jenny, right?
December 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Wasn’t John Gotti the Capo Di Tuto Capi?
December 16th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
“The interstate banking reforms were passed by Republicans – not liberals – and you need to be honest about that. This revisionist history is not reflecting credit upon you, nor conservatives. Your laissez-faire capitalism failed to police itself, and catastrophe has ensued, and Barney Frank holds some responsibility, but about the same amount as you do.”
Which period of time did we have this laissez-faire capitalism? How did the “rolling the dice” with fred and fanny fit into this period?
December 16th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Peev:
“…you somehow find OK, but object to facts being pointed out that it’s NOT, and then you belly-ache about simple (though frankly explained) realities – and say my coments are simplistic.”
Where did I object something, Peev? Where did I belly-ache, Peev?
I’m still waiting on a number of other “Where did I?” requests… which you will
pretend I didn’t request and foam-on in your semi-adorable and blissfully ignorant way, willfully ignore.December 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
We’re still waiting, Pernicious Penigma.