Barney Frank Retires

[BiBottomBoy]

Rep. Barney Frank is retiring.

The GOP must be dancing in the fucking street and it's a real loss for us.

[TampaYankee]

Rep. Barney Frank is retiring.

The GOP must be dancing in the fucking street and it's a real loss for us.

Will miss him. He is unique, not to mention smart and well informed. I love his wry sense of humor and irreverence.

[BiBottomBoy]

I like that he was right on most issues.

[TampaYankee]

I like that he was right on most issues.

True, but he helped fuck up the Financial Reform Act. True he had lots of help in that starting with Summers, Geitner, Dodd, and Obama... and some conservadems. Still, I wish he had hung tougher on that one.

[BiBottomBoy]

He's still better than whoever will replace him.

Unless RuPaul runs.... because that would just be fun.

[Guest CharliePS]

The one time I met Barney socially, I discovered that his in-your-face irreverent persona was not just a creation for the media. He was far from perfect, but we could use more politicians like him.

[Guest EXPAT]

I agree. He will be missed. In his interviews over the last few days I think it is obvious that he has gotten bitter regarding the events of the day. It takes a big man to know when to step aside.

[BiBottomBoy]

Let's just hope some right wing nut doesn't replace him.

[KYTOP]

Will miss him. He is unique, not to mention smart and well informed. I love his wry sense of humor and irreverence.

He was unique and funny and had some good positions. But he was in up to his neck with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bears a good deal of responsibility for the real estate mortgage collapse that is the foundation of our current econonmic mess. He constantly opposed and openly blocked legislation in committee that would have reigned in Freedie and Fannie for years and pushed for them to have no oversight and a free hand for bad loan guarantees until it was too late. Why say he was such a great Congressman just because he is Gay? I think he should have quit when Fannie and Freddie had to be bailed out and both probably will have to be bailed out even more in the near future.

[Lucky]

He was unique and funny and had some good positions. But he was in up to his neck with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bears a good deal of responsibility for the real estate mortgage collapse that is the foundation of our current econonmic mess. He constantly opposed and openly blocked legislation in committee that would have reigned in Freedie and Fannie for years and pushed for them to have no oversight and a free hand for bad loan guarantees until it was too late. Why say he was such a great Congressman just because he is Gay? I think he should have quit when Fannie and Freddie had to be bailed out and both probably will have to be bailed out even more in the near future.

KYTOP, what were the good positions that you had in mind?

[KYTOP]

KYTOP, what were the good positions that you had in mind?

He was one of the first to oppose DADT and advocate for it's repeal. He has consistantly opposed the Patriot Act and it's reauthorization due to individual privacy concerns. He has been a strong supporter of stem cell research. He has supported the authorization of tarriffs against countries that purposely deflate their currency, like China does, and he actually opposed NAFTA against the wishes of Pres Clinton.

[RA1]

KYTOP, what you say about BF makes me re-evalutate my opinion about him. Previously, I was only looking at the negative side which you also mention. However, that is not all there is to him, is it?

Thanks very much for answering Lucky's question and for educating me further.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

Agree essentially with everything here. (Easy position to defend, no? )

No, Barney didn't get everything right, as TY and KY note. But then we have hindsight, while he (as also Paulson, Geithner, Bernanke) found themselves whirled in the blender and had to navigate as they could in the moment. As one NPR commentator said during the meltdown, Paulson regardless of his or Bush's philosophy had to join the "church of what works now."

Anyway, yes, my couple of random, brief, encounters showed Frank to be same man in person as on the public stage. Refreshing.

And that he was both scary-smart (Paulson's words for him, in fact -- Paulson's high regard for BF in HP's memoir was striking) and, I think, always honest, puts him among only a dozen or two Congressmen today.

P.S. If you haven't seen it, Google up his interview with O'Reilly a couple of years ago. Hilarious, and deliciously/appropriately insulting, in giving as befits how he got.

[MsGuy]

Bill O'Reilly vs Barney Frank

Round One:

Round Two:

PS Welcome back, Sir!