Thank you, Barney Frank
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - American Debate
Thank you, Barney Frank
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Say what you will about Barney Frank (and, undoubtedly, you will). I'll simply note for the record that the congressman last night delivered a master class for his more timorous colleagues on how best to handle the town hall clowns. It's simple, really: Speak eloquently and slap them silly.
When some rebel without a clue showed up with a sign depicting President Obama in a Hitler mustache and demanded that Frank explain why he supported a "Nazi policy" on health care, his answer went like this:
"I'm going to revert to my ethnic heritage (Jewish), and answer your question with a question. On what planet do you spend most of your time?...As you stand there, with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler, and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis, my answer to you is, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated."
But the ignorant don't always get the message, even when slapped silly. This one still sought an answer to her "Nazi policy" question, so she asked it again. That was when Frank delivered the priceless clincher:
"Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table, I have no interest in doing it."
Message to other congressmen: Really, now. How hard was that?
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Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlZiWK2Iy8&feature=player_embedded— Red Wright-Hand- Comment removed.
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- 3 years ago when the Democrats were in the minority, Nancy Pelosi told a group of anti war protesters " I'm a fan of disrupters. There's nothing more articulate, elequent for a member of Congress than the voice of the constituents".................. Well Well! I guess it all depends on who's ox is being gored.
- Gee Xi, you have to reach back to the French Revolution to make a point? Our own revolution wasn't enough, when Louis XVI helped us to free ourselves from the British King? And I would imagine that Democrats are held more favorable at 49% than your posting would be.— 165Valley
- Comrade Xi back...way too long screenname - With a 49% approval rating during the worst economic crisis since the great depression, the Democrats look like they're in very good shape. What exactly is the current approval rating for the Republicans currently in office? Oh, sorry, I forgot that people like you only state facts that are convenient to your view. By the way, what was Bush's (W or GW, it doesn't really matter) approval rating when he left office?— woogie
- Good one Barney! Doubt it will shut up the clueless idiots however. Fear is a difficult thing to stop once it gets going. The republicans know this all too well. The feed off the fear of their fellow Americans. They know that if you repeat a lie often enough at least part of the population will think it's true.— James TL
- What will Polman do when he's unemployed in 6 months?— Kaiser Sosa
- Dick "forgot" to mention, cough cough that they were Lyndon Larouche supporters and he is a democrat. A Larouche wing nut Democrat with an Obama nazi poster. What is this world coming to? James TL, speaking of misinformed liars, dont post if you are ignorant about the topic.— tr88
- TR88: Shout 'em down! It's your country, and you want it back now!— Talvenada
- Health care is not a right under the Constitution and therefore should not be an institution under the federal government. Originally doctors were trained then went and opened up shop not unlike any other shopkeeper and peddled his wares to those who wished to pay for it and therefore made their living. It has now grown into a huge industry where insurance companies and the FDA have taken root and driven costs where they are today. If you want to make healthcare available and affordable to all then one issue is to institute TORT reform and reign in the insurance companies.— marty5261
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Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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