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?
smike said: "Barney's hand in the financial meltdown is well documented. You are C." *** You really CAN'T read, can you? From yobill's post: "because he has such a solid understanding of Finance, that is one of the things that makes him complicit." Do you know what the word "complicit" means? Because it has nothing to do with "defending the indefensible."— sully64- I'm not defending Barney. I'm telling you that he's just one guy in the House. Yes, he runs a strong committee, but the economic ignorance of many of the remaining Congressmen as well as the (well documneted) Bush-Cheney philosophy of "no rules" when it comes to the Market is also to blame.— yobill626
- Yobil626- Obama is self destructing in front of our very own eyes. Much easier to campaign than to actually be President. He and his regime and the congressional democrats played the American voter as fools. Page 425 thru 430 of the house version of the healthcare bill is about as clear as mud. Average people just don't feel like putting the stamp of trust on something that is really subject to interpretation. Obama wants to site there and tell people this won't be a single payer system? At this point I have to wonder if Obama even knows he has made contradictory statements on the matter or if he just so enamored with himself he didn't think anyone would call him on that. The fear from a large portion of the electorate is that a government bureaucrat will make our healthcare decisions based on wether we are like minded individuals. At that point we no longer have a Democracy. You want to call these people names and hurl your venom towards these people who protest at Town Hall Meetings then go ahead. It's doing wonders the approval ratings of the Obama regime. Democrats didn't want to have an honest debate on healthcare. They wanted to ramrod the bill through like they did with the Stimulus Package except this time you couldn't get away with it.
- I've already admitted more than once that I thought Obama has done a poor job with this bill. There is a lot of things to be concerned about regarding this bill, but if you think a lot of what you see at these Town Hall Meetings are simply individuals rising up seperately to speak their minds, you are sadly mistaken.— yobill626
- One last crack: What's up with these NRA backed groups enticing kooks bringing registered, loaded firearms to these Health Care Town Halls? These folks are whack jobs, pure & simple. I could understand it (but not agree) if the Town Hall Meetings were about restricting the 2nd Amendment, but Health Care? Nitwits...— yobill626
- Obama is no angel, however he is 300 times better than Bush. The reason our country is in the economic situation it is today is Bush and his republican cohorts selling the American working people down the river in the name of big business, namely oil and the banking industry to the rest of the world.— cook924
- the lisp is sexy.— 17MileDrive
- YO BILL: A gay Jewish male is a Nazi sympathizer? He had the audacity to confront a normal concerned citizen, how insensitive can The Dems be?— Talvenada
- While Barney's comments give the left some red meat to chew on, it shows an absence of class and profesionalism which is becomming more common among the democratic party. All that Barney did was act like the mob that he says he is not. There was no substance in anything he said. He simply fell to the gutter.— CD75
- Finally, someone played a little smack down. These nuts have only hardened my opinion that we need universal health care so that these people have access to free mental health services. Not every "opinion" is worthy of expression.— samsjr
- The fact that Dick and other liberals are celebrating Barney's scolding of a private citizen is the most telling of all. It is amazing how far the democratic party has fallen in just a few months. The gas tank is empty, but Obama still has 3 1/2 years to go.— CD75
- Those that think that Barney "won" that interchange with a private citizen cannot see the forest for the trees, and show that the demoncrats are destined to continue to cause their own slow decline.— CD75
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- I've been a huge fan of Barney Frank since I've been of voting age. I admire his liberal dedication and his willingness not to be dragged down to the idiocy of the right wing. I enjoyed reading about how he handled this fool. Now if only every citizen could tell every riht-wing blow hard the same thing. They're like spoiled children. All they want is attention and they don't care what they have to do to get it.— HandNik
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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