Frank To Bailout Protesters: "Act Your Age" (VIDEO)

Activists from Code Pink were dealt two severe smackdowns Tuesday from Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, amidst testimony from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

"Will you act your age and stop playing with that sign?" Frank asked the activists, on hand to wave signs requesting bailouts. "We really need people to grow up."

Moments later, Frank interrupted Bernanke to issue a second admonishment, threatening to expel the next activist to wave a sign.

"I understand that there are some people for whom rational discussion is not an appropriate means of expressing themselves. You are entitled to do that in general, but not in a way that interrupts those of us who are trying to have rational discussions," he said. "The next one who holds a sign will be ejected."

He then offered some advice on political tactics to the group. "I do not know how you think you could advance any cause to which you might be attached by this kind of silliness," he said.

WATCH:

Comments

[CAP6]

12:37 PM on 03/25/2009

We are all onboard this ship, The USS America. She in jagges seas, reeling from the shock of a tsunami that walloped her from astern in the quiet of night, thieving the wind from her sails and detaching fellow voyagers from their chattels. The good ship is taking on water and beginning to flounder. The alarm bells are calling all of us to our posts. We must operate the pumps, man the oars, and secure the helm. We must be cohesive, resolute and unyielding in our efforts to ensure the America safely emerges from her current struggles to subsist. Otherwise, this ship will perish beneath the waves of history while we witness her piteous cries of anguish, taking with her the dreams and aspirations of generations past, and generations yet to come. The America has a commitment to the world to continue sailing through history, shining the light of liberty and self-determination from her lofty masts on the tempestuous of nights, when all else seems forlorn. She will carry on, serviced by a crew dedicated to shielding her from impairment and her decks teeming with generations of admiring explorers that value the shelter she affords, and with hearts that embrace the knowledge; she is the greatest ship to have ever plowed the seas of history.

[LaFajita]

11:06 AM on 03/25/2009

I find it amusing that some law'n order fetishists get down on Code Pink while giving a pass to the incompetent crooks who have laid this country low. These fetishists need to realize what's been done to them in the name of "dignity" and "legality".

There is no "dignity" to disrupt in these hearings. The chamber itself is a cesspool of corruption.

When Gramm-Leach-Bliley(1999), and Financial Services Reform Act was passed(2001), there were no Code Pink protesters present. They didn't exist back then. They could have at least borne witness to the looting and pillaging that was enabled by our so-called "representatives.

[CAP6]

11:54 AM on 03/25/2009

Outstanding LaFajita, simply outstanding. Thank you for providing me an opportunity to add some additional comments to your post. See below.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The banksters & big Financial companies - led by GOLDMAN SACHS - "donate" $5 BILLION over past 10 years to BUY CONGRESS, BOTH parties, to BUY political influence.
http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/soldoutreport.htm

They succeed (at BUYING Congress) so spectacularly, that when the Big Financials, (having PUSHED for DEREGULATION over past two decades, and then used that Deregulation to run themselves into the ground!) GO BANKRUPT, they promptly run to Congress (with their collective Front-Man, former GoldmanSachs front-man (Chairman) HANK PAULSON), to tell Congress -
"YOU'D BETTER GIVE US $700 BILLION DOLLARS, or we are GOING TO BLOW OUR HEADS OFF, and take the US economy down with us" !!!!

Here's the TWO BIG DEREGULATION ATROCITIES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act
.... that were PUSHED by CLINTON's TreasurySecretary ROBERT RUBINS, and BUSH's TREASURY SECRETARY HANK PAULSON - BOTH of GOLDMAN-SACHS !!

Paulson was Goldman-Sachs CHAIRMAN, at the time Rubins, GS FORMER Chairman, was PUSHING CLINTON TO SIGN uber-Right-Wing Republican PHIL GRAMM's DEREGULATION MONSTOSITIES !!!

THIS is NOT Rocket Science - GOLDMAN SACHS OWNS BOTH PARTIES !!
And when they WENT BANKRUPT, their "investment" in Congress paid off - Congress HANDING THEM BILLIONS of Taxpayer dollars, NO STRINGS ATTACHED, NO OVERSIGHT ALLOWED !!

[AZ4thatone]

12:15 PM on 03/25/2009

Kudos to LaFajita & Cap6! This should be run in every major paper around the country. I have never seen a better explanation for our current state of economy than this, put in such perfect layman terms that anyone should be able to understand it. Both major political parties are to blame for this mess and yes, Goldman Sachs holds the purse strings!

[exdittos]

03:17 AM on 03/25/2009

How can he claim a "rational conversation" regarding the largest and most irrational wealth transfer in the history of civilization?
Listen to Wanda Sykes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXznKV7rw7k

[lizr]

10:02 AM on 03/25/2009

great vid, thanks, I posted on FB

[lizr]

10:19 AM on 03/25/2009

Welfare for the wealthy! we want receipts!

[CAP6]

12:42 AM on 03/25/2009

ATTENTION PARTISANS!
All of our current problems were conceived on Capitol Hill and born on Wall Street and in our financial institutions. Greed, Duplicity, and Corruption are the siblings that used our pocketbooks as playpens while their parents on Capitol Hill looked on and smiled, proud of their offspring. encouraging then to be more aggressive.

Congress and the MSM want you to be divided and partisan and to focus on a series of sensational tactical issues. They will give you the AIG bonuses, the Wells Fargo Vegas trip, or the infamous corporate jets form the Big Three as outrageous violations of the public trust and prod you to fight with these companies while they hide behind the smokescreen to take another $1 TRILLION dollars form our pockets.

Our fight is not tactical at all, but rather a strategic fight with the win or lose battle occurring on Capitol Hill. This is where the future of our country is being decided, this is where the near destruction of our country began. Stay focused on Capitol Hill Main Street, unite and cast aside your partianship and divisivness for the good of your families and this country. Your partianship is Main Street's weakness and Capitol Hill's strength. We must fight this fight and we must win it, losing is not an option. To lose this fight means the USS America will slip beneath the waves of history, taking with her the dreams and aspirations of generations past, and generations yet to come.

[coultersnemesis]

12:40 AM on 03/25/2009

Code Pink "tactics" are all simply to get MEDIA attention, which, surprise, it works and I'm reading about this one here. Look people, I'm a "moderate" Dem but all this Code pink bashing (an ally of the PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT) from "moderate dems" is getting tiresome. The are a progressive ally and I have to commend these women (and some men) for getting out there and DOING THINGS - PROTESTING, yes, in flamboyant ways, but the point is to raise awareness and draw attention. AIG bonuses were wrong--there will be many more issues coming up. FRANK and all those other Dem sellouts on the Hill would not have done anything to fix the problem without popular unrest.

[BrocolliObumble]

12:22 AM on 03/25/2009

Careful where you point that thing, Barney.

[BrocolliObumble]

12:27 AM on 03/25/2009

Woo-hoo I spelled "broccoli" wrong!

[Brokenduck]

10:59 PM on 03/24/2009

I think I know what College Republicans like to do between classes. They go to the Huffington Post and search "Barney Frank".

Get a life, trolls!

[liz09]

10:25 PM on 03/24/2009

i used to support code pink way back when...but i have grown sick and tired of their ridiculously unproductive "tactics". is this what they do with all the money donated to them? fly medea benjamin and her pals all over the country so they can get themselves on camera and, in essence, get absolutely nothing done?

[JZ735]

02:15 AM on 03/25/2009

They are not there to suit your pedestrian and partisan a-- kissing of losers like Barney or Obama.

[lizr]

10:20 AM on 03/25/2009

Interesting perspective.

Do you support democracy? the right to dissent?

Or is it all just too embarrassing for you?

[I once had a Crysknife]

09:48 PM on 03/24/2009

it's funny to see the Democrats turning on themselves for a change. This site is full of code pink types and Barney doesn't want to hear your moufs.

[zola77]

11:03 PM on 03/24/2009

code pink types are not democrats. They are further on the left of democrats. Democrats arent left, they are mainly centre-left. The "LEFT" is not a homogenous mass like the "RIGHT" likes to think...get a clue.

[coultersnemesis]

12:44 AM on 03/25/2009

you are wrong, both the Dems and Repubs DO consist of different factions, the 'far left' is part of the DEMOCRATIC COALITION and they would call dems like you by the appropriate term: blue dog. Arguably, you're not the 'real' dem..just a disaffected repub.

[JZ735]

02:16 AM on 03/25/2009

Thank GOD that Code Pink aren't Democrats...the idiots who shill for Obama here certainly have to be...mainstream bores with nothing but a-- licking for Obama or Barney on their minds...

[iSeeDumbPeople]

09:23 PM on 03/24/2009

Does this slovenly pig with his speech impediment and incessant inappropriate jokes -- better fit to manage a McDonalds than a national hearing -- actually have room to speak?

[boboyaya]

09:57 PM on 03/24/2009

do you?

[Georgiapundit]

09:59 PM on 03/24/2009

He got all prissy with it, too.

[Roguewolf]

09:09 PM on 03/24/2009

Their leader calling them immature, that is a good one.

[JZ735]

02:18 AM on 03/25/2009

I agree...Barney hasn't exactly been a champion of maturity over the years.

[kevenseven]

09:03 PM on 03/24/2009

Mikeeee writes:

Excuse me, read your constitution and "understand" it. "You" have every "right" to disrupt Congress. People have got to get over the idea that these people are anything except "your" employees. Thye give themselves unearned fancy titles to place themselves above you and they haven't earned it.

Posted 08:51 PM on 03/24/2009
------------------------------------------------------

Well, in fact, I have read the Constitution, a few times.

The fact is that if you were to "disrupt" Congress, you would be arrested. And when brought before a judge, you would be fined.

By definition, nothing that you do is a right if it results in your arrest and being fined.

Are you suffering from some idea that I disapprove of civil disobedience? Because I don't.

If you think people have a "right" to display signs in the chambers of Congress, then I suggest you get the ACLU on the phone and see if they will take it to the Supreme Court.

I tell you, they won't take the case.

[JZ735]

02:19 AM on 03/25/2009

How is a sign disruptive?
Only in the warped mind of a tool like you or Barney would it be.

[WeTellTheTruth]

08:32 PM on 03/24/2009

This is why code pink is protesting.................


"But now, the White House has announced their bank bailout plan, and if there's one thing that's clear, it's that all of the people who caused the economy to crater in the first place will not be held in any way accountable, and will in fact receive a sweetheart, no-risk stake in the farcically-named "public-private partnership" that will buy up toxic assets and give the taxpayers a haircut if they end up being as toxic as the name suggests".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/24/cnbc-anchors-change-tune_n_178601.html

[kevenseven]

08:43 PM on 03/24/2009

Yes. All very complex and troubling.

However. No citizen has the "right" to disrupt Congress.

Which is a completely different question as to whether one SHOULD disrupt Congress.

Notice that this was not important enough to Code Pink to defy Frank and get themselves arrested.

The threat of arrest did not cow Dr. King.

Could it be that this is not such a dangerous threat to the nation that Code Pink did not want to take the consequences of their protests?

[Mikeeee]

08:51 PM on 03/24/2009

Excuse me, read your constitution and "understand" it. "You" have every "right" to disrupt Congress. People have got to get over the idea that these people are anything except "your" employees. Thye give themselves unearned fancy titles to place themselves above you and they haven't earned it.

[coultersnemesis]

12:51 AM on 03/25/2009

by "disrupt" you mean holding up sign? Fine. sure, whatever. As long as the "people's reps" get the message from the people....code pink was regularly thrown out of hearings by the bush admin (i remember seeing them thrown out when Rice was testifying) Point is, someone needs to burst Congress' bubble.

[Elephantinroom]

11:24 PM on 03/24/2009

WeTellTheTruth-
I don't know if you disagree with the plan, but I do.
The public won't even be allowed to purchase the "toxic", now called "legacy", mortgages directly.
They have to purchase them through 5 mediators that Geithner will hand pick.
It all appears very inter-related to me.
TALF
Some banks are even saying they want to hold onto the mortgages until the prices rebound. Housing starts were up 5% last month.
I don't understand why the banks don't just sit on them. The Pres. said it will take longer
for the economy to recover, if the banks just sit on their "toxic" or "legacy" loans. But if
they did, it would put the taxpayer at much less risk.

[kevenseven]

08:31 PM on 03/24/2009

Both in response to me,

WeTellTheTruth writes:

Classic Republican response.

Posted 07:58 PM on 03/24/2009

BarneySpank writes:

Typical uptight lefty.

Posted 07:56 PM on 03/24/2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Can anyone spot the dissonance?

[powerlift2201]

08:23 PM on 03/24/2009

We should really be asking ourselves, "Why was Code Pink protesting the way they were?" I think frustration boils over and they felt this was the only way to be heard. Too many Americans feel like we are sitting on the sidelines with our ATM cards out while our elected officials have taken and taken and now expect us to keep sitting on the sidelines as they fix the problem. I was never a big fan of protesting but sometimes it seems like the only way to get a message across. After the last 8 years I have realized that we must watch our politicians - whether we like what they are doing or not - like hawks. Some laws get passed, repealed or gutted - the Leadbedder Act - without much notice. The next thing we know we're being told it's going to take trillions of tax dollars to fix a few "too big to fail" fincancial institutions. Barney Frank really should have been telling AIG et al. to act their age all this time.

[Gould123]

08:52 PM on 03/24/2009

Dang, isn't it time people you all grow up and join in a growen up conversation? You really think that milions of indivituals can (ALL) have their way?

[kevenseven]

09:21 PM on 03/24/2009

Every day is Christmas.

[Deaninphilly]

10:37 PM on 03/24/2009

I can tell you why, because they are a band of idio ts. Did you see the special about them on tv, they're n ut s.

[JZ735]

02:23 AM on 03/25/2009

SO? That's YOUR perception...just because you may disagree with their methods of protest doesn't mean they have no right to show up and hold signs...