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Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Monday and spoke about Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, praising her as both politically adept and easy to get along with.
"Until a few months ago I was the person most disappointed in America that the president did not appoint her to be head of the consumer bureau," he said. "I was right behind you," replied host Mika Brzezinski. "But we're both behind Scott Brown, he's now the most disappointed person," he quipped.
Frank went on to cite a recent UMass poll as evidence that Warren's electoral chances were strong. The poll showed Warren four points ahead of Brown, just within the poll's margin of error.
"Elizabeth is the ultimate outsider, but she's the outsider who has been very effective inside," Frank said. "I worked very much with her. I'll look back on my career, and working with her to create the independent consumer bureau was a highlight for me. And she showed a shrewdness, she was sort of a pragmatic ideologue and that's the best combination."
"She's very likable," Frank continued.
Frank, who recently announced that he would not run for reelection in 2012, went on to say that Warren's charm was something that neither he nor GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney shared.
Warren said in a recent New York Times profile that she was motivated to enter politics when Frank called her to help write the financial regulation bill. "That was the first time that I understood -- and real well -- what it means to be in the room," she said.
Frank said last June that some of the opposition to Warren's nomination was because she is a woman. "Some people almost unconsciously think that for a woman to be in an important position regarding the titans of the financial industry is not appropriate," he claimed.
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