Some of my favorites:
"Gay people have a different role than other minority groups... Very few black kids have ever had to worry about telling their parents that they were black"
"They're (congressional opponents) saying that my ability to marry another man somehow jeopardizes heterosexual marriage. Then they go out and cheat on their wives."
"The problem with the war in Iraq is not so much the intelligence as the stupidity."
"On what planet do you spend most of your time?" (in response to a critic at a healthcare town hall meeting)
I don't actually remember when I met Barney Frank. I just feel as though I have always known him. Always worked with him. As long as I have been trekking to Capitol Hill to seek fairness for the LGBT community, Barney's office was always my first, last and middle stop. We started working together during the AIDS crisis -- before he came out. Even then, he was aggressive, brave and strategic. Working with Ted Kennedy and Henry Waxman to get early money to fight the disease and protect the gay men who were being vilified on the floor of the House and Senate just for being sick.
For the next 25 years, Barney fought for us. When he burst out of the closet door in 1987, the splinters went flying. It was solely a testament to his intelligence, his passion, his commitment to a host of progressive causes and his loyalty to his colleagues and his constituents that he was so warmly embraced. It is hard to remember sometimes but that wasn't an incredibly safe and secure thing to do at the time. Public approval of gay people was pretty low, prejudice was still rampant and his career was on track to be Speaker, Senator, you name it. Nonetheless, he made the leap and he did it successfully.
It was because of Barney that the Americans with Disabilities Act protected people with HIV in the workplace. It is because of Barney that countless amendments taking away civil liberties for LGBT people did not pass the Congress and it is because of Barney, that the progress we have made as a community in the public is beginning to translate into good public policy. Sure there are others, both in and out of the Congress, but none with his intellectual heft, his raw political power and his unique ability to see the big picture.
Over the years, some in the LGBT community resented his all-powerful hold over our political agenda. They mistakenly thought that he was too unwilling to push his friends. I never felt that way. Just the opposite in fact. I felt more secure with him there. It is important to point this over the year's difference of opinion because now we will feel the true test of his absence. Has the groundwork been laid enough for him to leave? Is support for the LGBT community in good hands in Congress? We have a great Minority Leader Pelosi in the House, many friends and three smart and committed openly gay members of the House (one of whom, Tammy Baldwin we hope will be in the Senate next year). And in the Senate, Leader Reid has proven to be loyal and steadfast in his commitment. But Barney is in a class by himself. Time will tell of the impact of his leaving.
As for me, he will always be my dear friend. But I will miss his vote counting, his policy analysis, his creativity and his ability to cut the opposition in half without breaking an intellectual sweat. There won't be another like him.
Follow Hilary Rosen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hilaryr
Freddie and Fannie's books are good
Each and every one of Frank's election campaigns was heavily supported by the financial industry (Open Secrets lists the Securities and Investment, Insurance and Real Estate Industries as his top 3 campaign contributors respectively during his tenure). As a result, Frank played a role in keeping more aggressive reform off the table during the drafting of Dodd-Frank. This ranges from helping to kill to Blanche Lincoln's derivatives provision, to helping to shelve the Franken amendment to reform credit ratings agencies. And despite the fact that problems at Fannie and Freddie, were tangential to the financial crisis, he was late to the game in recognizing them.
In some respects, Frank was great. In others, he was downright forgettable. What we're losing is a House member of limited utility. We're not doing ourselves any favors when we lionize him and make him out to be the hero he never was.
not sure how one progressive liberal in the minority of the congress had the ability to "send the economy into a spin" as you say when it was the GOP led congress that sent spending bill after spending bill to bush and he never vetoed one bill - he never asked whether it was a good idea to pay for these tax cuts for the rich, pay for the wars, pay for the deregulation of wall street, or try to get discounted prices for medicare part D. but you go ahead and wear those rose colored glasses that lead you to believe it wasn't bush. oh did I mention it was bush?
oh if you doubt me - I've followed Frank since 1990.
So much for "right wing malfeasancÂe, ................" etc.
-BF
Lobbiest start sharpening your teeth.
"All Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008"
1. DEM Chris Dodd: $165,400
2. DEM BARACK OBAMA: $126,349 (with LESS than ONE term in the US Senate)
3. DEM John Kerry: $111,000
11. DEM Harry Reid: $11,000
12. DEM Hillary Clinton: $76,050
18. DEM Nancy Pelosi: $56,250
22. DEM Rahm Emmanuel: $51,750
26. DEM BARNEY FRANK: $42,350
Then waaaaaaay down is....
62. GOP John McCain: $21,550
McCain is also the ONLY one from the list here that took NO PAC money.
He has about 1/2 of what Frank got, and WAAAYY less than the paulty three-year senator from Chicago, Obama. Frank took office in 1983, and McCain took office in 1987.
Some from both parties partook high and low on the scale, but these are our leaders in the WH and Congress now that Frank is a part of.
Thank Frank for his part in the crapping of our economy.
Obama is #2. McCain is #62
Frank is #26. McCain is #62.
Do the math on how much more, percentage-wise, did Dem Frank, Obama take, than McCain, accounting for the years in office for each contrasted with McCain. Frank only had a few years more than McCain.
Quite an accomplishment for Frank & Obama.
Did it really do that, or did it just say banks can't turn down otherwise qualified individuals just because they live in minority neighborhoods (a process known as "redlining")?
Also - you need to go back and read up on the crisis - it was not low income individuals who got loans that wrecked the economy - it was the banking and mortgage industries that used shady practices to approve anyone and their pet monkey, sold the "bad assets" repackaged as AAA rated investments, and then subsequently bet against the investments.
Poverty in the US only continues to grow. One in four US children lives in poverty now. And rather than call for an end to free trade Mr Franks champions more free trade deals.
The poor of America need to know that it was men like Mr Franks who had nothing to lose in opposing free trade and yet Mr Franks still sold off their jobs to communist dictators like China.
As the middle class declines we need to remember the men who helped to push them over the cliff. Bush, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, and Franks. They are all in the same class.
This country would be well served if people got back to only purchasing what they can afford instead of mortgaging way, way more than they can ever pay back then expect the government (which is you and I) to bail them out.
Lumping Reagan and Clinton in with Bush, Obama & Franks just ain't right either.