Barney Frank

DC Auto Bailout Ideas Involve US Equity Stakes, Turn into an Early Christmas Tree
By Tom Blumer | November 13, 2008 | 12:35 PM EST

Can I have permission to utter the S-word ("socialism")?

Ken Thomas's Associated Press report today (link is dynamic, subject to change, and will probably be gone in a week) on auto industry bailout ideas emanating from Washington includes these items, all of which expand soc- ... soc- ... socialism:

  • Legislation proposed by Barney Frank involves the government taking ownership stakes in the companies.
  • Lawmakers want to use funds that were meant only for the financial sector bailout.
  • A note that the current bailout is over and above the $25 billion in government-guaranteed loans that has already been approved for "development of fuel-efficient vehicles."
  • News that auto industry suppliers want in on the bailout action
  • The United Auto Workers wants a separate $25 billion "to help cover future health care obligations for retirees and their dependents."

Are we having fun yet?

Here are key paragraphs from the AP story:

Joy Behar to Bill O'Reilly: 'Stop Name Calling!'
By Justin McCarthy | October 22, 2008 | 4:20 PM EDT

Just a few minutes after labeling Rush Limbaugh a "terrorist," Joy Behar scolded Bill O’Reilly for calling Obama a "communist." O’Reilly appeared on the October 22 edition of "The View" to promote his new book, but the segment began about the upcoming presidential election. When the Fox News host jokingly called Barack Obama a communist, Joy Behar preached "let’s stop name calling today" and "you know what a red flag that raises."

Throughout Bill O’Reilly’s two segments, Behar, "The View’s" most reliable leftist, sparred with O’Reilly. Behar said Keith Olbermann, whom O’Reilly never mentions by name, "hates" him. Bill simply brushed it off joking "they’re all jealous." Bill O’Reilly, accused Behar of drinking Obama’s "Kool-Aid." Behar retorted "you drank the Kool-Aid on George Bush for eight years." O’Reilly flatly denied it.

Barney Frank: 'The Fundamentals Are Better Than the Psychology'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 20, 2008 | 8:25 PM EDT

Shades of McCain from an unlikely corner . . .

When at the beginning of the current financial mess John McCain declared that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong," he was roundly lambasted by the MSM, while the Obama campaign called his statement "an enormous mistake."

So, should we expect the liberal media and the Obama campaign to go after Barney Frank . . . now that he has said something remarkably similar? Discussing the markets with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC this afternoon, Frank declared: "I think it's clear that the fundamentals are better than the psychology."

View video here.

MRC's Seton Motley on Fox News's American Election HQ
By NB Staff | October 6, 2008 | 5:29 PM EDT

The Media Research Center's Director of Communications and NewsBusters.org Contributing Editor Seton Motley appeared on Friday after

'SNL' Skit Blames Democrats For Financial Crisis
By Noel Sheppard | October 5, 2008 | 12:03 PM EDT

NBC's "Saturday Night Live" last evening amazingly blamed Democrats for the current financial crisis, and accurately informed viewers that the Bush administration warned about the looming calamity many years ago.

This came roughly 24 hours after actor Alec Baldwin made the same claim on HBO's "Real Time."

In addition, much like a report Matthew Sheffield and I did for the Capital Research Center last month, "SNL" exposed the money behind far-leftwing causes and entities in a stunningly accurate fashion, including chiding hyper-partisan billionaire George Soros as being the owner of the Democratic Party.

Here are some of the highlights (video embedded right):

Baldwin Blames Financial Crisis on Clinton, Dems and Barney Frank
By Noel Sheppard | October 4, 2008 | 11:47 AM EDT

If a Bush-bashing, Republican-hating nincompoop like Alec Baldwin understands that Democrats are responsible for the current financial crisis, and is willing to say so on national television, why can't America's so-called "real" journalists?

Although it seems unlikely that Baldwin watches "The Factor," it is awfully coincidental that roughly 24 hours after Fox News's Bill O'Reilly tore Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) apart for his role in propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the typically inept Baldwin, appearing on HBO's "Real Time," not only pointed fingers at Frank for the current crisis, but also blamed former President Clinton and fellow Democrats.

Maybe more delicious, this came moments after comedian Garry Shandling blamed it all on -- wait for it -- George W. Bush (video embedded right, h/t American Thinker's Marc Sheppard):

O'Reilly Tears Barney Frank Apart Over Fannie and Freddie
By Noel Sheppard | October 3, 2008 | 11:02 AM EDT

Finally, someone in the media accurately accused and challenged a member of Congress over his involvement and complicity in the current financial crisis.

As press member after press member has allowed Democrats to shamefully and erroneously blame the current crisis on George W. Bush, virtually nobody other than folks at Fox News has been willing to examine the role elected officials on the left side of the aisle have been playing for more than a decade in blocking tighter regulation on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

That changed Thursday when Fox's Bill O'Reilly absolutely tore Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) apart concerning his involvement in the current fiasco (video embedded right):

CNN's Dobbs Highlights Wall Street's Political Contributions
By Mike Bates | September 27, 2008 | 12:36 PM EDT
As one who's been critical of CNN's Lou Dobbs a time or two, I was glad to see him and correspondents Louise Schiavone and Kitty Pilgrim perform a valuable public service on Friday's edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight.  They detailed political contributions made by finance, ins
CNN's Dobbs Plays Softball With Barney Frank
By Mike Bates | September 25, 2008 | 4:56 PM EDT
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank appeared as a guest on the September 24 "Lou Dobbs Tonight". Just minutes before interviewing the Massachusetts Democrat, Dobbs featured a report from CNN correspondent Louise Schiavone on political contributions made by mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Schiavone stated Frank has received more than $42,000.
Schieffer: Paulson Pleaded for McCain to Save Bailout
By Mark Finkelstein | September 25, 2008 | 7:53 AM EDT

So much for a "stunt."

John McCain got involved in the bailout negotiations after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Sen. Lindsey Graham yesterday that the bailout plan would fail unless McCain came in and brought balky Republicans aboard.  That's what Bob Schieffer reported on this morning's Early Show.  Schieffer's account stands in stark contrast with the allegation by Dems like Barney Frank and their MSM cohorts that McCain's moves of yesterday were nothing more than a political "stunt."

Here was Schieffer speaking with the Early Show's Maggie Rodriguez at 7:05 AM EDT today:

BOB SCHIEFFER: I am told, Maggie, that the way McCain got involved in this in the first place, the Treasury Secretary was briefing Republicans in the House yesterday, the Republican conference, asked how many were ready to support the bailout plan. Only four of them held up their hands.  Paulson then called, according to my sources, Senator Lindsey Graham, who is very close to John McCain, and told him: you've got to get the people in the McCain campaign, you've got to convince John McCain to give these Republicans some political cover. If you don't do that, this whole bailout plan is going to fail. So that's how, McCain, apparently, became involved.

Continued Schieffer . . . 

NY Times Hails Barney Frank, Witty Bridge-Builder
By Tim Graham | May 14, 2008 | 6:32 AM EDT

The political correctness of the New York Times oozed between the lines of a front-page article Tuesday on Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a "master of the one-liner, a self-described ‘left-handed gay Jew.’" The headline was "A Liberal Wit Builds Bridges To the G.O.P.," and reporter David M. Herszenhorn celebrated the "trademark wit" that compared conservatives’ lack of enthusiasm for government intervention to his lack of enthusiasm for the Miss America pageant.

CNN’s Costello Focuses on GOP Scandals, Mentions Democrats in Passing
By Matthew Balan | March 11, 2008 | 11:07 AM EDT

NewsBusters.org - Media Research CenterCNN correspondent Carol Costello, in a report on Monday’s "The Situation Room," tried to put the Eliot Spitzer scandal into a better light by focusing entirely on past Republican scandals, and only mentioned two examples of Democrats caught in scandal -- Bill Clinton and Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank -- in passing.

Other than Idaho Senator Larry Craig, Costello brought up Republicans who had been accused of misbehavior by pornographer Larry Flynt. She only mentioned Spitzer at the very beginning of her report, and then immediately went to her first example, Louisiana Senator David Vitter. "Maybe Larry Flynt would say of Eliot Spitzer, there will soon be one less known hypocrite in government. That's how he described Louisiana Senator David Vitter. Flynt accused him of having been a client of the alleged D.C. madam, Deborah Palfrey, after the senator's number was discovered in her phone records."

Costello then turned back the clock ten years, and instead of focusing on Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky affair, she brought up the Republicans that had been caught by Flynt.