“It’s interesting, the charge is failure to stop Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay from deregulating. This notion we caused the problem that started while they were in charge even by Gingrich’s standards is very odd. I wish I knew that he was willing to listen to my advice, I would have given him some: I would have told him not to impeach Clinton, I would have told his successors not to go to war with Iraq, and I would have told DeLay not to go on the dance show.”
– Legislative superqueero Barney Frank reacting to Newt Gingrich’s statement at last night’s GOP debate—Gingrich said that Frank and Chris Dodd should go to jail for the nation’s economic downturn. Gingrich is against marriage equality even though he’s been married three times. He also once named a porn executive as “Entrepreneur of the Year” (NSFW).
the crustybastard
FTFH: “Gingrich Wants to Barney Frank for the Bad Economy.”
Hm. What does “Barney Frank” mean when used as a verb?
To sit on one’s thumbs and bitch about activism?
GayGOP
I must agree with Gingrich’s assessment that Frank and Dodd are complicit in this economic downturn, though certainly not as much as Gingrich claims.
The GOP is, rightly, not without blame. They deregulated way too far.
On the other hand, when it was clear that Fanny and Freddie were living on borrowed time in 2004, Frank and Dodd screamed a blue streak about how the Republicans (who noticed that those two were on the rocks, and were, correctly, certain that the housing bubble’s collapse would cause Fannie and Freddie to basically go under) wanted to do this to hurt the poor and help the rich.
Little Kiwi
uh, the republicans DO want to hurt the poor to help the rich.
duh.
Jim Hlavac
@Little Kiwi: Sir, the Republicans, for the most part, wnat to make the poor rich, through lower taxes, less regulations, and jobs. Meanwhile, The Democrats are chock full of Rich folks like Nancy Pelosi ($25 Million,) John Kerry ($300 million,) the Kennedys (1/2 billion in a tax-free trust,) and all the millionaires and billionaires that Obama meets weekly to raised funds for his campaign — really one could go on. The idea that the Republicans are the party of the rich is rather old, and odd, no? Were all 50 million who voted for McCain really just rich folks? my my, that’s a lot of rich folks. And are all rich folks out to screw the poor, or just the Republican rich, and not the Democratic rich who hold on to their money just as tightly?
Cam
@Jim Hlavac: said…
“@Little Kiwi: Sir, the Republicans, for the most part, wnat to make the poor rich, through lower taxes, less regulations, and jobs.”
______________________________________
That is actually a lie, Taxes boosted on the Middle Class all the while fighting ANY attempt at an alternative minimum tax for the multi millionaires.
Less regulations doesn’t help the poor, it helps the companies do what they want, fire employees any time they want, pollute where the people living there can’t stop them, and off-shoring millions of U.S. jobs while still using tax loopholes to get credits and write offs for the salaries they pay their foreign workers for doing the jobs their former U.S. employees used to
As for Frank. Look Gingrich is a fool, even if Frank and Dodd make some mistakes, the fact that the GOP held Congress for a decade and only lost it less than 24 months before the economy tanked, WHILE they were still holding the White House proves that what happened had to have been in large part due to their governing.
...
Stop seeing what you want to see and look clearly at reality.
You’ll realize that what Gingrich says about Frank is indisputably true.
The fact that the latter is your gay hero (there’s no accounting for taste) doesn’t change reality.
Cam
@…:
ACtually I despise Frank. However, when the GOP controlled Congress for a decade and the White House for 8 years, and only lost the Congress a few months before the collapse of the economy, AND still maintained the White house, you can’t claim that they were not responsible.
It is idiotic.
B
It’s a good thing for Gingrich that he didn’t say that directly to Barney.
I once saw a video of Barney in a constituent’s meeting where some airhead
was ranting about something dear to the lunatic fringe of the right wing,
and Barney told her that, following his ethnic heritage, he’d like to answer
her question with a question: “What planet do you spend most of your time on?”