Barney "I Like Fannie" Frank Defies Obama; Goes His Own Way
I think most politicians would now agree that blindly following Bush over the last 8 years was tantamount to political suicide. Losing a significant number of seats in both the House and Senate will be just one of many enduring legacies stemming from the deplorable McCheneyBurton BushCo presidency. The Republicans made their bed and must now accept the consequences of toeing the hardcore neocon/religious right line the overwhelming majority of the time. As a rule, Republicans have generally been loyal to a fault and don't appear to be relenting. I do suspect, however, that this latest election blowout will instill some sense of moderation among party hardliners.
But when it comes to showing disunity, no party does it better than the Democrats. President Obailout hasn't so much as taken a dump in the presidential commode and already Senate Dems are taking shots at him.
Sure, the griping Democrats are having visions of President Bill Clinton's early deficit reduction plan which -- while a success -- made lots of them feel like Republicans. And they don't want to repeat the Republican rubber-stamp mind-set of blindly following a president for the last eight years -- into an unpopular war, an economic crisis, and finally, over the cliff.
What else could possibly have prompted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make the point that, "I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him."
OUCH! I don't think it's any secret that Reid is a miserable, egomaniacal prick, and to say that he probably resents Obama for succeeding where he had no chance whatsoever (despite being a privileged white male), would probably not be an exaggeration. You're a mormon - take your medicine! But what of the other Dems who are breaking ranks?
Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, left the meeting skeptical about how effective some of the Obama proposals would be.
"I'm a little concerned about the way Mr. Summers and others are going about this, in that to me it still looks a little bit like this trickle down, if we just put it in the top it's going to trickle down."
And, several Democrats expressed concerns that the stimulus plan shortchanged efforts to overhaul and bulk up the energy sector and said it would have to be boosted significantly.
"I think that what people are debating is the balance between the three parts of the package: tax cuts, state and local (governments) and infrastructure," Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, told reporters.
I think we'll see more of this internecine wrangling from now on. Barney Frank proved himself to be an incompetent shitstain back in September when he did this interview:
And now this piece of shit wants to lead the charge to place conditions on the release of Part Deux of the TARP bailout? You've got to be fucking kidding me! I don't think anyone is opposed to much stricter oversight of the TARP funds (considering there is presently little to no oversight), I just don't think we can trust the man who was chugging executive Fannie Mae cock while attesting to the soundness of a financial institution that was, for all intents and purposes, already insolvent.
Use TARP for homeowners: House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., is writing a bill that would impose conditions on the use of any more TARP money and in a memo to colleagues this week called for "substantial efforts" to be made to reduce foreclosures, a spokesman for Frank's office said in an e-mail.
Among the measures in the Frank plan are “substantial efforts to reduce mortgage foreclosures”, funding for “mortgages at low or affordable rates” and assistance to municipalities and other tax-exempt issuers, as well as help for auto dealers, hurt by the credit crunch.
So, Senator Frank, would you care to remove that man's testicles from your mouth and confirm that you are now admitting that Fannie and Freddie are indeed unsound financially? Great, thanks for clarifying that for us.
