. . .this character is going to be missed! Even among the pantheon of disgraced pols, Barney towers above the rest.
A raucous high note in the fanfare of the cacphonous, ever-sounding American Rhapsody.
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| BUDDY HACKETT ?? |
Never - well, not since Marion Barry - has so destructive, so spiteful, and so high-handed a fellow flauted the laws of decency and decorum and ridden his surfboard to re-election after re-election, until Barney Frank. And in his role as longtime member and (2007-2011 - he oversaw the disaster as it unfolded) Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney committed his destruction, of the housing market and the financial system, on a global scale.
As a Massachusetts voter, I've reconciled myself to the notoriety he brings our fair Commonwealth.
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| UMass Press: Big Man On Campus |
When he visited the UMass Amherst campus during his book tour in 2010, I wanted to meet Barney. No axe to grind, but an idea to pitch. I maneuvered before, during and after his acidic and self-righteous address to the crowd. Knowing of my intent an unhelpful, second-string UM staffer tried to block my access so I end-ran her, snatched a book and paid for it, got my place in line, and did get the face time. When Barney heard my pitch he actually stopped, considered what I'd suggested, and took out a card to give me the name of his chief of staff. And we did indeed follow up! And I got satisfaction. They say
politics makes strange bedfellows... I'm glad we hit it off.
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| He lied in a jolly, entertaining way throughout his speech |
To recall the Steve Gobie scandal (below)* is almost as rich as to hear this gentleman blame President Bush for failure to adequately regulate Fannie Mae when in fact Frank himself, as partner (1987-1998) to FNMA senior executive Herb Moses, was neck deep in conflict of interest throughout the decade-plus run-up to the housing crisis and all of the devastation that followed, and still follows, that debacle.
* [from Wikipedia]: In 1985 Frank was still closeted. That year he hired Steve Gobie for sex, a male prostitute, and they became friends more than sexual partners.[24] Frank housed Gobie and hired him with personal funds as an aide, housekeeper and driver and paid for his attorney and court-ordered psychiatrist.[24]
In 1987 Frank kicked Gobie out after he was advised by his landlord that Gobie kept escorting despite the support and was doing so in the residence.[24][25]
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| I Love You, You Love Me ... |
Later that year Gobie's friends convinced him he had a gay male version of Mayflower Madam, a TV movie they had been watching.[24] In 1989 Gobie tried to initiate a bidding war for the story between WUSA-TV (Channel 9), the Washington Times, and The Washington Post.[24] He then gave the story to The Washington Times for nothing, in hopes of getting a book contract.[25] Amid calls for an investigation Frank asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate his relationship "in order to insure that the public record is clear."[26] The Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in the alleged illegal activity and dismissed all of Gobie's more scandalous claims; they recommended a reprimand for Frank using his congressional office to fix 33 of Gobie's parking tickets and for misstatements of fact in a memorandum relating to Gobie's criminal probation record.[27] The House voted 408–18 to reprimand Frank.[28][29]
The attempts to censure and expel Frank were led by Republican Larry Craig, whom Frank later criticized for hypocrisy[30] after Craig's own arrest in 2007 for lewd conduct while soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom.[31][32][33] Frank won re-election that year with 66 percent of the vote.
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