Barney Frank is awesome

[Captain_Awesome]

@yoyodyne

What is his awesomeness rank?

Skim reading Wikipedia suggests his general awesomeness merits a rank of General_Awesome.

[Shodan]

@Ravenman

Other coverage showed clips of Frank responding to a claim that Obama wants to give free health care to illegal aliens. He pulled out a copy of the bill and showed exactly where the health benefits wouldn’t be given to illegal immigrants.

I’d call that pretty substantive engagement.

I saw a different clip (I can dig it up) where he was asked how we were going to pay for the health care bill, and his response was that we would have all the money we needed if we weren’t in Iraq. I’d call that a refusal to engage, at least seriously.

Regards,
Shodan

[elucidator]

Would you indeed? Given your record for strict non-partisan honesty, I will give that testimony due consideration.

[Mr.Moto]

@ElvisL1ves

No, this was an *ideal *person to engage. She demonstrated very publicly what substance the anti-reform “movement” is based on, and gave Frank a fine opportunity to expose that to the mass of waverers and proudly-ignorant deniers who are now so effectively impeding reform.

Don’t think so. The woman in question was a LaRouche supporter - that poster has been used by LaRouchites in several protests and is featured on the LaRouche website.

Link.

This is not mainstream Republican opposition to Obama - indeed, LaRouche still defiantly maintains his Democratic party registration and runs in Democratic primaries.

So it is entirely appropriate to be dismissive of these people - they are indeed on another planet. Confusing them with more mainstream opposition to Obama-style health care reform would be a big mistake, IMHO.

[Captain_Carrot]

And if mainstream Republicans in Congress and the papers weren’t using the exact damn words as these nutcases and expressing their approval of these tactics, you might actually have a point for once.

[ElvisL1ves]

But he’s right that it’s entirely appropriate to be dismissive of them.

[Lobohan]

@Mr.Moto

Don’t think so. The woman in question was a LaRouche supporter - that poster has been used by LaRouchites in several protests and is featured on the LaRouche website.

Link.

This is not mainstream Republican opposition to Obama - indeed, LaRouche still defiantly maintains his Democratic party registration and runs in Democratic primaries.

So it is entirely appropriate to be dismissive of these people - they are indeed on another planet. Confusing them with more mainstream opposition to Obama-style health care reform would be a big mistake, IMHO.

I haven’t heard anything clarifying this, but she was holding a poster from LaRoush’s anti-healthcare reform site. This doesn’t mean she’s a follower of LaRoush in particular. It means she got the poster online. She certainly could be a Republican, but at this point all we really know about her is she’s stupid and easily mislead.

[Ravenman]

@Shodan

I saw a different clip (I can dig it up) where he was asked how we were going to pay for the health care bill, and his response was that we would have all the money we needed if we weren’t in Iraq. I’d call that a refusal to engage, at least seriously.

So is the standard for engagement that one provides a dispassionate, substantive response to every question?

You would fail that “engagement” test. I would fail that “engagement” test. Cecil Adams would fail that “engagement” test.

You said, in essence, that Barney Frank would use any excuse not to engage in a substantive discussion. I showed that he did engage substantively, which makes your comment wrong. And it was a STUPID issue on which he engaged, giving illegal immigrants more entitlements, mind you.

Furthermore, I would submit that asking a LaRoucher on which planet she spends most of her time is a substantive engagement.

[elucidator]

What an interesting coincidence!

From Washington Monthly, very centrist site, no cootie protocols required…

Last week, the Weekly Standard’s John McCormack noted the activists showing up at health care events with signs featuring swastikas, Nazi “SS” lettering, and images comparing the president to Hitler. McCormack described the activists as “Democrats.”

It’s part of a twisted kind of logic. As McCormack sees it, the extremists are Lyndon LaRouche cultists. LaRouche ran a ridiculous presidential campaign as a Democrat years ago. Therefore, swastika-waving activists are Democratic activists…

Link to original source embedded, I am not sending anyone to the *Weekly Sub-Standard *without a haz-mat suit…

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019547.php

[boytyperanma]

I love Barney Frank.

[Mr.Moto]

@Lobohan

This doesn’t mean she’s a follower of LaRoush in particular.

The link I supplied quotes her question:

…Certain people we should not spend the money to keep them alive, which is exactly what Ezekiel Emanuel has said. So my question to you, one, is, this policy is already on its way out, it’s already been defeated by LaRouche. So my question to you is why do you still support this Nazi policy?

LaRouche poster, LaRouche citation in the question. Tell me we don’t have a real life LaRouchite here.

[Deeg]

My general distaste for Frank makes it hard for me to applaud him in this instance but I have no problem with his response.

[Lobohan]

@Mr.Moto

The link I supplied quotes her question:

LaRouche poster, LaRouche citation in the question. Tell me we don’t have a real life LaRouchite here.

Ah, missed that in the link. Mah bad.

[Mr.Moto]

Well, McCormack is dead wrong. I said right off the bat that these were LaRouchites - I only mentioned that LaRouche runs as a Democrat because associating these weirdos with Republicans is flat-out wrong, definitionally speaking. Nothing I have said would leave anyone thinking these were mainstream Democrats, which is the impression McCormack wanted to convey.

He should apologize for that. A LaRouchite should be called a LaRouchite, at least where swear words won’t suffice.

[Mr.Moto]

@Lobohan

Ah, missed that in the link. Mah bad.

No problem.

[BrainGlutton]

@Mr.Moto

Don’t think so. The woman in question was a LaRouche supporter - that poster has been used by LaRouchites in several protests and is featured on the LaRouche website.

Link.

This is not mainstream Republican opposition to Obama - indeed, LaRouche still defiantly maintains his Democratic party registration and runs in Democratic primaries.

So it is entirely appropriate to be dismissive of these people - they are indeed on another planet. Confusing them with more mainstream opposition to Obama-style health care reform would be a big mistake, IMHO.

You must admit the confusion is understandable, if the LaRouchies oppose healthcare reform in substantially the same terms as “more mainstream opposition” does. :rolleyes:

[FriarTed]

Usually can’t stand Barney Frank, but dammit I gotta give the man his due!

[ElvisL1ves]

@elucidator

Would you indeed? Given your record for strict non-partisan honesty, I will give that testimony due consideration.

The local daily from the Dartmouth, MA area provides a fuller accounting of Frank’s meeting, including this:

When asked how a public health care system would be funded, Frank said an increased tax on those who make over $350,000 a year and tightening overseas tax evasion were in the cards. He called out former President George Bush’s policies he said put the country into its deficit and farther away from a public health care system.

Fall River resident Victor Racine scolded Frank for his initial support of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts and got into in a shouting matching with the congressman over his Bush contentions. Racine said Frank was using Bush as a cop out for his own mistakes.

“If we hadn’t gone into the war in Iraq, we’d have more than enough money to fund a public health care system,” said Frank, who was heckled until Mederios asked the crowd to simmer down and let Frank speak.

IOW, Frank was offering just the largest single contributor to the Republicans’ deficit spending as an example of where someone should express one’s concerns about the financial constraints we face now.

The Iraq bill is up to, what, $200 billion? We could have bought a whole helluva lot of people insurance policies with that much, right? With a pile left over for schools, too.

[Ravenman]

@ElvisL1ves

The Iraq bill is up to, what, $200 billion?

Actually, it is close to $700 billion.

[ElvisL1ves]

I lost track a few digits ago, sorry.

How about if you add in the opportunity cost? Do the dollar bills stack up to Jupiter instead of Mars?