Barney Frank to WhackJob: "On What Planet Do You Spend Most of Your Time?"

Excellent job, Barney. Time for the Democrats to stop letting the fringe monopolize the discussion.

Republicans Bail on Bailout Bill

Took credit for the bill before it passed; spent rest of day backpedaling furiously.

The massive Wall Street bailout bill failed, as only 1/3 of House Republicans voted for the bill. Democrats are shocked! shocked! that the Republicans (Lucy) pulled the football away again.

I'm not, but I expect nothing more than the worst from Congressional Republicans.

The stock market promptly fell 777 points, a one-day record. For want of a $700 billion dollar bill, Wall Street investors lost $1.1 trillion dollars. And that's just today. Hold on the reins, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

At least the media seems to realize that it is the Republicans who blew up the bailout bill, and the economy:

Chris Matthews, MSNBC:


Ed Henry, CNN:


John Boehner (Boner) claimed that Republicans couldn't vote for the bailout bill in the end because Nancy Pelosi gave an exceptionally partisan speech just before the vote. Barney Frank was incredulous at this explanation:


John McCain wins the McHypocrite award for this ridiculous statement:

"Now is not the time to fix the blame."
"Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanness into the process."

Actually, he blamed first, then said no blame.

No blame. Blame. His head is spinning around like Linda Blair's in The Exorcist.

Anything to get you to ignore McCain's first statement of the day. From Politico:

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

Shortly before the vote, McCain had bragged about his involvement and mocked Sen. Barack Obama for staying on the sidelines.

“I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now,” McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. “Sen. Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was monitoring the situation.”
McCain, grinning, flashed a sarcastic thumbs up.

“That's not leadership. That's watching from the sidelines,” he added to cheers and applause.

He'd say or do anything to win.

Barney Frank Fights for Equality

Barney Frank makes an emotional speech on the House floor to get the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed.

San Francisco Chronicle: House approves bill banning bias against gays in workplace

Another for the "He has no scruples, does he?" Mittwit File

The Song of Mitt: "I'll say anything, for you, dear, anything, for you, dear, anything, for you" (apologies to Lionel Bart and the musical Oliver)

Romney refused to grant any pardons during his four years as Massachusetts absentee governor. Even to Anthony Circosta, a decorated Iraq war veteran who wanted to expunge a conviction from when he was age 13 for shooting another boy in the arm with a BB gun. (Hey, I think all the boys I grew up with were criminals!) Nope, the Mittwit couldn't grant that pardon, even though it would have allowed Circosta to become a police officer. And now as he shamelessly panders to the rabid Republican base, he advocates a pardon for poor, poor Scooter Libby, convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.

So think about this. A 13-year-old boy makes a dumb mistake. He shoots his friend in the arm with a BB gun (doesn't even break the skin). Goes on to join the Army National Guard and distinguish himself leading a platoon in the Sunni Triangle. His shooting a BB gun accidentally at age 13 cannot be pardoned by the Mittwit. But Scooter Libby, the assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney? Reveals the name of a covert CIA agent to reporters for political purposes, then lies about it repeatedly to a federal grand jury investigating the outing. Remember, he is a 54-year-old attorney. Those four criminal convictions, decided by a jury? Throw them out and set him free, proclaims the Man of the Most Convenient Answer. That's what he says now. Wait a month, he may have a difference answer. Varmint.

Or as Barney Frank said of the Mittwit, two days ago on New England Cable News:

"The real Romney is clearly an extraordinarily ambitious man with no perceivable political principle whatsover. He is the most intellectually dishonest human being in the history of politics."

'Parliamentary Inquiry, Mr. Speaker: Does Whining Come Out of My Time?'

Barney Frank kills a Republican procedural tactic with wit and humor. Watch and enjoy.