By Ben Adler
Charlotte, N.C. — Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts will address “the record of the real Mitt Romney in Massachusetts and the importance of financial reform" in his Wednesday speech to the Democratic National Convention.
Susan Walsh / AP File Photo
Rep. Barney Frank
The famously acerbic former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee was co-author of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill of 2010.
Given that Frank represents Massachusetts, he is particularly well-suited to debunk any myths Romney has tried to make about his tenure there. "He's telling us that because of his business experience that he'll create jobs," Frank told Lean Forward. "As Governor of Massachusetts, not so much."
Massachusetts ranked 47th among the states for job creation during Romney's term.
The financial regulation Frank pushed forward is one reason that Wall Street has thrown its support behind the Republican ticket in this cycle. Asked whether Dodd-Frank is bad for Wall Street, Frank responded, "Some of it, yes."
"Bad in the short term, good in the long term,” he added. “Sometimes they need to be saved from their own worst instincts. They created a crisis that hurt them. We don't make policy for the very wealthy to make more money."
Frank will also touch on the cuts to entitlement programs in GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan's budget plans. And he plans to explain how Ryan's budget contains, "an outrageous increase in military spending," that would necessitate cuts to vital domestic programs.
While Frank was happy to discuss his speech, he chaffed at the notion that he might offer thoughts on what President Obama should address. "What possible goal of mine is advanced by giving gratuitous advice?" he responded.
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Barney Frank is getting harder to understand. His juicy, shall we say, speech is becoming less decipherable. He needs to follow the regime that opera singers follow so he will be understood. He needs to seriously flush his mouth and clear his umnh, phlegm, yuck, ... before he speaks. seriously, his speechifying is becoming more and more yucky. Seriously.
I have always thought that if we were to have another civil war, it would start sometime between the end of Party Conventions to right after a Presidential election. The size of the radicals, on both sides, is never larger, and conversation disappears. Insults, and exhadurated lies, dominate the cyberspace. People of violence become far more vocal and open with their attack modes. Both sides do not want to waste Christmas on good will toward men.
Barney Frank, on the other hand, is a man of peace. As he and so many others give up fighting for conversation and governing, there are more breaks, in the dam, that keeps anarchy from flooding our nation and our lives. Who will come forth and plug the holes and fight the good fight for our common good, and futures?