Barney Frank, architect of the housing crisis, has a breathless piece in Politico arguing that Republicans ought to embrace Reagan and learn to apologize for America’s misdeeds. Curiously, though, Frank has never apologized for his own, political and personal.

As his evidence, Frank mentions the inexcusable internment of the Japanese Americans and how Frank allegedly worked with Reagan to give the Japanese-American victims of internment monetary redress.

Frank leaves out, of course, how his party was behind the internment in the first place. He ignores the culpability of fellow progressives like Governor Earl Warren and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who helped to execute that shameful act. Earl Warren’s biographer, G. Edward White, writes that Warren was “the  most visible and effective California public official advocating internment.”

“The Japanese situation as it exists in this state today may well be the Achilles heel of the entire civilian defense effort,” Warren wrote. It was nonsense, but enforced by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is something of Frank’s ideological hero.

But there is no such thing as a national apology because there is no such thing as collective guilt. There is only individual guilt and individual shame and Barney Frank is shameless.

When will Barney Frank apologize for the role he played in the financial crisis?

Peter Wallison, member of the Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission, notes Frank’s involvement:

Barney Frank was the principal advocate in Congress for using the government’s authority to force lower underwriting standards in the business of housing finance. Although he claims to have tried to reverse course as early as 2003, that was the year he made the oft-quoted remark, “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation toward subsidized housing.” Rather than reversing course, he was pressing on when others were beginning to have doubts.

…

For most of his career, Congressman Frank was one of the leaders of the effort in Congress to meet the demands of activists like ACORN for an easing of underwriting standards in order to make home ownership more accessible to more people. It was perhaps a worthwhile goal, but it caused the financial crisis when it was done by lowering mortgage underwriting standards. In the end, it was a colossal policy error by Congress and two presidential administrations.

Indeed in the aftermath of the Great Recession, Frank blamed capitalism, not his meddlesome economic policy, for the economic failures he caused. “This is equivalent to what FDR had to do . . . to save capitalism from its own excesses,” he said.

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Tingles asks.

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There’s so much going on these days. The Occupy movement, a man arrested for attempting to assassinate our president, the never-ending drama behind the GOP primary, and–as always–we have to fight the corrupt mainstream media.

There are so many dragons to slay with only so many hours in a day, and no one knows better than a political blogger that it’s impossible to go to bed feeling as though you’ve covered everything that deserved covering.

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But we need conservative leadership on this one; your voice, your passion, your reasoned arguments and your moral authority:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) announced Thursday that his panel would be considering legislation to prohibit lawmakers from investing based on private information.The chairman announced the Dec. 6 hearing one day after ranking member Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), sent a letter to Bachus, calling on the committee to consider such legislation and eventually pass it. The announcement also comes after Bachus has come under scrutiny for allegations that he profited on investments made based on private information.

“Existing law clearly prohibits insider trading by members of Congress.  However, the American public deserves for there to be no question or equivocation concerning members of Congress or any citizen being exempted from laws prohibiting insider trading,” Bachus said in a statement.Frank told Bachus in his letter that he had “neglected” similar legislation when he was chairman of the committee, but that recent attention to the matter meant the bill should be considered and passed.

The panel will consider a bill, introduced by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.), which would prohibit members and White House employees from investing based on private information, or from passing that information along to others for investment purposes.

As you know already, it is currently legal for members of Congress to enrich themselves with insider information to which the rest of us aren’t privy. When corporate executives do this they go to jail, and should. Insider trading breeds corruption and can create conflicts of interest whereby as those charged with the public trust manipulate markets and, yes, legislation to enrich their own personal portfolios.

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Since America’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history under President Obama, Democrats and their media structure have been working overtime to spin this as the tea party’s fault. They’re spinning so hard they’re absolutely dizzy.

John Kerry: “Blame the tea party!”

David Axelrod: “Blame the tea party!”

Then there are those who blame everything and everyone other than the party in charge.

Cokie Roberts blames the Constitution:

Barney Frank blames the military:

The White House said that S&P made a “mathematical error” (they downgraded the downgrade) even though S&P says it is irrelevant, the downgrade stands.

Except that military spending is only 4% of GDP. Mark Steyn notes in his latest book (which is a must-get) After America, in ten years we “will be spending more of our federal budget on interest payments than on the military”  – and “according to the CBO’s 2010 long-term budget outlook, by 2020 the government will be paying between 15 and 20 percent of its revenues in debt interest.” Steyn notes that “America will be spending more on debt interest than China, Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Spain Turkey, and Israel spend on their militaries combined.“ Frank is careful not to mention Libya when talking about war funding; he mentions only Iraq (which is ending) and Afghanistan (which his party extended and pledged more troops) because by reminding viewers that we lumbered into conflict with a country that posed no immediate threat to our interests, he’d be showcasing Democratic irony.

Blaming the tea party (or the military, or anything else) is asinine and an outright lie and I said exactly this on CNN this morning. Let’s review.

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Say goodnight, Barry, Nancy, Harry, Barney et al.:

Remember when we had leaders who spoke from the heart and from conviction, instead of reading words off a TelePrompter and dancing to the tune of Congressional leaders?

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If you want to see the media’s ability to “frame” a story according to its handy all-purpose and supremely intellectually lazy template, you need look no further than the opening remarks by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in this clip, an interview with not-all-that-strange bedfellows Barney Frank and Ron Paul.

You’d have a hard time finding two lawmakers here in Washington farther apart on the political spectrum than Democratic congressman Barney Frank and Republican congressman Ron Paul. But now they are teaming up big time to call for substantial cuts in U.S. military spending.

At first blush, the artificial construct Blitzer is positing seems to make sense in a crude, reductionist sort of way — Frank, happy holder of what is apparently a lifetime sinecure in Brookline and Newton, Mass., and Ron Paul of Texas, aka the crazy old uncle in the attic: left vs. right, happily coming together in the pages of the Huffington Post for a brilliant display of bipartisanship over the issue of funding for the military. And indeed, they helpfully provide the “conflict” — which every good narrative must have — in the first paragraph of their piece: (more…)

In this morning’s Washington Post, ombudsman Andrew Alexander made the argument that “Allegations of spitting and slurs at Capitol protest merit more reporting.” This is zombie-mediaese for “we have to keep discrediting critics of this administration at all costs!”

An ombudsman is described as “a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing the broad scope of constituent interests.” But here we see that the only interest being put forth is one that serves the Democrat establishment.

Alexander made the embarrassing claim that:

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, a black Democrat from Missouri, said a protester spit on him. Rep. Barney Frank, the openly gay Democrat from Massachusetts, was heckled with anti-gay slurs. Two black Democrats, Reps. André Carson of Indiana and John Lewis of Georgia, said protesters subjected them to racial epithets. The episodes were recounted for days in Post stories and columns. Much blame was directed at Tea Party activists.

It’s embarrassing for the Post because there were a plethora of camera crews videotaping the alleged incident and not one tape has come forth validating this claim. In fact, Andrew Breitbart has offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who has a video showing that the “N-word” was used. There have been no takers. Do you really think the media wouldn’t be showing such a tape 24/7 if it actually existed? (more…)

Andrew Alexander’s column today concerning the Washington Post’s reporting on the alleged “spitting and slurs” episode on March 20 offers a partially accurate thesis based on unsubstantiated details.  In short, it doesn’t work.

Here’s Alexander’s thesis:

The Post was remiss in not providing clarity by quickly dissecting what happened.

Although he should have added “and accurately” after “quickly,” we’ll take what we can get.  He also wrote,

The Post and other news organizations left the impression of a despicable, premeditated assault.

“Created” would be a better word than “left.”

And therein is the fracture in the Post ombudsman’s review.  He implies that the Post should have quickly noted that the alleged spitting incident was unintentionally and, therefore, not despicable and premeditated. (An event could be despicable without being premeditated, but I digress.)  Alexander offers no similar comment on the alleged Rep. Barney Frank incident. More on that below. (more…)

Here’s Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, probably the most obnoxious member of that august body (if you don’t count Barney Frank), barging into a meeting of the Orange County Republicans executive committee yesterday and — this being “Die Quickly” Grayson — hilarity immediately ensued:

But wait!  There’s more!

This is the man whose official biography on his House website includes a heartbreaking, and heartwarming, Dickensian tale of his young life in the Bronx.  Try to control your tears as you read this triumph of the human spirit: (more…)

Remember how, following the Fort Hood massacre, Americans were cautioned by pundits and politicians alike not to blame Islam for the actions of one Muslim? A typical mainstream media narrative went something like this excerpt from Sally Quinn’s Washington Post column:

Hasan’s actions seems to have had much to do with his personal religious beliefs, but we cannot indict an entire faith for the distorted and disturbed thoughts and actions of one individual.

You’ll be happy to know that the MSM requires no such burden of proof when it comes to passing judgment on conservative groups, particularly the Tea Party. Case in point: A handful of Congressional Democrats claimed that Tea Party protesters screamed racist and anti-gay taunts during Saturday’s D.C. protest against the health care bill. ”I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus,” said Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.). Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) said he heard the “N-word” at least 15 times. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) stated that he was called a “faggot.” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., talked of being spat upon.

And the mainstream media, salivating at the prospect of finally having enough rope to hang the Tea Party with, commenced its own Old West-style necktie party:

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America held her breath last night, gripped by the mind-numbing realization that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people could very well be irrevocably broken. The American people are overwhelmingly against this government takeover of 20% of the economy. Tens of thousands took to the great lawn Saturday, trying to right a government gone off the rails, after a year of similar peaceful actions. And so the focus of the Democrat leadership all through the healthcare takeover, and culminating with a flourish this past weekend, has been on libeling, slandering and destroying the millions of Americans who stand against this socialist putsch.

The peaceful, patriotic millions who marched over the course of the year were virtually ignored by the media and certainly ignored by the President. Big media only deemed fit to cover the people’s revolution long enough to libel them and smear them with vulgarities (“tea baggers“). This campaign of destruction culminated Saturday in the specious charge that a protester shouted “ni**er” at the Congressional Black Caucus. The Washington Post reported:

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said that racial epithets were hurled at them Saturday by angry protesters who had gathered at the Capitol to protest health-care legislation, and one congressman said he was spit upon. The most high-profile openly gay congressman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), was heckled with anti-gay chants.

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Fox News reported yesterday that black lawmakers alleged they were the targets of racial slurs, including the N-word, as they walked through Tea Party protesters into the Capitol.  Today, the Washington Post reported the alleged incident, notably deleting the word, “alleged.”

Throughout the day, thousands of angry protesters milled outside the Capitol; some hurled insults at black and gay lawmakers and shouted at Democrats to “kill the bill!”

Rep. Barney Frank also claimed that he was the target of “homophobic” slurs.  Mr. Frank is one of the most openly gay members of Congress, as we all know.

Now compare the statement above, which appeared in today’s Washington Post, with this statement, which appeared in today’s Fox News report on Michael Steele’s condemnation of the slurs: (more…)

It looks like Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is on track to win another endorsement from ACORN!

This week, Hynes announced that “no criminality has been found” after his investigation of the videotapes made by investigative journalists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, which show ACORN employees counseling the pair on getting a mortgage for a house of prostitution.

(They got a choice of government loans: Phat Fannie Mae, Prince Freddie Mac or Barney Fresh Daddy Frank … aka “Sir Fix-A-Lot.”)

I’m just glad to know that Hynes conducted a thorough “investigation” first. Who did he have screen the videotapes, Gov. Paterson?

If his investigators had actually watched the videotapes, they would have found ACORN employees apparently advising a pimp and prostitute on how to defraud mortgage lenders, deposit prostitution money in a bank, hide money from the government and avoid detection while running a whorehouse with teenage girls from El Salvador.

I’m not a lawyer — oh, wait, yes, I am — but I count approximately a half-dozen state law crimes being discussed on those tapes, from money laundering to advancing prostitution.

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Last year I had written a piece for the American Thinker and I went to that site to read the comments posted. Next to the article was an ad that showed a video of Sen. Chuck Schumer saying that “the American people don’t care,” about what he called those little “porky amendments.”

Something flew all over me and I felt it was time to become more activist than simply writing a column that preached to the choir but did not reach the average New Yorker who continued to vote in parasitic corrupt politicians.

I bought a domain calling it ChangeNYin2010.com and posted that Schumer video, as well as another one featuring Charlie Rangel cursing out a reporter asking him about his ethics violations: (more…)

For long-suffering conservatives, Christmas arrived about a month late this year.  But considering all the presents we got this week, it was like coming downstairs and finding the Budweiser Clydesdales under the tree, instead of that crummy used Radio Flyer your dad managed to find on eBay for twenty bucks.

First, on Tuesday, there was the Massachusetts Miracle, in which an obscure state senator named Scott Brown came out of nowhere — okay, Wrentham — to defeat a lackluster and morally dubious Democrat machine party hack who had expected to slow-walk herself, with David Gergen’s blessing, into “Teddy Kennedy’s seat.”  But the Bay State voters had other ideas for the “Massachusette” –

Brown ran hard on the selling point that he would be the 41st vote in the Senate against Harry Reid’s and Nancy Pelosi’s screwball tax-and-wreck “health care” plan, a Rube Goldbergian contraption that would have made Elbridge Gerry weep with envy at all its cut-outs, set-asides, bribes and special-interest stroking.  He also campaigned on the notion that taxpayer dollars would be better spent fighting terrorists instead of paying for lawyers for them.  So, naturally, the first questions he got yesterday from the press corps in Washington were all along the lines of: “You’re not really a Republican, are you?”

To which the Democrats, caught flat-footed as usual, basically reacted like this: (more…)