...WASHINGTON — Representative Barney Frank, the rumpled, cantankerous chairman of the Financial Services Committee, plopped down on a leather bench off the House floor last week. After two months of trying to win Republican support for his bill to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure, he had come up short.
The White House had just threatened a veto.
But Mr. Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat and the most prominent gay member of Congress, who always seems on the verge of an outburst, was more philosophical than combustible as he explained the administration’s opposition.
Between an economic stimulus package and the Federal Reserve’s rescue of Wall Street, he said, “they have been pushed into accepting a lot of government help for the market.”
“People aren’t good at doing things they dislike,” he added.
Then, in a flash of trademark wit, he said that asking the White House to support more government intervention was “like asking me to judge the Miss America contest — if your heart’s not in it, you don’t do a very good job...”
Now this might be a case of Stockholm Syndrome. But then again, it might not:
Top 5 Contributors
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co $29,300
Manulife Financial $13,500
American Society of Appraisers $11,000
Bernstein, Litowitz et al $10,900
Chicago Board Options Exchange $10,000
Top 5 Industries
Securities & Investment $155,600
Real Estate $142,101
Lawyers/Law Firms $128,018
Insurance $95,249
Commercial Banks $71,100
These are by no means outrageous sums, and seem to be perfectly legimate. But one sees why Barney might have developed a real concern that his own base is taken care of. After all, Barney's strong selling point to the Company is that he's a cheap date for those willing to ride with him.
And it seems he's a little more popular recently, now that the wind is at his back:
Just spare us all the hand-wringing about how Bu$hie's going against his principles when he gives his Ba$e the keys to the Treasury and gives everyone else his stiff weenie. Some of us, as you say, don't have our heart in it.
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