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C’mon, Andy. Don’t you think Barney Frank deserves a little more from you than a snarky putdown?

Here’s the context. Sullivan is responding to Frank’s article in HuffPo. I quote the text [DCOW] of Sullivan’s riposte in its entirety:

My friend Congressman Frank doesn’t want to say “goodbye to all that.” Presumably, that’s why he’s backing Clinton.

[Rimshot. Laughter. Try the veal!]

Andy, I’d say this post isn’t up to your usual fine standard.

One, it’s not on point. Your post misrepresents the serious point Frank is making. Here’s what Frank, well-known hater of ponies, wrote in HuffPo:

[FRANK] I agree that it would have been better not to have had to fight over some of the issues that occupied us in the nineties. But there would have been only one way to avoid them — and that would have been to give up. More importantly, the only way I can think of to avoid “refighting the same fights we had in the 1990’s”, to quote Senator Obama, is to let our opponents win these fights without a struggle.

How can we say “goodbye” to the 90s when they won’t go away? That’s the point at issue, Andy, and “presumably” obfuscates it. No, not “presumably.” Nothing “presumably” about it.

Two, it’s insulting to Frank. Andy, it’s not like Frank’s fighting our (and your) battles out of whimsy, or because he’s been eating radishes, or out of personal pique. It’s because the battles still need to be fought.

Andy, I’m sure if you’d taken a moment to think before pressing Submit, you would have remembered this speech from Frank on the House floor. Here’s the video:  Read more 

Barney Frank is a divisive hater of ponies and all their works:

I think it is important to express my discomfort with a major theme of Senator Obama’s campaign. I am referring to his denigration of “the Washington battles of the 1990’s” and, usually implicitly but sometimes explicitly, of those who fought them.

I agree that it would have been better not to have had to fight over some of the issues that occupied us in the nineties. But there would have been only one way to avoid them — and that would have been to give up. More importantly, the only way I can think of to avoid “refighting the same fights we had in the 1990’s”, to quote Senator Obama, is to let our opponents win these fights without a struggle.

Bingo. More:  Read more 

Just when I despair of the Democrats…

Massive parliamentary geekery, with a standing ovation at the end. And in the middle?  Read more 

Gah. Forgive the ubersnarky title, but I’m a little annoyed at the following:

H.R.1227

Title: To assist in the provision of affordable housing to low-income families affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Sponsor: Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] (introduced 2/28/2007)
Cosponsors (1)
Related Bills: H.RES.254  Read more