Barney, once again, way too Frank
Aging liberal can’t find common ground with Bernie
Oh what a delicious little squabble has developed in the lead-up to the Democratic National Convention. In the middle of the Rules Committee leadership battle is our very own former congressman, Barney Frank — and why would we not be surprised.
The campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders insists that committee co-chairs Barney Frank and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy are basically shills for the Hillary Clinton presidential effort and “have exposed a deeper professional, political and personal hostility toward the senator and his campaign.”
The letter sent last week by lawyers for the Sanders campaign challenging the appointment of both Frank and Malloy is, shall we say, delightfully candid.
“The appointment of two individuals so outspokenly critical of Senator Sanders and so closely affiliated with Secretary Clinton’s campaign raises concerns that two of the three Convention Standing Committees are being constituted in an overtly partisan way designed to exclude meaningful input from supporters of Senator Sanders’ candidacy.”
Guess Donald Trump was right about one thing — the system was rigged for Hillary Clinton pretty much from the beginning and will remain rigged right through the convention.
Sorry, all you Feel the Bern kids. Better luck next time.
The letter — which read rather like an indictment with individual counts against Frank and Malloy — states that “Mr. Frank’s animosity toward Senator Sanders dates back decades,” beginning in 1991 when both served on the Financial Services Committee and continued right up until Sanders’ New Hampshire primary victory, after which Frank wrote a particularly nasty op-ed. In fact, the ever quotable Barney Frank seemed downright obsessed with the 74-year-old socialist from Vermont — in columns for Politico and interviews with Slate and the Huffington Post.
Sanders’ lawyers didn’t have to dive too deeply to find pithy quotes like the one in which, when asked if he really thought Sanders’ supporters had “a slightly unrealistic sense about the political process,” Frank replied, “I didn’t say ‘slightly.’ ” The lawyers noted that Frank called the views of Sanders’ supporters “dumb” and “unrealistic.” “An individual so harshly dismissive of views held by 45 percent of the party’s constituency is not qualified to serve as an evenhanded or effective leader at the Convention,” the letter said. Of course, when has Frank ever been accused of being even-handed? And yes, Bernie, we feel your pain. Your supporters are deemed “dumb” and “unrealistic,” but we’re sure they’ll get a fair hearing — just as soon as Barney gets the beans out of his ears. Now anyone viewing this little tiff from the other side of the aisle would wonder what the fuss was all about — why the aging ultraliberal from Massachusetts can’t find common ground with the aging socialist from Vermont.
“The problem that most committed liberals have had with Sen. Sanders is that we don’t think his approach is effective. It’s a selfrighteous view that if you just say something loudly enough, you win,” Frank said in an interview with the Washington Post last month.
Self-righteous! Pot meet kettle.
Well, this little hissing contest was fun while it lasted. But before the long holiday weekend was over, the Democratic National Committee rejected the Sanders petition. In fact, yet another son of Massachusetts, Jim Roosevelt, and his cochair Lorraine Miller on the party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee certified that Frank and Malloy were “duly elected” to their posts and would remain. The Sanders letter indicates the campaign won’t give up without a fight — possibly a floor fight at the convention. But one thing Democrats are really, really good at is when they want to rig something — it stays rigged.