reddit.com interviews Barney Frank (2 of 5)

Look how messy that office is, he must be getting shit done!

Great piece. I love Mr. Frank's straightforwardness; he's totally thorough but he never waffles on any of these questions. Marijuana legalization isn't the life-or-death issue that some vocal internet petitioners seem think it is, but he's 100% right that the laws as they stand are silly and that the public is largely ahead of their politicians on that issue. Also his side note about pronounceability of screennames made me laugh out loud.

what a blathering moron

If people could get past their hate (homophobia for example), they'd realize (as his constituents have in overwhelming numbers since 1980), that this man is brilliant, and perhaps the greatest mind in Congress.

This man is my (political) hero. As Nbrain said, he thinks for himself, no mean feat in Congress.

I feel terrible that my favorite part among all the intelligent bullshit-cutting and smart arguments...was when he admonished us to think about pronunciation when picking a username.

Ok, good question. GSE's were part of the problem--but a large part. GSE's were formed to "help make housing more affordable" but they have done the opposite. The idea that we needed to create entities to drive down the cost of financing where these entities guarantee mortgages is a joke. 1) Driving down the cost of financing drives up prices and 2) having taxpayers guarantee the debt is plain wrong. We've bailed out these GSE's to the tune of over $100B thus far, with another $100B by '10.

3:40 YES please!

re: jgrover78

What makes you think GSE's were the problem?

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*that should be agree or disagree

Whether you disagree with him or not, this guy is one of the smartest people in Congress. You can tell from these interviews that he thinks for himself, while so many other politicians(on both sides) act like salespeople who spew out talking points instead of acting like human beings.