Upon learning that there is no C-SPAN at George Washington University Hospital....

"That may be medically indicated."

December 18, 2009

"I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed, gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority."

"Conservatives believe that from the standpoint of the federal government, life begins at conception and ends at birth."

Regarding "pro-life" Republicans, who were advocating cuts in health care programs for women and children.

“The basic logical structure of this argument is that of the joke in which a man falls from the top of a fifty-story building and when asked how he is doing, replies ‘Fine so far.’ Deficits cumulate…The ‘fine so far’ argument is that there will be no negative effects as we accumulate trillions of dollars of deficits between now and 2013, but that debilitating impacts on the economy will suddenly appear in 2014 when people read the latest Social Security actuarial tables.”

 --Protecting Social Security, Frank argues, is in jeopardy because of the approved tax cuts despite the ongoing deficits.

“Gay people have a different role than other minority groups…Very few black kids have ever had to worry about telling their parents that they were black.”

People are rightly upset about the role of big money in politics. And it’s true that big money will win if it’s got the field to itself. But if you get the average voter involved and engage the collective weight of public opinion you will kick big money’s ass.

"We have a besetting sin today in our politics where people think that you show your depth of commitment to a cause by rigidity, not just by rigidity, but impugning the motives of those on your side who try to get something done."

"The problem with the war in Iraq is not so much the intelligence as the stupidity."

“The organizations that have the most influence in Congress do not engage in civil disobedience. They move members of Congress by a combination of reasoned argument and political power. Civil disobedience is more usually resorted to by people who have no access to power.”

“There is a correlation between people who attack same-sex marriage and have difficulty maintaining their own.”

Gridiron Dinner, December 5, 2009

“I do not think that any self-respecting radical in history would have considered advocating people’s rights to get married, join the Army, and earn a living as a terribly inspiring revolutionary platform.”

Congressman Frank commenting on allegations that he favors a “radical” homosexual agenda, as reported in The New Yorker, January 8, 2009, “Barney’s Great Adventure

"When you're engaged in a political fight, if you're doing something that really, really, really makes you feel good, then it's probably not the best tactic."

"My mother says that in the 59 years since being married to my father, no one had ever called her Elsie Fag."

In response to Texas Republican Dick Armey's claim that, his reference to Barney Frank as "Barney Fag" was a mere mispronunciation.

“I do not understand those who argue that the people who make up our stock markets are collectively very wise, but at the same time are somehow incapable of rendering a coherent opinion of what they should pay those they employ to run the corporations that they own.”

Quoted in Politico, April 12, 2007

“It is a measure of how reactionary Bush is that Jeffords could last eight years as a Republican with Reagan as president and couldn’t last six months with Bush.”

--Frank assesses Vermont Senator James Jeffords’ defection from the Republican party.

"I have this fear that one days there's going to be a fire in the Senate and there are only going to be 57 Senators there and they'll all die because they won't have the 60 votes to allow themselves to leave the building."

“They’re (congressional opponents) saying that my ability to marry another man somehow jeopardizes heterosexual marriage. Then they go out and cheat on their wives. That doesn’t jeopardize heterosexual marriage? It’s nonsense.”

 --Frank expounded his views on homosexual topics.

“There are right-wingers who denounce what they call the ‘gay agenda.’ And they are correct because there is an agenda. The agenda is a set of goals to make people free to pursue their own nature without suffering the legal discriminations. Nobody that I know is going to set laws that people shouldn’t dislike gay people. People are free to dislike gay people or not.”

"It's a very repressive notion that says that governments should divide the activities of human beings into two categories – those things that we make criminal and those things that we are encouraging. In a free society a large degree of human activity is none of the government's business. We should make criminal what's going to hurt other people and other than that we should leave it to people to make their own choices."

Excerpt from July 30, 2008 interview on CNN

“Remarkably skillful at disassociating himself from his policies. Other politicians are jealous of him.”

 --Frank responded when asked his opinion of President Reagan during his first presidential term.

“I don’t begrudge Ronald Reagan an occasional nap. We must understand it’s not the dozing off of Ronald Reagan that causes us problems. Its what he does on those moments when he’s awake.”

--Frank commenting on allegations that President Reagan sometimes fell asleep in Cabinet meetings.

Some adults will spend their money foolishly, but it is not the purpose of the federal government to prevent them legally from doing it

“We’re the only people I know who are expected to take large amounts of money from perfect strangers and have it have no effect on our behavior.”

“I have heard people say, on the Republican side mostly, we cannot go ahead with that kind of a forum; if we get rid of soft money, the next thing we know, labor and environmentalists and all those people will dominate the election. We have, in fact, had people almost explicitly say that the danger in campaign finance reform is that the people will have too much to say…there are Members who have supported virtually every restriction on free speech, including censorship on the internet and other rules the Supreme Court has thrown out, and they have voted for them cheerfully, but when it comes to the power of money to swamp the equal part of our political system, suddenly they become advocates of free speech. Indeed, it seems that many of them are for free speech as long as it is not free. They are for free speech when it costs money, when they can buy it.”

 --In support of campaign finance legislation, Frank comments about the issue of free speech and hypocrisy by foes of the bill.

“The gentleman who spoke said this is a Republican Party and he is proud of it. I think there is too good of appreciation in the country today of the real differences that exist between the parties. Partisanship is not always a bad thing. There is a legitimate aspect in a democratic society to recognizing differences. The gentleman from Texas is proud that they passed a tax bill that excluded the poorest working people in America. He said he is proud of it, and I think we are proud on our side to be appalled by it.”

 --One of Frank’s statements portraying the partisan differences in bills and philosophy.

"One of the problems you have in politics is people don't ever want to disagree with their friends. Politicians get a lot of undeserved credit for standing up to their enemies. It's not only easy to stand up to your enemies; if you're a politician, it's generally profitable. The hardest thing to do is to stand up to your friends when you think they're wrong."

“Ronald Reagan believes in the free market like some people believe in unicorns.”

“If you’re not able to work closely with people you despise, you can’t really work here.”

"Selling out is an overrated phenomenon. If selling out paid better, I wouldn't have to be here tonight."

Gridiron Dinner, December 5, 2009

"If this is a Christian nation, how come some poor Jew has to get up at 5:30 in the morning to preside over the House of Representatives?"

Response to Rep. Marjorie Holt (R-MD), who declared that "this is a Christian nation" during an all-night debate on school prayer chaired by Frank.

“In the business I am in, sometimes you get credit for the sun shining and sometimes you get blamed when it rains.”

Boston Globe, June 14, 2010

“No one has investigated so much and come up with so little.”

 --Frank summarizes the lengthy Starr investigation.

I will confess that I am not a regular read of Iranian-issued fatwahs. And probably one of the ones I missed was the one where they threatened devastation against Prague. We plan to spend several billion dollars to protect the Czech Republican against Iran. That’s either a great waste of money or a very belated way to make up for Munich.

Comment of Congressman Frank regarding the need to reduce spending on unnecessary Cold War weapons, at forum he convened in Washington on cutting military spending, as reported in Mother Jones, 2-24-09

“In my line of work, imitation isn’t the sincerest form of flattery-denunciation is. For most of the past year I have been the target of a steady stream of misinformation, distortion, invention and inaccuracy. The ultra-right-wing Conservative Caucus has been among the most prominent of these attackers, joined by remnants of the Moral Majority, the Washington newspaper which is controlled by the Reverend Moon, and other random rightists. Obviously, what is flattering is not the content of their diatribes  but the fact that they consider me to be enough of a threat to spend so much of their energy trying to diminish my effectiveness…I do need your financial support. I would very much appreciate whatever contribution you could make to my campaign.”

“There are rules of excessive civility around here to which I generally subscribe. You do need a certain amount of courtliness in the system. But that, in itself, can become a form of abuse. There are limits to when you restrain yourself from calling a fool a fool.”

“People talk about how a rising tide lifts all boats.”

“For some people a rising tide is a very bad thing.  For people who don’t have a boat and who are standing on their tip toes to keep their heads above water, a rising tide is not a welcome prospect.”

Financial Services Committee hearing, 12/9/09

“We have two systems in America. We have an economic system-capitalism-that requires inequality. If people are not unequally rewarded, then the capitalism system doesn’t function. So you need inequality in our economic system. We have, side by side, a political system that is based on equality-one person, one vote- now you don’t have one person, one dollar; that wouldn’t work. But you do have one person, one vote. To the extent that money ahs come to have more of a role in our political process, the unequal element of the society has overshadowed the equal element. What you really want is a tension between the two; you want the inequality of the capitalist system and the more equalizing element of the political system working together.”

“I first started filing gay right bills in the Massachusetts legislature in 1972, when I was first elected to legislature. And at that point the bigots were honest. They would say, ‘we don’t want to hire fats. We don’t want some dyke working for us. We want to be able to fire them.’ Now, they say, ‘Oh, well, of course you wouldn’t fire someone for being a lesbian, but they’re just trying to get special rights.’ That is nonsense. There is nothing about anti-discrimination legislation that is ‘special’ rights-unless you think that’s true for blacks, or for Catholics, or Jews or whatever.”

"Rather than the boy who cried wolf, George Bush is the reverse. He claims that there is nothing wrong when there is. He's the boy who cried, 'Nice doggie.'"

Critiquing George W. Bush, for being unable to face the reality of the war in Iraq and with the economy

“I threatened to name the names of gay-bashers…They’re entitled to privacy, but they’re not entitled to hypocrisy. You can’t vote for the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit vote and drive 80 mph. If Jimmy Swaggart wants to go to a motel room with some other woman, I’m not going to pay much attention to it-unless it’s Jimmy Swaggart who has made millions of dollars anathematizing other people from even thinking about doing the same thing.”

--Frank explaining his stance on naming other homosexual legislators if hypocrisy became an issue on the defense of gay rights.

“Every politician is entitled to privacy, but no politician is entitled to hypocrisy.”

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."

May 13, 2008; New York Times

Barney Frank:  "Here’s the rule in the House -- thanks to the Constitution we may get up on the floor of the House and say the most outrageous, untrue, defamatory things about anybody it the world, but we cannot tell unpleasant truths about each other.  You cannot say that a member of the House lied, even if he quite clearly lied.  That violates the rules."

Lou Dobbs:  "You know, Congressman, that’s why God invented talk radio, so we could fill that void."

From Lou Dobbs radio interview, 9/30/09