Bill O'Reilly and Barney Frank Have Screaming Match on O'Reilly Factor

Bill O'Reilly and Congressman Barney Frank had a screaming match on the O'Reilly Factor Thursday night, October 2^nd, over Frank's share of the responsibility for the liquidity crisis. O'Reilly was all Irish rage. Frank was snooty, north eastern, liberal contempt.

O'Reilly started by calling Barney Frank a "stand up guy" for coming into the "no spin zone." It would be the last complement that TV host would give the Congressman. Before too long into the interview, Bill O'Reilly was calling Barney Frank a "coward" for not admitting to part of the blame for the liquidity crisis.

Barney Frank spent the latter two thirds of the interview by snorting that Bill O'Reilly was "ranting." Barney Frank would have none of the suggestion that anyone but evil Republicans and their cronies on Wall Street were responsible for the liquidity crisis.

But Bill O'Reilly had a point in suggesting that the blame for the liquidity crisis is bipartisan. In 2003, Barney Frank sneered at the idea that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were having problems.

"That is, in my view, the two government sponsored enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury."

Five years later, mainly because of problem, subprime lending practices and shady accounting methods, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be bailed out by the government. The warning signs were all there for all to see, but apparently Barney Frank was not in the mood to see them, even when he became Chairman of the Banking Committee when the Democrats took over the House two years ago.

Mind, the spectacle of a hot tempered TV host and a prissy Congressman screaming at each other on national television was good, popcorn consuming fare. But O'Reilly had begun to ruminate that perhaps he had "gone too far" in challenging Barney Frank.

On the other hand, one gets the impression that Barney Frank too rarely gets challenged on anything. He is from an ultra safe Congressional district in Massachusetts, the bluest of blue states, as witness his survival of a gay prostitution scandal some years ago. Governor Edwin Edwards of Louisiana once said that nothing except being caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy could sink him (he turned out to be wrong, by the way.) In Barney Frank's case, even the live boy does not apply.

Screaming at Barney Frank, though, may not have been the best tactic. It allow Barney Frank to validate the contempt he has for anyone who is not a northeastern liberal and to dismiss Bill O'Reilly's criticisms as "ranting." Perhaps next time a little more irony and mocking outrage and a little less Celtic rage might be appropriate.

Source: Woah! O'REILLY BLASTS BARNEY FRANK!..., Gateway Pundit, October 2nd, 2008