This is pretty funny. O’Reilly is so obsessed with trying to blame everyone that he goes freaking ballistic when he finds out there’s nothing about Fannie Mae he can pin on Barney Frank, so instead he tries to take another route that has nothing to do with regulation and just blame Frank for supposedly encouraging people to buy their stock even though he specifically said it was a bad investment.
Here’s what O’ Reilly said a couple of days ago:
“Most talk radio is conservative dominated ideologues, or kool-aid drinking idiots. Idiots. Screaming at you “This is socialism, this is this this is that””It’s Clintons fault, it’s Clinton’s fault.” It’s Clinton’s fault? Clinton hasn’t been in office in 8 years.
It’s Bush’s fault, it happened on Bush’s watch. He could’ve prevented this. He could’ve gone easily and said Merrill Lynch is dealing in bad paper he could’ve said that.Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac they’re dealing in bad paper, so you the investor, don’t invest in those companies. You think they would’ve continued to deal in bad paper? No they would not!
But let’s get back to this talk radio stuff. These idiots are misleading you they’re lying to you They’re rich, these guys, Big cigars, all of that! Private jets, “Oh yeah, my private jet!”And they’re saying “No bailout, no no uh uh no way”Hey! You’re going to get it, not them. That foreign investment pulls out, we are toast. And they’ll pull out if that bailout doesn’t happen. Are you getting the message here? Walk away from these liars, these right wing liars. Walk away from them, they’re not looking out for you!
I don’t even want to talk about the far left Barney Frank? Disgusting! Pointing fingers? It’s you you big fat toad, YOU!Frank!You!Dodd, sittin’ there [incomprehensible impression of Dodd] It’s you Dodd, you! You knew! I swear to god, if they were in this room right now, I would hit them. Dodd and FrankThe house finance and senate finance. They knew!
Don’t point a finger at anybody, I’ll break that finger off! So you got corruption on the right, and corruption on the left. And who gets it? You get it, you, the hardworking person
The next politician that gets up their and points a finger, I’m go after them myself Shut up! Fix it! These are people’s livesI got enough money in the bank. Unless a bank fails, I’m fine. But you’re probably not fine. I’m lucky.
I’m tired of these charlatans on both sides. Lying to you, because they’re ideological kool-aid drinkers or corrupt toadsAnd I’m talkin to you Barney FrankWho’s the guy who was saying, “If you don’t lend money to poor people you’re a bigot”Who was saying that barney, WHO?![pause] I gotta take a break.”
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Bill has gone way too far in the blame game in my opinion. Does he really think Bush saw this coming? Bush is an idiot. I don’t even think Cheney saw this coming. No one did, except the guys who ran the housing prices high and then got out. I’m sure they knew what they were doing. But other than that, it’s the philosophy of deregulation that is to blame rather than people. But of course Conservatives don’t want to hear that, so they’ll just blame the government and say a badly-run Republican government only proves the Conservative/Neo-Con philosophy has been right all along. This is the response he got from conservative radio host Mark Levin:
“And I’m not talking to some of you backbenchers, and you know who I mean,” said Levin. “These blowhards. You get arrogant, stupid people who get paid a lot of money to be on radio and TV to be arrogant and stupid. And one of them, one of them is on the Fox News Channel, my favorite cable channel. And he has a fledgling radio show that has no ratings, and he’ll be off radio soon because he’s a failure. It’s the non-factor: Bill O’Reilly.
“And he is no conservative,” said Levin. “He’s another mainstream, moron, phony journalist. That’s what he is. And, oh, jealous like hell of Rush Limbaugh. Did you notice that? The cigar and the airplane? Let me tell you something else, jerk. You can’t hold a candle to him.” Your ratings suck.”
“You paid more in hush money for your little phone sex than I’ve ever earned.”
A veteran T.V. journalist actually lost his job for pointing out O’Reilly’s phone sex case to those awarding O’Reilly an Emmy:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/27/barry-nolan/
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Congressman Frank was asked about Freddie and Fannie on July 14, 2008:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/10/03/world-war-iii-barney-frank-vs-bill-oreilly/#more-33396
REP. BARNEY FRANK, D-MASS.: I think this is a case where Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound, that they are not in danger of going under. They’re not the best investments these days from the long-term standpoint going back. I think they are in good shape going forward.
They’re in a housing market. I do think their prospects going forward are very solid. And in fact, we’re going to do some things that are going to improve them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O’REILLY: Well, obviously, that statement turned out not to be true.
Joining us now from Washington is Congressman Frank. And we appreciate you coming in, being a standup guy, but shouldn’t everybody in the country be angry with you right now?
FRANK: No. You’ve misrepresented this consistently. I became chairman of the committee on January 31st, 2007. Less than two months later, I did what the Republicans hadn’t been able to do in 12 years — get through the committee a very tough regulatory bill. And it passed the House in May.
I’ve always felt two things about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that they had an important role to play, but that the regulations should be improved.
Now from 1995 to 2006, when the Republicans controlled Congress and we were in the minority, we couldn’t get that done. Although in 2005, Mike Oxley, of Sarbanes-Oxley fame, a pretty tough guy on regulation, did try to put a bill through to regulate Fannie Mae. I worked with him on it. As he told The Financial Times, he thought ideological rigidity in the Bush administration stopped that.
But the basic point is that the first time I had any real authority over this was January of 2007. And within two months, we had passed the bill that regulated.
O’REILLY: OK. And that’s true, all of that is true.
FRANK: And then also, one other point: The Senate was dragging its feet, as often happens. And in January of 2008, I asked Secretary Paulson to put in the stimulus bill. So, the earliest chance I got to put tough regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we did it.
O’REILLY: All right, that’s swell. But you still went out in July and said everything was great. And off that, a lot of people bought stock and lost everything they had.
FRANK: Oh, no.
O’REILLY: And — yes, oh yes. Oh, yes.
FRANK: I said it wasn’t a good investment. Please stop yelling.
O’REILLY: Don’t give me any of that, we just heard the words. What are you…
FRANK: That’s wrong.
O’REILLY: You didn’t say that? You want me to play it again for you?
FRANK: You didn’t listen to it.
O’REILLY: No, I listened to every word you said. And I have the transcript right here.
FRANK: No, and I said it wasn’t a good investment.
O’REILLY: Yes, you said going forward, we’re going to be swell.
FRANK: No, I didn’t say swell. Excuse me, Bill.
O’REILLY: Look, from August ‘07 to August ‘08.
FRANK: Excuse me, Bill.
O’REILLY: Don’t — look, stop the B.S. here. Stop the crap! From August ‘07 to August ‘08…
FRANK: You know, here’s the problem going on your show…
O’REILLY: …under your tutelage, this industry…
FRANK: Here is the problem going on your show.
O’REILLY: …declined 90 percent. 90 percent.
FRANK: Yes, but…
O’REILLY: Oh, none of this was your fault! Oh, no. People lost millions of dollars. It wasn’t your fault. Come on, you coward! Say the truth.
FRANK: What do you mean coward?
O’REILLY: You’re a coward. You blame everybody else. You’re a coward.
FRANK: Bill, here’s the problem with going on your show. You start ranting. And the only way to respond is almost to look as boorish as you. But here’s the facts. I specifically said in the quote you just played that I didn’t think it was a good investment. I wasn’t telling anybody to buy stock. I said it wasn’t a good investment.
Secondly, I wasn’t presiding idly over this. I was trying to get the regulations adopted. We got them adopted in May.
O’REILLY: Look, bottom line is you’re there two years. Bottom line is stock drops 90 percent.
FRANK: Yes.
O’REILLY: In any private industry, you’re out.
FRANK: We couldn’t get…
O’REILLY: In any private concern, you’re out on your butt. But not here in the federal government.
You can come in and make every excuse in the world.
FRANK: I’m not making excuses.
O’REILLY: Blame everybody else in the world and then call me boorish.
FRANK: I’m not going to be bullied by your ranting. You can rant all you want, you’re not going to shut me up! The problem was that we passed in 1994, in fact.
O’REILLY: Now we’re back to 1994. This is bull. This is why Americans don’t trust the government.
FRANK: No, this is why your stupidity gets in the way of rational discussion.
The fact is it was 1994 that we passed a bill to tell the Fed to stop the subprime lending. We tried to get them to do it. The first time we were in power again in 2007, we passed the bill to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
So during the two years I was there…
O’REILLY: Look, Congressman, you tried to put a happy face on this in July.
FRANK: I’m not putting a happy face on anything.
O’REILLY: You tried to — and now you won’t take the.
FRANK: No.
O’REILLY: Look, at least Cox is man enough.
FRANK: I said….
O’REILLY: At least Cox is man enough to say he screwed up. You’re not.
FRANK: Hey, Bill. This manliness stuff is very unbecoming from you. I don’t see any…
O’REILLY: Cox is man enough to say he screwed up. You’re not.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANK: You think toughness is yelling and ranting and trying to bully. It’s not going to work with me. The fact is in the very quote you played, I said it’s not a good investment. I tried to get the regulations adopted.
O’REILLY: You said going forward, it’s going to be swell. And people under that bought stock in that, thought it was a good investment.
FRANK: I didn’t say swell. I didn’t say swell. No, I said in fact in that quote that you played and didn’t listen to because you’re busy ranting that it’s not a good investment. I said that at the time. I did think we were going to improve things going forward. Yes, we had some things that needed improvement.
O’REILLY: All right, you want to — here, let me read you your quote here. OK? OK? “I do think the prospects going forward are very solid.”
FRANK: But that’s not the part about it not being a good investment.
O’REILLY: Now, people bought stock when you said that.
FRANK: You are distorting it. Bill, you’re lying by your words.
O’REILLY: This is what you said.
FRANK: What about the part where…
O’REILLY: Not lying. And I played it and I read it.
FRANK: What about the part where I said it wasn’t a good investment?
O’REILLY: You said it’s not the best right now, but going forward this is going to be solid.
FRANK: Right…
O’REILLY: People lost millions.
FRANK: I didn’t say solid, I didn’t say swell. You distort consistently. And you think ranting and raving…
O’REILLY: All right.
FRANK: …you don’t want to talk about 1994, like no history is relevant. The fact is that you had a problem with an administration — conservative.
(CROSSTALK)
O’REILLY: I know, it’s all the conservatives, it’s all the Republicans and not you.
FRANK: Oh, come on.
O’REILLY: None on you. That’s a joke.
FRANK: You won’t have a rational discussion.
O’REILLY: That’s a joke.
FRANK: The joke is to think I could have a rational discussion with you. You’re ranting.
O’REILLY: No, the joke is both parties are at fault, as I stated. But one guy Cox says yes, I screwed up.
FRANK: That’s a totally different issue.
O’REILLY: And one guy Frank says it’s everybody else’s fault.
FRANK: No, I didn’t say it was everybody else’s fault.
O’REILLY: It’s your fault.
FRANK: You are the most — you don’t listen at all, or maybe you are listening or you’re too dumb to understand.
O’REILLY: I am too dumb, Congressman.
FRANK: The fact is that in — yes.
O’REILLY: No, you hit it, I’m too dumb. You’re the brilliant guy.
FRANK: In 2007.
O’REILLY: You’re the brilliant guy who presided over the biggest financial collapse in federal history.
FRANK: Oh, no, no, no.
O’REILLY: So you’re the — I’m the dumb guy. You’re the brilliant guy.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANK: Under the Bush administration…
(CROSSTALK)
FRANK: And the fact is…
O’REILLY: Congressman, thanks very much. We got to run.
Which side are you coming down on this? Against a bailout completely? Unfortunately they’re not discussing anything else. There’s probably a better way out of this than $700 bil to the companies that destroyed us, but if the choice is either a yes or a no, then O’Reilly is right. (I hate to say it.) I think it’s a power grab. I think it’s horrible. But I don’t think just letting them fail is an option if it freezes credit for other businesses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis
Am I missing something? Barney Frank may not be the “cause” of the problem, but he did in fact say what O’Reilly is accusing him of: he did say it hasn’t been a great investment historically, but it was solid going forward. (Not that you should base your investments on something like that.)
The main reason I posted this is because I loved watching O’Reilly and Mark Levin getting into a fight. I think it was kind of theraputic after that whole Obama/Clinton fiasco.
About Barney Frank: Yeah, I agree. Frank definitely didn’t see the problem, but it’s silly to go ballistic for the people who bought stock in Fannie Mae. Who cares about that? We just care about why they failed, and it’s obvious that they were just one amongst many, and not at the root of the problem. McCain is just as much tied in with Freddie Mac and if what Barney Frank says is true about him getting more deregulation done in 3 months than the Republicans did in 12 years, then he may have done more good than harm. I’ve heard that he also stopped an investigation into Fannie Mae that would have uncovered this. Maybe that’s true — I haven’t read up on it — but the way this happened to everyone, I doubt any investigation would have seen anything wrong with it.
Perhaps I’m a little defensive because I’ve liked Barney Frank when he did appearances on Bill Maher’s show. And assuming that it’s true that “both sides are to blame”, it seems like him and Chris Dodd make up most of the “left” side of the problem.
I just saw on 60 Minutes a piece on how the central part of the problem was that all these banks were also selling “risk-reduction” packages to offset the risk of the loans, only they came from the same people, and since they weren’t technically “insurance”, they weren’t regulated and so they weren’t forced to set any money aside.
As for the bailout, I believe something needed to be done. I don’t know what that something is. It may have been the nationalization of the banks or a simple insertation of liquidity rather than the purchasing of bad paper. What I am completely and 100% against is that damn $150 billion in earmarks. It’s absolutely disgusting. Alec Baldwin said it’s like the paramedics driving you to the hospital stopped off for coffee.
I’m in Mandeville right now. It seems like all the conservatives around here are absolutely against it. I can understand their anger. Maybe they’re right. It’s like we’re getting robbed at gunpoint and some people are shouting that the bullets are duds, but a lot more people are yelling to just give him they money. Which do you believe?