Fwank Bawks Back

At least he's calling it like he sees it.

Here's Barney Frank, who's to the Left of most anyone in the entirety of both houses of Congwess. He is an avid and die hard supporter of the proposed health care legislation, and his town hall meeting had all the familiar symptoms of those we've seen elsewhere, from New York to Missouri and Arkansas: rowdy.

But this is Bawney Fwank we're talking about here. Wowdy might be his middle name.

I have no problem with this, speaking independently of the situation at hand, regardless of any political affiliation one might have that would endorse or decry his fighting back. This is how legislation works. The people give, the delegate gives back. The politician ought to always be civil, but civility has never been exclusively set apart from standing your ground in the face of unrelenting and stubborn opposition, no matter how humorous standing your ground sounds.

Plus, I think the comparison to Nazis is a tad strong. Comparing things you oppose to Nazism is a move most white people have played out. It's lost its snazz. There are a number of different things sensible people could vocally oppose in this bill before having to compare it to the death of millions and millions of people due to overt and government-sponsored racism.

Anyway, he called the lady an alien dinner table. That was pretty funny.

Lincoln: Up Yours, Vocal & Active Constituency!

I would have loved to have seen the look on Steve Patterson's face around 11 in the morning, as Sen. Lincoln was wrapping up her press conference with Arkansas reporters on Thursday.

Patterson, Lincoln's campaign manager who is most certainly gearing up for a tough re-election bid, was probably sitting in his office in Little Rock, or maybe even her office in D.C. Depending on if or how big his breakfast was, maybe he was thinking about lunch.

Should I go to Wendy's again? he might've been pondering. But I just went there yesterday...but nobody saw me. Maybe I can go there again...I did almost get the spicy chicken. Maybe I'll get that today. But those square patties are-...

Then he heard that buzz word, that word that says so much while spelling so little: un-American. He could've sworn he had heard it from his client, Sen. Lincoln's mouth.

She must be talking about how dumb and polarizing and really, really dumb it was to use that word to discuss a politically biased stance, he probably mused to himself. Man, that Bush guy really helped us out by doing that.

Then his expression probably became a little more grim, aspirations of a delicious chicken sandwich, Frosty, and routine incumbent election quickly evaporating into the vapors. Had Sen. Lincoln had just called several hundred of her vocal constituency "un-American?"

Hang on, Steve might've thought to himself, in that low, booming voice that I hope is his inner-thought voice as well, Blanche is smarter than this. He'd be right, too. Sen. Lincoln frustrates many conservatives with her ability to tread politically difficult matters with somewhat ease, if not persistent thoroughness. Being a Democrat, her party and those running it are decidedly more liberal than probably she is, but most certainly more so than her constituency is. She has threaded the needle, as they say, and done so quite well with such a large bull's eye on her back.

She may weave 27 minute answers to some questions, but she has her points, sticks to them, and rarely gives much away.

Oh, she couldn't have done that, Steve, time to lay off the crazy pills, this isn't a Styx and Kansas concert, laughed Patterson to himself.

“It’s so sad, because it’s diminishing to the process, it’s diminishing to our outcome...I think it’s sad that they choose to do that," he recalled her saying. "I think it’s un-American and disrespectful."

I am going to throw up all over these tasseled loafers, a now pale and mortified Arkansas campaign manager may have thought to himself.

She had. She had called her some of her most vocal constituency "un-American." Not only are they the most vocal, but judging by their likely political leanings, they're a constituency that would be most offended by being branded as "un-American." They're vocal, they're on the move, they're willing to campaign against her now for no wage or interest other than their own: They will be a terrible nightmare for business, thought Patterson.

Some of these nuts are running against her already, Patterson might have pondered, noting the growing roster of Ricky Randoms, many of whom nobody outside their small circle of friends and relatives would know, recognize, or lend any help to. All of those guys just got a little more credibility, the now-worry-wrought Steve Patterson might have thought.

Maybe it won't be that bad, he might have scrambled in his head, trying to weave his way around the situation. He'd be fooling himself. While it's certainly no "that Jew" statement, it certainly is self-stubbing of the toe. Sen. Lincoln tripped up, insulted her constituency (much in the same way that Curtis Coleman chap did, eh?), and now looks like she's going to have to eat those words in every debate and campaign ad.

Will it cost her the election? Doubtful, as all of her challengers are those people who are best defined as 'ambiguous.' But someone well-funded with a compelling narrative that's relatively well-liked? It could be a loud speed bump, and we're only just in August of 2009...There's time, Patterson might have concluded, both optimistically at the time to dig herself out of the hole presented here and in her polling numbers and pessimistically at the time for a real candidate to emerge.

What in the name of holy flying horse snot is going on with this campaign?! Patterson thought madly to himself, the only visible sign of his rising anger a small twitch of his left eyelid. You know what, I hate this freaking job! This has got to be the most worthless, hapless, hopeless re-election campaign I've ever been a part of. I wake up every morning, look at those poll numbers, and curl up in a little fetal ball and cry my eyes out, because this is just a mess, Patterson might have mused as his face became more red and his knuckles became more white. Two terms? TWO TERMS?! What kind of amateur, rookie, bush-league, open-mic night at the Apollo is this Senate race supposed to be, huh? Now fuming in his own mind, I swear to God Almighty I am going to go off on a Clark-Griswold-esque rant that may or may not involve me punching numerous interns and aides in the face and thrusting my head in the toilet until the someone drags me out and puts me in the dumpster out back with the rest of the toiletries and all the health care reform placards and pickets!

He paused. Inhaled.

"Uh...Blanche? I think we should issue a retraction."

Fwank to Woss: I See Yo-ah Blue Dawgs and Waise You the Pwogwessive Caucus

Sausage is getting made in the House on health care reform. And it ain't pretty.

First, Mike Ross and his 54-strong Blue Dog Coaltion put the brakes on the monorail-speed health care legislation. Ross claimed that the decidedly more liberal Party Leadership was excluding the input of moderate Democrats while hammering out legislation that would affect all constituencies.

It lead to a big stink being raised by the Blue Dogs, a signing of a letter, and subsequent concessions being made for moderates, namely the punting of the debate into September. Because nothing says "I'm dead freaking serious" like a sternly worded letter.

This effectively derailed the arrival of legislation past its deadline of before the August recess. Many have called this a tremendous victory for Ross and the Blue Dogs. Many Republicans are claiming that they have a newfound hope that they can stop this legislation as successfully as they did in the early 90's during the Clinton Administration, which I'm not sure was the intention of the Blue Dogs.

Not so fat fast!, says U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, and his band of mewwy cohawts. According to Patty O'Conner of O'Politic, House Democrats of the more liberal persuasion are running a play from the Blue Dog playbook. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, boasting a 83 member roster, has authored its own letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reaffirming their goals to get health care legislation passed, including beinhg prepared to vote against any bill that doesn't require government-sponsored public health care plans to pay providers some multiple of Medicare costs.

Frank has already gone on the record to say that he would not vote for the health care legislation that seemed to be proposed at the compromisorial meeting between Waxman and the Blue Dogs.

There are 435 members of the House. 54 are Blue Dogs ready to stop this health care funride. 83 are in the Progressive Caucus and there are 178 Republicans, who now, by the way, are seeing an open door to bluntly opposing all of the proposed legislation lock, stock and barrel, without fear of partisan backlash - if the Democrats can't get on the same page, why should Republicans?

I'm no doctor but it seems like either 232 or 261 or maybe more stand ready to oppose this bill. Those shouldn't be confident numbers on either side. Expect this August recess to be less about hammering out policy and more about getting these Blue Dogs and these Progressives reading from the same page of the hymnal.