Frank Lambastes Republican Views

In 1957, the Harvard Democrats introduced U.S. Congressman Barney Frank ’62, D-Mass., to the world of politics, and last night he returned to Cambridge as their guest to offer his take on the current political landscape to an audience of about 60.

His speech in the Eliot Junior Common Room focused mainly on his concerns with the Republican party and the Bush administration.

“This administration has the economics of Calvin Coolidge and the social views of William Jennings Bryan,” Frank said.

At one point in his speech, which lasted more than an hour and criticized the Bush administration on issues like the war in Iraq and gay rights, Frank labelled those who describe themselves as “independent” as “airheads.”

“Given the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties today, if you are not voting as a partisan, you are not voting intelligently,” he said.

He later described Republicans who voted in favor of keeping Terri Schiavo alive as “crazy people that want to ruin our lives.”

Turning to the 2004 presidential election, he said the Republican victory had nothing to do with moral issues, but was due instead to President Bush’s clever manipulation of the emotions of the American people after September 11, 2001.

“They put a 2001 twist on so many things,” he said.

Frank voted against giving Bush authorization to go to war in Iraq, unlike many Democrats who grew critical of the war only when the intelligence justifying the invasion of the war proved specious.

“[Bush’s] defense in his assertion of WMD is not that he was right but that other people were wrong also,” said Frank.

He turned to the Supreme Court, accusing President Bush of “blinking and winking and nodding” when it came to the appointment of a Hispanic, but never following through. After the President nominated Harriet Miers, Frank said, “it’s hard to argue that no Hispanic made the high bar.”

On the issue of abortion, Frank said he would vote against confirming Bush Court nominee Samuel Alito, because he predicted the nominee would try to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case.

Given Frank’s status as an openly gay politician, it seemed no surprise to the audience when, toward the end of his speech, he said he felt the majority of Americans were not “anti-gay.”

“They’ve just heard from a lot of respectable people who say it would be chaotic,” Frank said about gay marriage.

He said that gay and lesbian individuals, “have managed to validate something long proven—that women want to get married much more than men do”—referring to the fact that the vast majority of same-sex marriages are between women. “Left to themselves, heterosexuals could never prove this,” he said as the crowd erupted in laughter.

Frank also wondered whether moderate Republicans would ever break from their party, adding that they always stuck to the party line on important votes, only voting with Democrats when the stakes were low. He accused John McCain of being very conservative and Ralph Nader of being a “pain in the ass” who took away 3 million votes in the 2000 election.

Frank said the Republicans had the aim of “exacerbating inequality.” He accused them of wanting to destroy unions and Social Security, describing the Republican mantra as “the more inequality you have, the better the society there will be.”

Frank said he believes this is the time for Democrats to be on the offensive.

Referring to the upcoming 2006 Congressional elections, Frank said he felt there was “a reasonable chance that the Democrats will take the House back.”

If this were to happen, he said he expects to be the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Frank said he would have run for John Kerry’s Senate seat had it been vacated.

Eric P. Lesser ’07, president of the Harvard Dems, described Frank as “one of the smartest members of Congress.” He said he felt the Congressman connected well with the audience, especially given Frank’s connections to Harvard. In addition to being a cum laude graduate of the College, Frank holds a cum laude degree from Harvard Law School, and was a tutor in Eliot House for two years.