Bill O’Reilly Blames Freddie Mac and Fannie May trouble on Barney Frank on the Spin Zone.
Bill O’Reilly calls Barney Frank a coward.
O’Reilly:
… both parties are to blame as I’ve stated. Now the Factor has called on SEC Chairman Christopher Cox to resign, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd to quit, and House Finance Chief Barney Frank to step down from his position.
That’s because for the past two years his committee oversaw Fannie May and Freddie Mac — two government-sponsored lending agencies which pretty much are bankrupt. Congressman Frank was asked about Freddie and Fannie on July 14, 2008.
Barney Frank (recorded from July 14, 2008):
I think this is a case where Freddie and Fannie are fundamentally sound … that they are not in danger of going under … they’re not the best investment these days from the longterm standpoint … going back … I think they’re in good shape going forward. They’re in the housing market. I do think their prospects going forward are very solid and I think we’re going to do some thing that’s going to improve them.
Bill O’Reilly:
Now obviously that statement turned out not to be true. Joining us now from Washington is Congressman Frank. And we appreciate you comin’ in … because you’re a stand-up guy. But shouldn’t everybody in the country be angry with you right now?
Barney Frank:
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 their regulation 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 May … I worked with him on it. As he told the Financial Times, he thought ideological rigidity of the Bush administration stopped that … but the basic point is that … first time I had any real authority over this was January of 2007 and within two months we had passed the bill that regulated … and finally … and then also … one other point … the Senate was dragging its feet, as often happens, and in January 2008 I asked Secretary Paulson to put in the Stimulus Bill so the earliest chance I got to put tough regulation for Fannie May and Freddie Mac … we did it.
Bill O’Reilly:
Alright, that’s swell, but you still went out in July and said everything was great and off that a lot of people who bought stock and lost everything they had.
Barney Frank:
Oh no. I said it wasn’t a good investment.
Bill O’Reilly:
Oh yes. Oh yes. Don’t give me any of that … we just heard the words. What are you … you didn’t say that? Do you want me to play it again for ya?
Barney Frank:
Please stop yelling. You didn’t listen to it.
Bill O’Reilly:
No, I listened to every word you said. And I have the transcript right here.
Barney Frank:
I said it wasn’t a good investment.
Bill O’Reilly:
“Going forward we’re gonna be swell.” From August ’07 to August ’08. Don’t Don’t … stop the B.S. here. Stop the crap. From August ’07 to August ’08 uner your tutelage this industry declined 90 percent. Ninety percent!
Barney Frank:
You know the problem with going on your show? The problem going on your show …
Bill 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.
Barney Frank:
What do you mean, coward? Can I talk? May I talk?
Bill O’Reilly:
You’re a coward. You blame everybody else. You’re a coward.
Barney Frank:
Here’s the problem with going on your show. You start ranting. And the only way to respond is to almost look as boorish as you. But here’s the facts. I specifically said in the quote that 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 of 2008.
Bill O’Reilly:
Bottom line is you’re there two years … bottom line is stock drops 90 percent. Any private industry … you’re out! And any private concern, you’re out on your but. But not here in the federal government. You keep’em in and make every excuse in the world … blame everybody else in the world. And then call me boorish.
Barney Frank:
I’m not making excuses. I’m not going to be bullied by your ranting. You can rant all you want. You’re not going to shut me up. Problem was that we passed in 1994, in fact the bill …
Bill O’Reilly:
Now we’re back to 1994. This is bull. This is why Americans don’t trust the government.
Barney Frank:
No. This is why your stupidity gets in the way of rational discussion. The fact is, it was in 1994 that we passed the bill to tell the Fed to stop the sub-prime lending. We tried to get them to do it. The first time we were in power again in 2007 with passed a bill to regulate Fannie May and Freddie Mac. During the two years I was there.
Bill O’Reilly:
Congressman: You tried to put a happy face on this in July … and now you won’t take the … look at least Cox is man enough … at least Cox is man enough to say he screwed up. You’re not.
Barney Frank:
I’m not putting a happy face on anything. Hey Bill: This manliness stuff is very unbecoming from you. I don’t see … You think toughness is yelling and ranting and trying to bully … and 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 regulation adopted.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called Barney Frank a ‘maestro’ politicians to work in a bipartisan way to pass economic rescue legislation.
“Under the leadership of our chairman, Barney Frank, as I called him on the floor, a maestro, we were able to make improvements, working in a bipartisan way, making improvements in the legislation, and then make more improvements in the legislation before it came back to the floor today.”
Barney Frank mocked the Republican party’s “hurt feelings” after the first “bailout” vote failed — commenting about 12 Republicans who allegedly voted against the passage of the bill because of Pelosi’s partisan speech, “I’ll make an offer. Give me those 12 people’s names and I will go talk uncharacteristically nicely
to them and tell them what wonderful people they are and maybe they’ll now think about the country.”
More info …
Bill O’Reilly on Wikipedia
House Finance Chief Barney Frank on Wikipedia
Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission Christopher Cox on Wikipedia
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd on Wikipedia
U.S. Representative Mike Oxley on Wikipedia
Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Wikipedia
Securities and Exchange Committiee (SEC) on Wikipedia