Barney Frank quotes - page 2

And I think there is too much bloviating around from politicians. (Barney Frank)
It is because the fight against the harshest aspects of unrestricted capitalism is therefore a political problem and not an intellectual one that community action remains so essential. View quote
Barney Frank
Martin Luther King said, and it is sadly still true, that one of the most segregated times in America is the hour of worship. View quote
Barney Frank
Before this learning experience, I had assumed that with regard to programs that sought to help people out of poverty, the political world was essentially divided into two camps: conservatives who opposed these for a variety of reasons, and liberals who supported them. View quote
Barney Frank
Increasing inequality in income distribution in this country has broader policy implications, and there is also the growing problem of perverse incentives that result from executives receiving grossly disproportionate compensation based on decisions they themselves take. View quote
Barney Frank
The left and the right live in parallel universes. The right listens to talk radio, the left's on the Internet and they just reinforce one another. They have no sense of reality. I have now one ambition: to retire before it becomes essential to tweet. View quote
Barney Frank
I think there was an absolute, deep gap between consensual relations between adults, which people may like or dislike, and people who physically impose themselves on children or misuse their authority to impose on children. View quote
Barney Frank
Well, many of us believe that excessive media concentration is a subject that ought to be addressed, and it is, of course, the intention of the majority party not to allow that to be discussed. View quote
Barney Frank
Community action is as valuable a principle on the international level as it has been domestically. View quote
Barney Frank
I hope we will not so characterize religious people as being so narrow and so biased towards people not of their own religion that they cannot even work with them in this common cause to which you say they are committed. View quote
Barney Frank
While I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively high number of jobs created in April, the fact is that job creation during this recovery period has significantly lagged both historical experience in recovery, and the projections of the Bush Administration. (Barney Frank)
Here's the story: There's a terrible crisis affecting the American economy. We have come together on a bill to alleviate the crisis. And because somebody hurt their feelings they decide to punish the country. I mean, I would not have imputed that degree of pettiness and hypersensitivity [...] But think about this: Somebody hurt my feelings so I will punish the country. I mean, that's hardly plausible. And there are 12 Republican members who were ready to stand up for the economic interests of America but not if anybody insulted them. 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. View quote
Barney Frank
The opposite of pragmatism is not idealism. It's wishful thinking. View quote
Barney Frank
... [they] believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth... View quote
Barney Frank
I've seen anti-Semitism essentially disappear in my adult life as a social and economic factor. There may be some nuts out there, but generally things are fine. I think the same thing will happen with gayness. We'll get to a point soon enough where it's not even an issue anymore. But progress can be slow. I filed my first gay rights bills in 1972 in Massachusetts. Forty years later, it would be nice to have this wrapped up and put to bed. View quote
Barney Frank
I'm surprised to find absence of explicit anti-Semitism this time. Was a page missing? View quote
Barney Frank
This bill is the legislative equivalent of crack. It yields a short-term high but does long-term damage to the system and it's expensive to boot. View quote
Barney Frank
But here too it should be noted that the President's approach was to first ask the repressive and brutal Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden to us, and only after that government refused to do that did we invade. View quote
Barney Frank
But on those occasions when I do strongly disagree with the Democrats and I don't say anything, I think I forfeit my right to have people pay attention to me when I say the things that I don't like about what Republicans are saying. View quote
Barney Frank
I had always been interested in politics. I had assumed - for two reasons, being Jewish and being gay back in the late '50s, early '60s - that I would never be elected or anything, but I would participate as an activist. View quote
Barney Frank
Most people who are activists and are concerned about issues get their information from sources which reinforce their opinions and give them the facts that they want to hear. (Barney Frank)
I was still closeted, but from the day I decided to run for office, knowing that I was gay, I decided that I would, of course, still be closeted but that I would work very hard for gay rights. It would be totally dishonorable, being gay, not to do that. So I had that as kind of a secondary agenda. View quote
Barney Frank
I have been mislabeled as a big advocate of low-income home ownership over rental. View quote
Barney Frank
For most of my life, I have eaten to deal with stress. View quote
Barney Frank
Lawyers are very, very good at keeping you out of prison, but they will sacrifice your reputation and credibility to do so. View quote
Barney Frank