Barney Frank is one of the most well-known members of the United States Congress. His sharp wit and even sharper tongue provides the media, pundits, and political observers with a seemingly endless supply of one-liners that Sarah Palin only wishes she could deliver.

Nearly everyone refers to him simply as Barney. He’s become one of those politicians who is so well branded that the entire world seems to be on a first name basis. It’s a rare status in the political world but one that is well deserved in his case.

Tags: Barney Frank, Congress, Lane Hudson, Stuart Weisberg

What’s the way forward? It’s time for the White House and Democratic Leadership to get its act together and put together the votes. The political reality is that passing a bill with a robust public option is NOT a liability.

Tags: Barack Obama, Harry Reid, health care reform, Nancy Pelosi

Mr. President:

Please accept my apology for interrupting your speech at Netroots Nation. I was raised in the South, as you were, and my mother taught me better. But once in a while, the circumstances of history throw manners out the window.

I love Bill Clinton, but we all make mistakes. Sometimes we even are forced to do things we don’t want to. That’s why I was prepared to ask Bill Clinton a tough question last night as he delivered the opening keynote address at Netroots Nation 2009.

It’s important to learn lessons from the things we do so that we can do better the next time around. There are many lessons the White House can take away from last Wednesday’s announcement about benefits to gay Federal employees. Monday morning quarterbacking is far easier than governing, so this analysis is meant with the intention to help the White House get it right the next time, the time after that, and the time after that and…..Get my drift?

Tags: Barack Obama, civil rights, Gay rights

Yesterday, there was inaccurate reporting on Congressional review of laws passed by the DC Council. (Even Ezra Klein got it wrong, which is rare!) It’s an easily misunderstood process and very few people have a full understanding of it. I’ve attempted to simplify the process and apply it to the circumstances which prompted the inaccurate reporting.

Tags: civil rights, DC Council, Gay rights, Marriage Equality

Nearly a year and a half ago, Fred Thompson was called to task on his blatant abuse of the ‘testing the waters’ exemption of campaign finance law. That complaint was a compilation of research and writing by progressive bloggers. It was also a result of wide coverage in the mainstream media about Thompson’s lack of compliance with the law.

Rudy Giuliani is a hypocrite who thinks he should live by rules different than others. He attacked MoveOn.org and the New York Times for the rate charged for a newspaper ad. Promptly, he ran an ad in response and paid….wait for it….the SAME amount.

Since the NYT says it was a mistake that they were charged the lower amount, MoveOn promptly paid the difference in an ‘abundance of caution’.

Rudy Giuliani can’t get a firefighter to save his life.

Rudy wants you to think he’s an American hero. After all, he put an emergency response center in the middle of the biggest terror target in America. He also did not equip firefighters with essential communications equipment.

Everybody knows that, right?