"We've managed to establish here - although it was like pulling teeth - that Barney Frank does deserve some blame for the financial crisis."

No, no, no--not "Barney Frank." CONGRESS. Agreed: Barney Frank is in Congress, so yes, he's JUST AS CULPABLE as Strom Thurmond, Harry Reid, John McCain, Ted Kennedy, Larry Craig, etc.

Now for some reason (I have my guess), you want to single out Barney Frank, but you keep confusing two separate issues:

1) Barney Frank is corrupt and scummy

2) Barney Frank caused the global meltdown

What's so funny is that you act as if you have this knowledge, but I ask, "What did Frank do that helped cause the meltdown?" and you don't have a clue. The reason you can't answer the question is that what you've asserted just isn't true.

In answer to the other question: was he negligent or lying?

He could very well have been BOTH, but my opinion is that he was IGNORANT and MISTAKEN. This could lead to the conclusion that he was negligent, but it would be useful to see more facts first. Whatever information Frank was getting from the banks was what they decided to show him, and there's no guarantee that he was getting accurate reports about banks' risks. (Why would Frank have gotten accurate info when no one else in the country did, including the companies' shareholders?)

So what's your story, anyway? Are you willfully attempting to mislead people, or just ignorant and mistaken?

I know you're not "informed," because if you were, you'd be able to support your assertion with some facts.

Too funny!

We've managed to establish here - although it was like pulling teeth - that Barney Frank does deserve some blame for the financial crisis. No one has argued that Bawney was either lying or incredibly negligent when he publicly stated in July 2008 that Fannie and Freddie were fundamentally sound.

That's progress.

We've even seen some liberals admit - painful as it was, and stomping their feet and flailing their arms all the way - that Bawney has exhibited some awfully shady behavior, taking money and favors from the industry upon which he is supposed to be exercising oversight.

Now it took lots of posts, and many personal attacks, "Lookit George Bush," and claims of being a homophobe to get there, but we finally did it.

And despite K Trout's verbal diarrhea here, even she has to admit that Bawney holds some blame for the financial crisis. Which is far more than the arrogant lisping politican himself has ever admitted. I'm well pleased.

1) I can't help but get a tiny iota of satisfaction in knowing that TUT has learned something over the course of the past few days. The continuing vapidity and seemingly intentional attempt to appear ignorant and obtuse is symptomatic of someone who has begun to question the propaganda their masters have spewed forth for the last 30 years. At the very least, his myths have been exposed to him. It is why he must return to Salon day after day and argue with the "leftists" or "liberals" - because he knows that those are the only people who proffer their opinions here. How? He just does.

2) TUT's position, namely the unique imagined culpability of Barney Frank, and the right's inability to criticize anyone with an (R) after their name is very telling. TUT is here to make spurious noise - something employed to great effect by the GOP in the past. It goes something like this: a)they know they're likely going to get the blame for the majority of the financial crisis - heck they wrote the laws that enabled, and failed to regulate the practices that could have prevented or delayed the crisis. For this reason it is important to create a smokescreen in the way of noise and false premises. They own the media, and have the most dedicated members of the tribe, so they control the message. Blame the Democrats. This is obvious in that TUT simply lies and waves off any refutation thereof. Furthermore he refuses to acknowledge what has been written in contradiction to the strawmen (noise) he constructs. b)The GOP is suffering from a collective victim's complex only exacerbated by the trampling they've taken in the polls, at the ballot box, and in the media lately. This will only increase both the level of noise and the degree to which the message is disconnected from reality - both past and present. As more of the lies, hypocrisy, and corruption of the previous administration and the Republican Congress are exposed, expect it to reach the level of a million shrill screams.

People like the unhealthy mind are only the first in a wave of stupidity and lies sure to be unleashed in the coming years. As the reality based community discusses both the pros and cons of the Obama/Democrat government and demands concessions and adherence to the rule of law, right wing tribalists will only amp up the message - "Democrats are Evil" - while offering NOTHING of substance and seeking to pollute the discourse with noise in the attempt to create and bolster partisan division and prevent "the other side" from accomplishing anything - at all costs (see Monica Lewinsky).

The Unhealthy Mind is just a pathetic minion in the noise machine, and I am thankful to have had the chance to see an inflexible mind incapable of deviating from irrelevant, juvenile, and/or asinine thought processes in action.

Hey there, buddy. In case you want to educate yourself on the contributions from Fannie/Freddie to politicians here's a nice link:

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html

I have no expectations that you'll click on it, much less read any farther than the first 5 or so names on the list - but it's there for you to see.

Now, would you kindly stop evading my question? Namely: Can you point out any "conservative" or "right leaning" blogs or authors that have implicated any politician with an (R) after their name for being a part of the financial crisis?

DIDN'T THINK SO. COWARD.