Barney Frank and Bill O'Reilly Fight Over Roots of Housing Crisis

Barney Frank and Bill O’Reilly Fight Over Roots of Housing Crisis

Posted by J.G. Anderson on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

In the leadup to the big Palin-Biden debate tonight, Fox News viewers were treated to some early fireworks as Bill O’Reilly savaged Democratic House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank for his role in allegedly propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the past two decades. YouTube clips of Frank strenuously defending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2004 House hearings have spread virally via conservative blogs.

O’Reilly took a different tack and played a July 2008 clip, only a few days before the final collapse and government bailout of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, in which Frank stated that the “long term” prospects of Fannie Mae were “solid” and that they were “fundamentally sound”. Frank started off by stating that he couldn’t pass any legislation because the GOP was in charge, pointing to a 1994 attempt to regulate Fannie Mae and a 2007 bill he passed, while refusing to take any personal responsibility for the present economic collapse.

O’Reilly pounced, shouting “stop the crap” and demanding Frank admit he is at fault for the collapse of the giant government sponsored entities. Frank again tried to highlight his claimed attempts to regulate Fannie Mae, and O’Reilly attacked again, arguing that Fannie Mae fell 90% in value after August 2007 and Frank did not warn anyone.

Then O’Reilly called Frank a coward, taunting him with “come on you coward,” “say the truth,”
“your a coward.” Frank responded that “you start ranting, only way to respond is to look as boorish as you” and proceeded to say he “didnt tell anyone to buy stock” and again claimed he tried to get regulations adopted. O’Reilly responded: “any private concern, you’re out on your butt.” Frank swung back with “rant all you want arent going to shut me up,” claimed that the 1994 he referenced tried to stop subprime lending by Fannie Mae and then that “your stupidity gets in the way of rational discussion.”

O’Reilly retorted that “people lost millions” and reiterated his claim that the “folks” bought stock based on Frank’s appearance on CNBC in July 2008. Then there was a brief free for all with Frank attacking the format of the show, O’Reilly’s anger and claimed that O’Reilly is “too dumb to understand”. O’Reilly finished the night with a clearly planned line: that Frank presided over the “biggest financial crash in federal history”, and then cut Frank off.

All in all, very little substantive discussion of Frank’s longstanding defense against tighter regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the Bush Administration, but an entertaining prelude to tonight’s big Palin-Biden debate.

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