Barney Frank On Biden: 'He Can't Keep His Mouth Shut Or His Hands To Himself'

[karynnj]

24. Frank, like Biden, has a habit of saying things without considering the consequenses

I think that Frank would often say impolitic clever things - sometimes just for the fun of seeing the results. I really don't understand why he felt the need to say this about Biden, who after all rose to be VP. Now, consider who gets picked to run as VP - it is ONLY those who the party (and especially the Nominee) consider very likely to help the candidate win and very unlikely to take the ticket down. Biden was selected by people who knew him very well.

In fact, given the dynamics of 2008 - which favored whoever won the Democratic nomination, the BIGGEST concern had to be to pick someone who would not become a liability. (For McCain, Palin was a gamble - he was very likely to lose if he did nothing unusual. Supposedly, the bold thing he wanted to do - picking Lieberman - was strongly attacked by his party -- so he picked Alaska's governor.)

I think the two things are negative characterizations of real Biden traits, but expressed far too strongly and negatively. He is a very effusive person and, to some, that is his charm.

Could it be that Frank either wants attention -- or he is acting as Ann Lewis' brother? (Lewis is a long time Hillary Clinton person.)

Frank himself was a brilliant public servant - incredible on domestic policy. (In fact, he was one of the people Kerry used to prepare for the domestic policy debate in 2004.) On the negative side his acid humor sometimes was misplaced and he was not exactly a role model of a politician.