Parting Views on the Departing Barney Frank

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Compiled by Kevin Price, Publisher and Editor in Chief, US Daily Review.

Barney Frank stunned the political world by announcing that he would not be seeking reelection to his long held US House seat.  The following our some of the news clips from various sources about the very liberal Congressman and the future of his seat:

The Wall Street Journal notes: 

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), an architect of last year’s landmark financial-regulation overhaul, said Monday he wouldn’t seek a 17th term, adding to a list of Democratic retirements that could hurt the party’s already slim chances of retaking the House next year.

His decision to leave Congress, the most high-profile Democrat to do so since 2010, will deprive liberals of one of their most outspoken champions and conservatives of a national political lightning rod.

The Massachusetts lawmaker cited a deteriorating political culture and a more pragmatic political rationale: new congressional-district lines approved by the Massachusetts’ legislature would substantially change his constituency. Mr. Frank, 71 years old, said he didn’t have the stomach for the electioneering necessary to introduce himself to thousands of new voters.

“I think I would have won but…(read more)

The New York Times states:

Representative Barney Frank, the tart-tongued liberal who has served in the House of Representatives for 30 years, said Monday that he had decided to retire in 2012 after his Massachusetts district was recently redrawn and it became clear that he would have to fight harder than he wanted for re-election.

Mr. Frank, 71, said he had intended to serve one more term but after seeing his redrawn district, which would give him more than 300,000 new constituents and would not include New Bedford, one of his mainstays, he changed his mind.

In a rambling news conference at city hall in Newton, his home base, Mr. Frank also said a potentially tough re-election battle would have distracted him from his policy priorities, like pushing for federal deficit reduction to include cuts in military spending and… (read more)

The Daily Caller says:

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank announced at a 1 p.m. press conference that he will not run for re-election in 2012, citing a tough political battle due to redistricting and “too many restrictions against what I want to do.”

“I would have had to work very hard,” Frank said, conceding that with — by his count — 25,000-26,000 new voters in his district, “It would have been a tough campaign.”

Frank’s district lost his stronghold of New Bedford and gained a number of more conservative-leaning towns.

When asked if he had any regrets about his role in the financial crisis, Frank replied, “What about the financial crisis?” adding, “I don’t have any regrets.”

The congressman instead laid the blame for the Fannie Mae–Freddie Mac subprime mortgage crisis on Republicans, especially then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Frank only became concerned for the wellbeing of the federally-backed lenders, he said, in 2005, asserting that in 2003 “I thought Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were doing well.”

“The first impact I made on Fannie and Freddie was in 2007,” he said. He was chairman of the House Financial Services Committee from 2007-2011.

Conservatives and tea partiers have made the repeal of his signature legislation, the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, a top (read more)

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