Barney Frank admits he was wrong about a "vast right-wing conspiracy"

[Tactical Progressive]

on the House floor.

He says it's apparent now that what we have is a "vast right-wing kleptocracy".

[BlueEyedSon]

1. He is just f'ing great, isn't he?

[Warpy]

11. Barney has been great at skewering Repugs since his early days

in the Massachusetts lege. I lived on Beacon Hill for a while and used to go watch him.

Actually, the only inaccurate part of the vast right wing conspiracy is the word, "vast." I have a terrible suspicion that when the investigations have been done and all the stolen money traced the whole thing will turn out to have been a very small conspiracy involving a very few rich families and a very few paid lackeys. The same names keep turning up in multiple places, and now the folks at GOPUSA have all been found to have been keeping mailboxes at Enron, Gannon/Guckert among them. See what I mean?

Whether or not we can kill the real kleptocracy, that going on with upper management at multinational corporations based in the USA, is still up for debate.

[Canuckistanian]

2. LOL!

First time I've heard a politician say that...

[JeffR]

3. Your title scared the hell out of me

Whew!
:scared:

[mom cat]

16. I knew there had to be a punch line

Barney is one of the best!

[patricia92243]

4. What is a kleptocracy

[arcane1]

5. ruled by kleptomaniacs

aka- thieves

[CJCRANE]

6. System where the politicians steal nt

[Nay]

7. A govt run by thieves.

[LiberalPartisan]

12. Kleptomaniacs running the country = kleptocracy

I've heard Jim Hightower use the phrase and a few others.

[Tactical Progressive]

13. A kleptomaniac

is someone who can't stop stealing, like shoplifters or people who steal from their neighbors. It's a form of mental illness driven by multiple factors from simple lack of self-control to the thrill of not getting caught.

It's a pretty good description of Republicans in power, though most kleptos know they're doing wrong - that's part of the thrill. Republicans think they have a right to everything they steal, so technically they are ethically insufficient to be true kleptos.

[CJCRANE]

8. I was wondering when the word "kleptocracy" would appear.

Seems appropiate.

[xchrom]

9. well, i'm glad he admitted it!

:applause:

[SlipperySlope]

10. LOL

[roguevalley]

14. I was worried until I read this. I love Barney. He's the smartest man

in the Congress.

[grasswire]

15. I've been missing Barney

Last night I was wishing that he would run across the aisle and lick Santorum on the face. Ha!

Another word that applies to the WH is "kakistocracy" -- government by the worst.

[Ron Mexico]

17. The guy cracks me up.

Tell me he couldn't so standup comedy better than a lot of the clowns doing it now.