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Whenever people are being intellectually dishonest in debate, it is an implicit concession they have lost the fight

Barney Frank

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Barney Frank
Age: 84
Born: 1940
Born: March 31
Former U.S. Representative
Politician
Bayonne
New Jersey
Barnett Frank
Fighting
Concession
Lost
Concessions
People
Dishonest
Implicit
Intellectually
Debate
Whenever
Fight

More quotes by Barney Frank

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They appear to have become so attached to their outrage that they are even more outraged that they won't be able to be outraged anymore.
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Ridicule is about the most powerful weapon possible.
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I had always been interested in politics. I had assumed - for two reasons, being Jewish and being gay back in the late '50s, early '60s - that I would never be elected or anything, but I would participate as an activist.
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I believe it is a good thing to get rid of Gaddafi. But does America have to do everything?
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There are no moderate Republicans left, with the exception of a few who would vote with us when it doesn’t make any difference,” Frank said. “It’s the most rigid ideological party since before the Civil War. … The bumper sticker I’m going to have printed up for Democrats this year is, ‘We’re not perfect, but they’re nuts.’
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If people knew of ethics violations, they should have sent them to the Ethics Committee. If you think there was serious ethics violation that ought to be looked at, you don't hold it back for retaliatory purposes.
Barney Frank
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Most people who are activists and are concerned about issues get their information from sources which reinforce their opinions and give them the facts that they want to hear.
Barney Frank
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I can tell you about health care and also about the financial reform bill. The Barack Obama, the President personally and his administration officials at his direction were very much involved.
Barney Frank
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And I think there is too much bloviating around from politicians.
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I should have voted for the first Iraq war. George Bush did that one very well. I had been skeptical. I was afraid that George Bush was going to treat the first Iraq war the way his son treated the second.
Barney Frank
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These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis.
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But when others suggested that the poor should not simply be the objects of these programs but also the subjects - that they should be actively involved in shaping the programs, making decisions about how to spend the money etc. - some of the previous supporters reconsidered.
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I was still closeted, but from the day I decided to run for office, knowing that I was gay, I decided that I would, of course, still be closeted but that I would work very hard for gay rights. It would be totally dishonorable, being gay, not to do that. So I had that as kind of a secondary agenda.
Barney Frank
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For most of my life, I have eaten to deal with stress.
Barney Frank
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Serving in Congress is like having a second shot at high school.
Barney Frank
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I think there was an absolute, deep gap between consensual relations between adults, which people may like or dislike, and people who physically impose themselves on children or misuse their authority to impose on children.
Barney Frank
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The people who started the American government, the founders of the Constitution, didn't like political parties but they were forced to start them. Nobody ever created political parties in England, they evolved. And there do tend to be two general tendencies that focus around how much government you think you need.
Barney Frank
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I do not believe that the federal government should treat adults who choose to smoke marijuana as criminals.
Barney Frank
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Bush senior used to say that we have more will than wallet. So he urged the country to attack poverty with a thousand points of light, none of which could be eaten.
Barney Frank
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Let us not say that we will decide on a political basis at the national level that no State is competent to regulate the practice of medicine in that State if they decide to allow a doctor to prescribe marijuana, because that is what we are talking about.
Barney Frank