Barney Frank: People pushing Elizabeth Warren to run in 2016 are doing her a disservice

[Cali_Democrat]

Barney Frank: I Support Elizabeth Warren's 'Intelligent Decision' Not To Run In 2016

Former Rep. Barney Frank said he fully supports Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's decision not to run for president in 2016.

"I support her very intelligent decision not to run for president," Frank told HuffPost Live on Tuesday.

Frank said people pushing Warren to run "do her a disservice" by encouraging her to step away from her influential role in the U.S. Senate, because "she's a tremendous force for good" there.

"If she were a presidential candidate, she would lose a lot of the credibility she now has," Frank said. "People in the media and others would be discounting her as just one more self-seeking politician."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/17/barney-frank-elizabeth-warren_n_6886862.html

[RKP5637]

1. Agree!!! n/t

[FSogol]

2. Gotta agree. n/t

[longship]

3. I love Elizabeth Warren. And I totally agree with Barney.

Elizabeth is an awesome US Senator. She wants to stay there. But for some here, such opinions are poisonous. Maybe they ought to ask Senator Warren... YET AGAIN... whether she will run for POTUS.

Meanwhile many are pleased as punch to have her taking a prominent place in the senate where she can do much good, just like Teddy, whose seat she sits in. Teddy would be very proud.

As I said, I love her madly.
R&K

[MADem]

23. Barney knows her well, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are speaking with some coordination.

I don't think he'd talk about her without her say-so on this matter.









A late relative of mine knew him, and his mother, fairly well--he's a great guy. As for my Senator, I think she's exactly where she needs to be right now--kicking ass and taking names.

[longship]

24. Thanks for the wonderful EW pics, MADem.

Much obliged.

How anybody would still want her to run for POTUS, is beyond me. She is a Cracker Jack senator. BTW, I was struck off the roles of the EW Group for saying so.

My best to you.

[MADem]

27. I think she's grand, too! As you can see, these shots go back to the campaign!

Consider that silly old banhammer a mark of pride--when they can't respond to your points, that's one easy way of shutting you up. Not a terribly bold way, either, IMO!

Now we pretty much know--as if we didn't know already from EW signing the RUN HRC letter and having her lawyer issue a "cease and desist" request to that fundraising PAC--that she's talking to her near and dear friends and asking them to help tamp down the noise machine.

But then, she's an intelligent senator, and as Barn says, she has made an intelligent decision. He should know--he's been backing her strongly since the early days, before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gig.

[longship]

28. As always, my best regards. nt

[stevenleser]

4. Not to mention, it's a lot of abuse that many folks simply may not want. And you lose your

freedom of movement forever if you win. You will always need a secret service person to plan your trip and escort you.

When anyone says they don't want to run, we should respect that.

[daleanime]

13. True, but I kind of want some one....

who isn't hungry for the job.

[stevenleser]

16. Someone who isn't hungry for it will never survive the process. Why would you go through that unless

you want it really badly? At some point, probably early in the primary process, you would say "eff it" this B.S. isn't worth it, I'm outta here.

[daleanime]

17. Sorry I wasn't more precise...

hungry for power, fame, prestige, the trappings of office, etc... No we don't need some one hungry for that.


Now some one determined to change the system and improve the lives of it's citizens, that we do need.



And every time some one tells me that we can't, it just makes me more determined.

[MohRokTah]

18. Soemone not hungry for it can never win.

That's the nature of the ebast.

[daleanime]

19. And you can't fight city hall.....

are you trying to convince me or yourself?



If the next presidential election is a standard, by the numbers affair, then we've all lost.

[MohRokTah]

21. I don't need to convince anybody.

It is a simple fact. IF you do not desire the job, you can never win an election for the job.

Period.

End of discussion.

Elizabeth Warren Does. Not. Want. The. Job.

[daleanime]

22. What discussion?

You don't want to listen and I've heard nothing to change my mind. Have a good nite.

[AtomicKitten]

5. Frank also argued that Dems don't need a vigorous primary.

video at link:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/03/16/barney_frank_on_hillary_clinton_2016_democrats_do_not_need_a_vigorous_primary_challenge.html

CHUCK TODD: We're going to do a lot more on your book in a few minutes and tape more of this. But very quickly, Hillary Clinton. Are you comfortable that she, you've argued before she should have a primary challenger, a robust one.

REP. BARNEY FRANK: No.

CHUCK TODD: Now-- I was just going to say, where do you stand on that?

REP. BARNEY FRANK: Oh, I'm not for that. When my friends on the left tell me they wanted a vigorous primary challenge, I ask them, do they fondly, do they think that Mitt Romney was helped by what happened? Did they want to replicate on our side?

No, and by the way, I was on the banking committee and the judiciary committee. I was for all of the Clinton investigations. And the fact, as you said, was nothing there, except for President Clinton and the oral sex.

CHUCK TODD: Should they handle it better? Could they handle it better?

REP. BARNEY FRANK: Yes people can. But I think this is the key politically. This is all inside baseball about what regulation of this. When she has divulged, and she's in the process of doing, if something really bad comes out, which I have no expectation will happen, there'll be a problem. But once it's been out there, and there's nothing bad there, it's going to go away.

[HereSince1628]

6. well if you completely discount she would hold the credibility of her support

I suppose you are going to be capable of an invention such as announcing candidacy for POTUS reduces a person's credibility.

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. Thank you Barney!

[MannyGoldstein]

8. He used to be my Congressman

Last edited Tue Mar 17, 2015, 05:25 PM - Edit history (1)

I love Barney.

But he's often wrong, and has long been a big Clinton cheerleader.

[Enthusiast]

9. +1

[RiverLover]

25. +2

They want all the Warren supporters to just shut up & support Hillary. Good luck with that, Barney!

[KMOD]

35. Pretty much every Democrat has respect for Hillary Clinton.

just sayin'

[riqster]

10. Barney is sharp.

[daleanime]

11. I totally understand that....

and I totally disagree.

[yallerdawg]

12. If Warren is as smart as we all think...

why on earth would she run for president?

[Utopian Leftist]

30. Because she is aware that America desperately needs a true progressive in the driver's seat?

Because she knows that there is no other nationally-recognized progressive with as much rising popularity as herself?

Because she knows that another Third Way Administration will leave this country reeling and on the brink of collapse?

Warren is a potential FDR. Let that sink in for a moment. She has charisma and likeability, something Hillary Clinton has always struggled with. Other than Bernie Sanders, can anyone name one other potential FDR that we could elect as President in 2016? Because THAT is what it is going to take, in order to get anything positive done in Washington. Anything less is a failure to save the world from economic and environmental doom, let alone the potential foreign policy nightmares that another Third Way, Republican-lite President might bring.

[yallerdawg]

32. "Hope springs eternal..."

She has never said, "If elected, I will not serve."

You still have that.

[Fearless]

14. Wrong.

[stonecutter357]

15. K&R!

Elizabeth Warren is one of the best senators we have had in a long time.

[geek tragedy]

20. Not only that, but does she want to be begging for money from billionaires?

Raising money is something any candidate will need to do very well, and that requires an iron stomach.

[MannyGoldstein]

26. Given that she raised more money than any other Senate candidate

when she ran, I suspect that she'll do just fine.

[MADem]

29. Her donors and Clinton's converge, too--she got her money from people who are committed to HRC 2016

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/30/elizabeth-warren-s-biggest-donors-say-she-d-be-out-of-her-mind-to-run-for-president.html

...if Elizabeth Warren does in fact reverse her repeated denials of interest and decides to run for president, she will have to do so virtually alone. That’s because almost to a person, her earliest and most devoted backers do not want her to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

“If Elizabeth called me up and said, ‘I am thinking of running for president,’ I would say, ‘Elizabeth, are you out of your goddamn mind?’” said one New York-based donor who has hosted Warren in his living room. “I really like Elizabeth, but if Hillary is in the race it just makes no sense.”

This conversation was echoed again and again in more than a dozen interviews with big-ticket Democratic donors in Warren’s hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in cities that operate as ATMs for the Democratic money machine, like New York, Washington, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Over and over again, the message was the same: Stay in the Senate, Liz, stay in the Senate.....

[lovemydog]

31. She's a fabulous Senator.

I honor & respect her decision to not run for President. We need at least 50 more Senators like her.

I'm hoping younger people who are inspired by her leadership will find ways to run and win all across the board, starting locally.

[Stellar]

33. Everybody knows that.

But I think she still would make a better POTUS . Just my personal opinion.

[hrmjustin]

34. I agree!

[KMOD]

36. I love that she is receiving National attention.

So I wouldn't call it a disservice. I love that not just Massachusetts, but all of us have a Senator fighting hard, but she could certainly run for President and win if she ever chooses to.

[freshwest]

37. She's been kicking GOP ass since she got in. Long may she wave the banner for us all.

[McCamy Taylor]

38. A lot of GOPers would like to see her out of the Senate.