Frank blasts independents

In the wake of Republican victory in Massachusetts and across the nation, Rep. Barney Frank strove to defend Democrats and condemn Republicans at a Faneuil Hall forum last night.

The Democratic congressman downplayed the losses of his party and criticized the nation’s independent voters, describing them as ‘airheads’ and a ‘fluffy bunch.’

All rational ballot-casters in the country vote consistently for one party in all elections, and swing voters have a tendency to ignore the seriousness of an election, he continued.

According to Frank, promises made by Bush and other Republicans to cut taxes was misleading, and independents were gullible for believing him.

‘President Bush convinced people that there was a possibility to have tax cuts without programmatic consequences, that’s how they won,’ Frank said. ‘While Republicans did win significantly, they did not win overwhelmingly. The election was not a landslide.’

Frank said the current 52-to-48 ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the Senate was not too large of a difference. The seven Republican seats gained in Congress were largely due to re-districting, he added, and the shift would not be critical.

‘The reason such a small shift has such great governmental policy implications is that things were so close in the 2000 election. Things were already tightly balanced,’ he said.

Democrats had a difficult time developing a solid platform this year because they would not advocate unrealistic tax cuts, he said.

‘Tax cuts were too large in 2001, and they’ll be too much for the budget in 2002,’ he said.

Bush’s planned war against Iraq is the biggest threat to the budget because ‘war is the most expensive thing in government,’ he said.

Moderator Callie Crossly confronted Frank on the Democratic Party’s lack of a unified platform and lack of appeal to the working-class population across racial and gender lines.

Democrats will generate a platform and gain political power soon, said Boston University political science professor Cathie Jo Martin.

‘I think the war with Iraq is going to become a divisive factor sooner rather than later. Democrats were cowed by Bush before the election; I think now we’ll see less of the unified government model down the road,’ he concluded.

The Republican wins had to do with charisma, hypothesized Peter Arestides, a local software consultant who attended the forum.

‘The Democrats lacked personalities. There was no big motivating force to get Democrats out to vote,’ the 26-year-old said.