"He’s been irrelevant to the process. He remains to be," said Frank. "I was afraid that his dropping in here, like Andy Kaufman’s Mighty Mouse—'here I am to save the day'—I thought that would slow things down. I didn’t see any sign of our Republican colleagues paying any attention to him whatsoever."
P.S. The suddenly elevated national media presence of the quotable (and often ornery) House Financial Services Committee chairman has been a good sideshow these past couple of weeks. Yesterday I caught Frank on an NPR show whose interviewer said (I quote from memory here): "Congressman Frank, we're almost out of time, but in 20 seconds can you tell us where things go from here?" It seemed a standard throwaway line typical to TV and radio in which a guest is prompted to wrap things up however he wants. But not Frank, who impatiently replied: "No, I can't. Twenty seconds is just not enough time to answer your question." (He then answered in a more narrow way.) Hee hee--give 'em hell, Barney!
--Michael Crowley