Dr. Barney Frank on the GOP's 'Psychological Disorder'

Matt Lewis | April 02, 2009 2:48 PM

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It's official, we Republicans are nuts -- in the clinical sense of the term. At least that's how the venerated Congressman Barney Frank sees it.

The remarks came yesterday, after Rep.

John Culberson (R-TX) slammed the Democrats for passing a stimulus package that permitted AIG to grant huge bonuses using taxpayer dollars. Instead of responding, Frank said that Culberson was attacking him for trying to fix the stimulus' problems, and that Republicans suffered from "a psychological disorder I am not equipped to diagnose".

This, of course, was an attempt by "Dr. Barney" to tear others down -- and thereby hide his own shortcomings (how's THAT for psychoanalysis?).

Still, I must confess, he's on to something. What ails our congressional leaders? Republicans do have a disorder -- but not the kind Frank thinks -- what Republicans suffer from is an inferiority complex.

Republicans are so demoralized that we spend our time sniping at the minutia of the other side's agenda rather than producing bold, radically different proposals that could actually help America. We're too scared of big bad Barney and his friends to actually be effective. And we're convinced that the other side can do no wrong -- and we can do no right. Sadly, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I don't know how many of you remember Mighty Ducks movie "D2" -- but there is a scene where the Ducks are getting ready to play an Icelandic team, and one player is so panicked that he says "Iceland's bigger, stronger ... they have more facial hair!".

That's what I'm watching play out in the halls of Congress right now, and all we really need to do is man-up and start fighting Barney and company on our own terms.