The Barney Frank town hall video
Was the Obama=Hitler questioner Frank slapped down a "Lyndon LaRouche Democrat," and would that matter?
Democrats have been ineffectively treating health care reform as a “policy debate,” said Dan Turner in the Los Angeles Times, while Republicans see it as a “political slug-fest.” So the Democratic base must be thrilled with Rep. Barney Frank, the first Democrat to “seriously slug back,” in an unusually “entertaining” broadside at a woman who asked at a town hall why he supported President Obama’s “Nazi policy” to expand health care. (watch the Barney Frank town hall video)
The trouble is, said John McCormack in The Weekly Standard, the target of Frank's "smack down" was not a conservative or even a Republican. The woman who called Obama's health plan a “Nazi policy” is a “Lyndon LaRouche Democrat.” So much for the Left’s “cheap trick” of lumping conservative ObamaCare opponents in with the “few” protesters carrying Obama=Hitler signs. Yes, “LaRouchites are on the fringe—but it’s indisputable that they are fringe Democrats.”
That’s “gibberish,” said David Weigel in The Washington Independent. Democrats have “repeatedly purged” the “LaRouche cultists” from the party. More to the point, the “deranged” LaRouchites oppose Obama’s plans because “they think he’s trying to euthanize old people and the infirm”—the same nonsense spouted by conservatives like Sarah Palin.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Nutty protesters” aren’t emblematic of reform opponents, said The Boston Globe in an editorial, but they “fully deserved” the mildly “apoplectic” one-liner retorts in the Barney Frank town hall video. The real “losers,” though, are those who went to Frank's town hall meeting seeking reasoned debate, and their loss is “compounded” by the “incessant replaying of the food-fight moments.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
By The Week Staff Published
-
'Seriously, not literally': how should the world take Donald Trump?
Today's big question White House rhetoric and reality look likely to become increasingly blurred
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Will Trump's 'madman' strategy pay off?
Today's Big Question Incoming US president likes to seem unpredictable but, this time round, world leaders could be wise to his playbook
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Democrats vs. Republicans: who are the billionaires backing?
The Explainer Younger tech titans join 'boys' club throwing money and support' behind President Trump, while older plutocrats quietly rebuke new administration
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US election: where things stand with one week to go
The Explainer Harris' lead in the polls has been narrowing in Trump's favour, but her campaign remains 'cautiously optimistic'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Trump okay?
Today's Big Question Former president's mental fitness and alleged cognitive decline firmly back in the spotlight after 'bizarre' town hall event
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The life and times of Kamala Harris
The Explainer The vice-president is narrowly leading the race to become the next US president. How did she get to where she is now?
By The Week UK Published
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?
Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published