Barney Frank: Democratic Primary Voters Are the Problem

[BeyondGeography]

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is feeling angsty about the current state of the Democratic presidential primary and he believes that the voters are a big part of the problem. The ever loquacious Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview on Friday that he was disturbed by the degree to which the electorate seemed so easily wooed by candidates who were willing to spend gobs of money on television advertisements.

... Frank’s complaints about voter behavior didn’t end with their susceptibility to well-funded ad campaigns, he also criticized the demands for ideological purity being placed on the candidates. He pinpointed former Vice President Joe Biden’s troubles on the fact that he was being forced to defend a lengthy voting record that he had since evolved on or, in some cases, shared with his fellow candidates. “It's a sad commentary on the electorate by the way because they are too unforgiving,” said Frank. “And frankly, there are people who are critical of Biden now who probably had the same positions back then.”

And he suggested that Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign had stumbled in large part because she tried to moderate her support for Medicare for All by including bridge-legislation that would have seen it implemented in stages. “She understood the political and administrative problems with Medicare for All, but she was afraid of losing the whole left to [Bernie] Sanders,” said Frank. “And by the way, I think that’s a troubling aspect of the Democratic electorate that so many of those people reacted so badly because she tried to be reasonable.”

Frank has not endorsed in the 2020 race and said he had no plans to do so. But he has not been bashful about his disagreements with the current frontrunner. In 2016 he said support for Sanders’ nomination reflected a “lack of information” among voters. On Friday, he said the Vermont Senator was largely a non-entity when it came to legislative accomplishments. Frank said he believed that Sanders legitimately thought he could pass his expansive domestic policy agenda if he became president. But he called it an absurd proposition that would almost certainly backfire on Democrats...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/barney-frank-democratic-primary-voters-are-the-problem?ref=home