One of the things lacking in the second presidential debate this week was anger. With the economy brutalizing millions of Americans, I expected both candidates to be furious that, once again, the government failed to warn us about impending disaster.
Before the 9/11 attacks, few Americans had ever heard of al-Qaida, even though Presidents Clinton and Bush certainly knew of the growing danger the group posed. Now there's compelling evidence that the feds stonewalled the present economic chaos. So why aren't McCain and Obama livid?
It is not hard to understand why Americans who work hard, obey the law and believe in the capitalist system are sick to their stomachs when they lose investment money through no fault of their own. Corrupt Wall Street greed-heads and stupid, lazy federal overseers have combined to deliver one of the most punishing blows to regular folks in U.S. history.
Again, why aren't Obama and McCain pounding the table?
Recently, I interviewed Chairman of the House Finance Committee Barney Frank, and it was quite a shootout. According to The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily and my own research, Frank presided over the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a casual disdain for the American investor.
In fact, last July, Frank went on television and said this:
"Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound, they are not in danger of going under. They're not the best investments these days from the long-term standpoint going back.
I think they are in good shape going forward."
Fewer than three months later, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed, and even though he was in charge, Frank says he is not at fault. Instead, he blames Republicans.
Hearing that, I let Frank have it, calling him a coward for not admitting any culpability. He then called me stupid. You get the picture.
Now, I remain furious with Barney Frank. To me, he epitomizes everything that is wrong with the federal government. He was incompetent in his oversight of the federal mortgage agencies, and when they folded, causing a chain reaction of financial disasters for honest investors, he blamed other people.
Unacceptable. And every elected official in Washington should feel the same way. This is not some political theory here — real people are getting hurt, lives are being dramatically affected. Those responsible should be held to account.
But in the land of conventional politics, anyone showing anger and passion is deemed to be "out of control." You must appear calm and cool in the face of any storm. Therefore, Obama and McCain showed little emotion about the terrible economic situation.
Sometimes cool doesn't cut it, fellas. There is a time for anger.
That time is now.
Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Who's Looking Out For You?" To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. This column originates on the Web site www.billoreilly.com.
COPYRIGHT 2008 BillOReilly.com.

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3 Comments | Post Comment
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You write to incite and cover your words with crocodile tears to conceal their incendiary nature.
What right to anger have you or any who sucked from the largesse of this fatted calf, including the donkey's running for office? Your future's were and still remain secure. The people who have the right to a righteous anger cannot yet afford it. Our concern's are immediate and must be attended. The financial sector still sends their bills in the mail every day. Utilities don't pay for themselves. Gas and food prices continue to escalate. There is no time yet for anger. But that time will come, someday. Your writings and tv rants would be better served to the fish in the ocean, as bait. For you are not a debater, but a master baiter.
Comment: #1
Posted by: liz
Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:31 PM
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Oh, that's rich, O'Reilly. Supremely rich. "...Clinton and Bush certainly knew of the growing ing danger..." Nice try. You can't pin that one on Clinton. Bush and his idiotic crew were the ones planted at the switch and dedicated to inaction. They have steadfastly demonstrated throughout this entire catastrophic administration how utterly devoid their gray matter is of any activity even remotely resembling a notion of leadership. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
And how appropriate that you mention 9/11, the excuse used to precipate our destruction or ruin of so many, many lives in Iraq. Many, many lives, O'Reilly. Try counting them up. But THAT wasn't Bush and Vice's fault--it was the fault of those incompetent intelligence gatherers who gave them the wrong information. So say B&V, and they ought to know, because the wrong information is exactly what they demanded. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
I find it most interesting that you so-called conservatives have not once mentioned the perpetrators themselves in your blame game this time around. Remember how you trashed Hussein? Why don't you name some names now? You know who I mean--the CEO's of all these failed institutions coming around now begging for handouts, an escape hatch, and anonymity. Why not shine a light on them personally and show the mob where to direct the cat calls of "kill him" they reserve for Obama? Because you are just plain chicken, that's why. Yellow to the core. Were you to step out of line like that they would do your knees and cut out your tongue. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Yup, Barney Frank is a much safer target for you, isn't he? He was dependent on all the non-information coming from Wall Street, the banking industry, and all those bureaucrats, working for Laurel and Hardy up there in the Oval Office, who were holding out to get post-administration plumb jobs with the folks they were supposed to be regulating. ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
And please don't forget what happens when Congress tries to subpoena the real stuff from those suited-up slugs. That would be the stone-wall, "executive privilege" treatment, all the way to the Supremes, the back up team with fresh new picks waiting to deliver like they did in 2000.
Comment: #2
Posted by: Masako
Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:00 PM
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Sir;.... don't try to kid me man... When did you ever seek truth from your government? Haven't you denied the truth? Haven't you refused to accept the truth. Happy and smug, were you not blindly leading the blind in putting out every good eye in sight??? Did you think the good times would roll on for ever? Did you ever consider, that every liberal Cassandra, seeing how capital was leaving so many out, raging ruin everywhere it touched, spreading war, misery pollution, and famine like the four horsemen of the apocalypes, might actually have been giving you fair warning??Did you ever elect anyone for telling the truth, for facing reality, for conducting an investigation into business, for doubting the blessing and benefit of profit, interest and free enterprise???... You got the government of your dreams. It was your lap dog. It spoke on condition of anonymity, only when spoken to. It jumped when you said how high. If rational government had denied your ideal, or had seen through your ideal as through the bottom of a bottle, and seen its pitfalls, its failures, its empty promises; then you, and your job, your reward, and your power would have been swept away. Did you really want truth? Did you really want the government to do the good for which it was constituted? Did you not always deny justice. Did you not always deny right, good, and virtue. Did you not always confuse liberty with licence, using licence to destroy liberty? Did you not bend government to your will and off the true course of America's best interest. You have lived off the sweat of millions. You have blamed the victims, and now you see the victims multiplied. Do you think the government did its job for New Orleons? Was that government doing for the people what they could not do for themselves alone? Where was your outrage then, with Katrina; or was it all turned to political hay? You have helped to divide us in the presence of the enemy. Does it matter that you were serving the enemy, or that the enemy is among us, or if the enemy is every kind of social parasite, financial or political... No sir... You have put out too many eyes, and you have demanded silence and a blind eye from your government when the rest of us were begging government to sobber up and see clearly. This is your mess. I hope it puts you on the street with all the other bums....Thanks....Sweeney
Comment: #3
Posted by: James A, Sweeney
Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:07 PM
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