Barney Frank goes off on McCain: 'Cowardly,' 'pathetically untrue,' 'feel sorry for him'

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) completely unloaded on John McCain last night, blasting the Arizona Republican for making "pathetically untrue" and "cowardly" statements about TARP.

McCain made a stir yesterday when he told the Arizona Republic that he voted for TARP because he had been misled by then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

He also said that President Bush had asked him to suspend his campaign and come back to Washington for negotiations. Democrats ridiculed the move as a political stunt.

Appearing on MSNBC last night, Frank said both of those claims were dishonest.

Addressing McCain's claim that Bush asked the nominee to come back to Washington, Frank was blunt:  "This is such a pathetically, obviously untrue statement. Those of us who were there know it."

Frank said it was clearly McCain's own decision to insert himself into the negotiations because he wanted to play the hero.

"He reminded me of kind of Andy Kaufman as Mighty Mouse: 'Here I come to save the day,'" Frank quipped.

Frank then took on McCain's claim that Paulson and Bernanke had misled him about the proposal.

"For him to blame Paulson or Bernanke is cowardly," Frank said. "This was Bush. Paul and Bernanke were acting for George Bush."

He added: "I've gone beyond being disappointed for John McCain to feeling sorry for him."

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