Gravitational Pull-Ups, the third.

The UPC has decided to make a kind of group blog entry now and then... Here's this week's idea:

Hopefully, each one of us is going to identify and write a bit about three living politicians that we appreciate and respect from an opposing political party from our own.

I’ve enjoyed griping about finding lefties I admire, but I really do admire my first choice, Zell Miller, and I really do admire my second choice, Senator Daniel K. Inouye, as well.

Choice number 3 was a bit tougher. I was going with Lieberman but he’s been taken by Pike’s Peak, so I choose Barney Frank. Now, Frank has done a lot of bad crap, from screwing rich NY gays out of campaign donations to backing Clinton extremely effectively. But Frank also:

1. Supports Israel. This is rarer than it should be in the democrat party. Frank on Israel.
"Within the borders of Israel, there is a flourishing democracy. Israel is one of the least secure countries in the world, and also one of the most democratic."
It shouldn’t be surprising that Frank said, that, and it shouldn’t be necessary for anyone to say that. However, what should be and is ain’t the same.

2. He has maintained as sense of proportion regarding President Bush, at least some of the time. Frank on Bush: (hehehe)
"I do consider myself supportive of the United States of America, even though we have a President now who makes me crazy."
Again- it shouldn’t be surprising that Frank said, that, and it shouldn’t be necessary for anyone to say that. However, what should be and is ain’t the same.

3. Stood up for the US at Davos, which resulted in Easongate:
Excepted from MichelleMalkin.com

Just got off the phone with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who spoke with me about Easongate. Rep. Frank was on the panel at Davos.

Rep. Frank said Eason Jordan did assert that there was deliberate targeting of journalists by the U.S. military. After Jordan made the statement, Rep. Frank said he immediately "expressed deep skepticism." Jordan backed off (slightly), Rep. Frank said, "explaining that he wasn't saying it was the policy of the American military to target journalists, but that there may have been individual cases where they were targeted by younger personnel who were not properly disciplined."

Rep. Frank said he didn't pay attention to the audience reaction at the time of the panel, but recalled that Sen. Dodd was "somewhat disturbed" and "somewhat exercised" and that moderator David Gergen also said Jordan's assertions were "disturbing if true." I have a call in to Sen. Dodd's office and sent an e-mail inquiry to Gergen.

I asked Rep. Frank again if his recollection was that Jordan initially maintained that the military had a deliberate policy of targeting journalists. Rep. Frank affirmed that, noting that Jordan subsequently backed away orally and in e-mail that it was official policy, but "left open the question" of whether there were individual cases in which American troops targeted journalists.

After the panel was over and he returned to the U.S., Rep. Frank said he called Jordan and expressed willingness to pursue specific cases if there was any credible evidence that any American troops targeted journalists. "Give me specifics," Rep. Frank said he told Jordan.

Rep. Frank has not yet heard back from Jordan.

That meant quite a lot to me. Frank was attending a good old “Hate on America festival” with a bunch of MSM foreign press types and he stood up and called shenanigans. It was not the popular thing to do, in that room at that time. Frank almost certainly believed that what happened in Davos would stay in Davos. There was no profit in it for Barney Frank. Barney Frank did what he did because he loves his country or because he loves the truth. Either way, I respect the hell out of him for this one thing.