Barney Frank throws down with GOP strategist: "[Your] party has put itself above a functioning federal government"

The former Massachusetts congressman sets the record straight about Mitch McConnell and his fellow obstructionists

Published March 19, 2016 1:39PM (EDT)

"Real Time" host Bill Maher last night welcomed Sisters of Social Service lobbyist Sister Simone Campbell, former-Congressman Barney Frank, and GOP strategist Rick Wilson.

Among a slew of topics, the panel discussed GOP obstructionism with respect to Obama's SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Garland.

"I think it's strictly the principle of Mitch McConnell's decision that President Obama should only be a one-term president," Campbell said. "He's been successful on certain issues, but in the end I don't think he'll be successful on this one."

"I think what McConnell's doing is actually some very important, smart politics," Wilson countered. "If they allow an Obama Justice to go forward at this point, it will blow a gigantic hole in the Republican coalition like we've never seen before."

Frank added that he's "disappointed" by the GOP's "explicit elevation of (its) needs of keeping the coalition together over the functioning of the federal government."

Watch Frank and Wilson tussle below:


By Brendan Gauthier

Brendan Gauthier is a freelance writer.

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