Barney Frank: “I would have thought my Republican colleagues would have waited a little bit more than 28 hours to so thoroughly…”

“I would have thought my Republican colleagues would have waited a little bit more than 28 hours to so thoroughly repudiate George Bush. What this motion says is that George Bush used the authority to deploy $350 billion ``so badly''--direct quotes--``so hastily, so haphazardly, so without a plan, that nothing will fix it.'' Basically, we are told that President Bush drove the car so recklessly that we have to junk it. That because President Bush so misused these tools, we have to deny them to a new President. Let's be very clear. The TARP has taken on in the minds of some of my colleagues on the other side an odd shape. It has become alive. It's sort of a horror movie in their minds. The TARP is this thing that has its own will. No, the TARP is not something with its own will. It's a set of policies. George Bush's administration used them badly. Not, I think, as badly as my Republican colleagues say. That is why I think I am defending them. He didn't permanently destroy this. There are a number of things that the past President did that I don't like. I was not a great fan of the Bush foreign policy. But I don't think we should repeal the State Department. I think Obama should have a chance to have a good foreign policy. So that is the first part of this. The criticisms made of the Bush administration, wholly irrelevant to what the Obama administration will do. As to the timing, the Bush administration acceded to the wish of the Obama administration to release the funds.”