Democratic Congressman Barney Frank appeared with Lawrence O’Donnell last night and took on the Tea Party and their “misunderstanding of the Constitution.” Frank suggested it was “insane” to even entertain the idea of a government shutdown when the country was engaged in three wars and also had some unflattering words for Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

It’s fair to say that MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell is none too impressed with either Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), nor the people in her district that elected her. During a recent trip to New Hampshire, which many saw as an exploratory mission for her presumptive presidential bid, Bachmann made somewhat of a gaffe, mistakenly noting that the “shout heard ’round the world” had occurred in the Granite State. O’Donnell did not let her constituents off the hook, describing them as possilby “the most ignorant in the country.”

With Don’t Ask Don’t Tell dead for all intense and purposes, we might as well all talk about things that don’t make it seem like we’re still in a previous decade. However, Nicholas Ballasy, a reporter for conservative CNS News recently managed to catch up with Rep. Barney Frank to ask about the “implications” of the repeal, namely, whether or not army showers are gonna get all gay and stuff. While Frank initially bristled at the question, he gave the guy the benefit of the doubt and turned the questioning around, making for an interesting little interview.

“People will advise me, sometimes, to be more judicious,” began Barney Frank before launching into an epic slam against the media, primarily the Boston Herald and Fox News, right in the middle of his acceptance speech. Frank said that sometimes you have to “bite your tongue,” but his tongue remained firmly unbitten. The speech was about as Barney Frank as Barney Frank can get and, therefore, you can probably guess as to how your mileage will vary.

Sean Bielat is the GOP candidate for Massachusetts’ 4th District, running against the legendary Barney Frank (D -MA). Perhaps because Frank is an openly gay member of Congress, the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has taken on added significance in this race. Today Mr. Bielat made absolutely clear where he stands on the controversial issue, though his choice of words may raise some eyebrows, as he compared not allowing gays to serve akin to the minimum height required by the armed services.

In an apparent bid to win over the votes of reality television fans, the gay-conservative group GOProud has a new ad that compares congressional Democrats to The Real Housewives of D.C.. The ad employs soundbites and splashy purple graphics to make the argument that for Barney Frank, Barbara Boxer, and Nancy Pelosi are catty, arrogant, and more dysfunctional than “the housewives.”

Ever get the feeling that television pundits are more adept at “playing the part” than sharing their honest thoughts and ideas? Well the following video clip of Alan Colmes vigorous defense of Harry Reid‘s spokesman’s statement on Reid’s comment that “but for (him), we’d be in a worldwide depression,’ may support that notion. As host Megyn Kelly was teasing to a commercial (and showing the new dancing Barney Frank advert), Colmes thinks that his microphone is off, and privately shares an aside that’s very different from the rhetoric he’d espoused just a minute earlier.

Sean Bielat is the Republican candidate running for the congressional seat currently Democrat Barney Frank in the legendary liberal bastion of Massachusetts’ Fourth District. And because he believes that Mr. Frank “dances around the issues” what better way to get that message across than shooting a dancer wearing fat suit in front of a green screen over a thumping house beat. Yes, Mr, Bielat approves this message. Also, this is the state of political messaging in the year 2010.

“What exactly do the secret big-money moneybags behind hundreds of millions of dollars of attack ads against Democrats want from the Republicans they’re trying to help?” asked Keith Olbermann—a little inarticulately—at the top of his show last night.

Apparently heckling is the new attack ad. Here’s the latest heckling vid to be making the rounds. After exiting a debate with Barney Frank at the WGBH studios in Boston on Thursday GOP opponent Sean Bielat was in the midst of giving an interview outside the studio when he was heckled by a passerby.

Apparently Stephen Colbert has worn out his welcome in Congress. No doubt he is devastated. Politico is reporting the members of Congress, many of whom have been embarrassingly duped by Colbert’s ‘interviews’ and come out the worse for it, considered last Friday’s Congressional testimony the last straw. Or just an excuse to complain more.

Remember a few months back when Barney Frank told a woman at a town hall meeting that having a conversation with her “would be like trying to argue with a dining room table” (she had just compared President Obama to Hitler at the time)? Well, since then, that woman, Rachel Brown, has become a candidate for Congress and Frank’s opponent in the Democratic primaries. So, yesterday, Frank was forced to finally have that conversation. In fact, he had a whole hour-long debate with her. It is still unknown whether he practiced on his tables at home beforehand.

Last week, I posted a response to Andrew Breitbart’s claim that he had proven, with the help of the New York Times, that nothing “racially charged” happened on March 20, 2010, when several black members of Congress claimed that they heard racial epithets directed at them by a crowd of protesters. He challenged the MSM to “air the exculpatory evidence” that he had posted, which I did.

Since then, some of the writers from Breitbart’s “Big” sites have responded to my response, and in doing so, have walked back on Breitbart’s original claim. They have demanded corrections to my piece. I am always happy to correct the record where necessary.

A week after Robert Gibbs went after the “professional left,” another White House official is allegedly airing his frustration with bloggers and this time it’s the LGBT blogosphere and their constant complaining about the Obama administration that is raising concern.

Sen. Scott Brown isn’t the only Massachusetts politician speaking out against comedian Kathy Griffin for calling his daughters “prostitutes” on her Bravo show.

Now longtime Democratic Congressman Rep. Barney Frank is defending Brown and calling out Griffin for her “terrible comment.”

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank and Republican Rep. Ron Paul recently set party differences aside to start working on a bill to bring American troops home, and made a joint appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room to explain their strategy. According to Frank and Paul, rather than retreating troops in the Middle East, they are focusing on a diminished presence in Germany and Japan, among other states.

Can an intern get Andrea Mitchell a cup of coffee? The exhausted-looking host had trouble telling apart one of the most notorious fraudsters in history from one of her own MSNBC colleagues yesterday when she repeatedly asked Rep. Barney Frank about all the porn the SEC employees were watching instead of following the “Maddow” (?) case.

Right-wingers have been coming up with a handful of colorful excuses for the alleged saliva transaction between a Tea Party protester and black Congressman Emanuel Cleaver since the latter went public with the incident. But tonight, Laura Ingraham took the cake with the implication that it is hypocritical to let Congressman Barney Frank spit all over everyone and deny that same right to the Tea Partiers.

“Rising tensions on Capitol Hill” is a cliche in cable news, but it may never have been apt than today. With the House currently negotiating a controversial vote on a health care reform, protesters have gathered to voice their opposition to the bill. CNN’s Capitol Hill reporter Dana Bash reports today of personally witnessing epithets being used towards John Lewis (D-GA) and Barney Frank (D-MA) by protesters that were identified earlier as “Tea Party people.”

Saturday Night Live has briefly touched on impressions of Rachel Maddow and Arianna Huffington.

But with last night’s third season premiere of Tracey Ullman‘s State of the Union on Showtime, we finally got an answer to the question – what would happen if Maddow, Huffington, Meghan McCain, Christiane Amanpour and Rep. Barney Frank all hung out in a make-up room?

Warning: viewers of certain cable news programs that have blamed the nation’s recent economic problems on Barney Frank may not want to watch this video for fear that one’s head might explode. MSNBC anchor (and Alan Greenspan spouse) Andrea Mitchell had Congressman Frank on to discuss Time Magazine’s naming of Ben Bernanke as Person of the Year.

Wolf Blitzer made a stunning revelation to the nation last night when he revealed that he knew what marijuana smelled like. In what at first seemed to be playful banter between Blitzer, Jessica Yellin, and Lou Dobbs, Blitzer dropped the bombshell that he would “know what [marijuana] would smell like.”

What impact will this have on Blitzer’s reputation? Lou Dobbs? What about CNN itself, and even the future of the Republic?

Bill O’Reilly and Barney Frank had another spirited debate over the news that ACORN and two former employees of its Baltimore office had filed a lawsuit against the makers of a hidden-camera video. While not nearly as contentious as their previous debate over the financial meltdown, it was a very entertaining back and forth.

When Chris Brown told Larry King that he didn’t remember brutally beating Rihanna, he seemed like a man unwilling to take any responsibility for his terrible actions.

Still, Brown was in the tradition of a long line of American politicians who’ve used the same line to get out of trouble. Given the number of conservatives who’ve used this particular tactic, we have to wonder: is Chris Brown a closet Republican?

Dancing With the Stars contestant Tom DeLay used he newfound reality show relevance to sidle his way onto Hardball this evening to weigh in on the crazy town halls sweeping the nation and his “pomp” dancing shoes. Dancing can make one “light,” apparently. Also, he’s still waiting for President Obama to produce his “real” birth certificate.