Politics & Power Quote by Barney Frank

Barney Frank lands this like a two-part punchline: first a diagnosis of partisan capture, then a jab at elite credentialism. The “fundamentalist right” line isn’t just ideological name-calling; it’s a power analysis. Frank is pointing to a party that, in his view, has shifted from coalition politics to movement politics, where purity tests and culture-war doctrine steer the agenda more than pragmatic governance. “Taken over” frames it as a hostile acquisition, not an organic evolution, implying Republican leaders are either complicit or captive.

Then he swivels to George W. Bush as the exhibit, and the real target sharpens: the American habit of confusing pedigree with probity. Frank’s phrase “totally impervious” is doing heavy comedic work. It suggests education as a solvent that should dissolve provincial dogma and intellectual complacency - and Bush as proof that the brand-name degree can sit atop a worldview untouched by it. The insult is double-edged: it needles Bush’s perceived incuriosity while also mocking liberals who take comfort in the idea that Ivy League formation reliably produces enlightened leadership.

The “of course” is classic Frank: a wink that signals he expects the audience to already recognize the pattern. Coming from a Democratic congressman during the Bush era, it’s also a tactical framing device, aimed at journalists and swing voters: don’t read this moment as mere policy disagreement, he implies; read it as a structural takeover with consequences for governing norms.