On MSNBC on Tuesday, former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank doubled down on his argument that the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks make the case for bigger government, telling anchor Thomas Roberts that his reaction earlier in the day was “the only sensible response.”
“Yes, exactly — I’m talking common sense,” Frank said. “I’m saying that if the sequester had gone through, as we had not had enough money, we couldn’t be able to do this. Yeah. I’m making an argument about reality. And I think that’s the only sensible response. We are spending a great deal of public money here. I am glad that we are.”
Frank called it a “teaching moment.”
“And yes, I do want maybe for this to have some people be less enthusiastic about reducing our ability to respond to a crisis like this. You’re asking me am I trying to make an argument to affect how people make decisions about public policy? Absolutely, I think this is an important teaching moment about what we need if we’re going to live the way we want to live.”