(Washington Examiner) — Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., rebuked the Occupy Wall Streeters for not voting in 2010 and gave the movement a lesson in political activity during an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show last night.
“I’m a little bit unhappy when people who didn’t vote last time blame me for the consequences of their not voting,” Frank said. “I understand some of the people at Occupy Wall Street are kind of critical of [voting]. They think that’s conventional politics,” He referred such people to the example of the National Rifle Association. “[The NRA is] the most successful organization in America in getting its views adopted,” Frank observed, because “they very effectively identify who the Members of the Congress are and [of] the legislatures and vote for them.”
Maddow brought Frank onto the show after saying that Americans “across the political spectrum realize that they have been victimized by an economic system and a political system that tilts so disproportionately toward the one percent’s interests.” She added that “Democrats are trying to turn the upcoming elections in the direction of that sentiment.”