Wow. Big props for Langevin. I have a little more respect for him now, unlike Ambien-boy and Hillary's purse holder who avoided their opponents and refused to come out and talk to the voters and be challenged on their actions and opinions.

I second James' comment. Although I often disagree with him on policy matters, I've always had a lot of respect for Jim Langevin -- which is infinitely more than I could ever say about the pill-poppin' boozer in the 1st district.

At least Langevin thinks enough of the office he holds, and for the democracy that allowed him to attain it, to defend his record in a public forum.

I tried to listen, and Langevin is certainly head and shoulders above his peers, but I had to switch to the MP3 player for my commute when he embarked on a rambling answer in order to avoid agreeing with Dan about the more egregious activities of his fellow Democrats when it comes to financial regulation and so on.

Yes, he was way off base on that one. The precipitating factor to the fiscal mess was not the absence of regulation but the existence of a bad regulation - the mandate for mortgage companies to make high risk loans.

And the subsequent failure to regulate falls squarely on his congressional Democrat collegues - Barney Frank, in particular. No wonder the congressman ended his misleading answer by saying something like, "... but let's not try to place blame".