It seems presidential candidate Sen. John McCain isn’t the only D.C. politico turned off by ADAPT’s style of activism. Yesterday 52 ADAPT activists swarmed Rep. Barney Frank’s office and refused to leave until Frank promised to find a way to fund the 500 housing vouchers he helped to authorize. Frank, from Massachusetts, is generally recognized as very liberal.

“ADAPT has been in talks with him over the past year, and early on he told us in no uncertain terms that he could get 500 housing vouchers from HUD that would be targeted to free people with disabilities who live in nursing homes and other institutions,” says Not Dead Yet leader and ADAPT organizer Diane Coleman. “He repeated that promise for months, and we kept trusting his word, and then one day he suddenly says he can’t help us.” Frank has met with ADAPT three times.

“I very much agree with them and I have in fact been working for it,” Frank said in The Hill. “Frankly, their problem is not with me, it’s with the appropriations process and the budget. They’re very frustrated, so they came, and I don’t know why they thought doing this in my office was going to help them.” Frank says the problem is with Rep. Obey, who runs the appropriations committee, “But Obey can’t make money that isn’t there. The basic problem is that there isn’t enough money in the budget for the kind of vouchers they want and I support them in fighting for it.”

Frank’s support took a strange turn when he had the police forcibly remove ADAPT from his office, which led to 15 arrests. ADAPT held simultaneous protests in other offices, too, including Democrat Sen. Dodd’s. A total of 50 people were arrested, including some at Dodd’s office as well.

At first some conjectured – and hoped -- ADAPT was assisting Sen. Obama’s presidential bid by hitting McCain hard, and providing the media with pictures of McCain overseeing the arrest of wheelchair users. Yesterday’s actions, though, target Dems equally with Republicans, thus seeming to neutralize any impact ADAPT could have on the presidential race with this week’s protests. Perhaps Obama’s being spanked for conceding our constituency to the GOP after so many of our moms fell for the vacuous Palin promise of an advocate in the White House?

I realize this is an old story--ADAPT performing for the camera, resulting in nothing being done. Why not run for public office or work on a candidate's campaign? I guarantee you'll get more attention that way than storming Barney Frank's office. The only way I learned of ADAPT's pathetic ploy for attention was from their own news release self-posted on the crip sites. You earn news coverage by making news. What ADAPT did is not news worthy.

The real"kooks" are people who believe that a letter writing campaign is more effective than direc action during an 8,5 trillion dollar housing crisis. People with disabilities are the most oppressed and disenfranchised in this national nightmare and you want to write a letter. How incredibly naive'.

The real "kooks" are people who believe that a letter-writing campaign is more effective than direct action during an 8,5 trillion dollar housing crisis. People with disabilities are the most oppressed and disenfranchised in this national nightmare and you want to write a letter. How incredibly naive'.

"it tends to make them uneasy." This just in; It is suppossed to make them uneasy. The Boston Tea Party was not meant to put the British in a comfort zone either. Too many examples to list them all here of historical "angry mobs" that changed history. Don't worry however;just keep playing that fiddle.

""But Obey can't make money that isn't there." I don't know why. It's exactly what the Federal Reserve is doing...

"Woody Osburn"-- The Boston Tea Party made a statement about taxation without representation, but it also didn't have the effect of turning the colonists' allies into enemies as this wacky ADAPT scheme did. There is a time and a place for everything. You have to choose your battles. Sometimes more can be changed with choice words such as "Uncle Tom's Cabin" than with mindless, disorganized louts that just get thrown into jail like an unruly mob. The pen IS mightier than the sword after all. Otherwise, if you want to run around preaching doom and gloom, might as well put on a tinfoil hat and wait for the mothership with all the other Ron Paul supporters. As for your statement, "People with disabilities are the most oppressed and disenfranchised", As a paraplegic, I can firmly state that I don't feel oppressed or disenfranchised in the least bit. I take personal responsibility for my life and actions. Perhaps you should try it sometime?

"Yesterday 52 ADAPT activists swarmed Rep. Barney Frank's office and refused to leave until Frank promised to find a way to fund the 500 housing vouchers he helped to authorize. Frank, from Massachusetts, is generally recognized as very liberal." That's because no matter how liberal or conservative you are, history has shown that people generally don't respond favorably towards angry mobs. It tends to make them uneasy. I wonder why? Perhaps a better way to approach this would have been through a letter-writing campaign or involving the news media. Who can say now? They've overplayed their hand and come across as kooks.

Didn't the federal government spend 85 million dollars to bale out AIG. I guess they can make money out of nothing for the rich but not for the rest of America.

I came across this little saying that, I think, basically sums up my feelings on this affair. "The strong move quiet, the weak start riots."