Keller @ Large: Barney Frank Is A Big Troll

BOSTON (CBS) - I have a rule for my time online – I never engage with internet trolls, the aggressively annoying creeps who like to spew inflammatory comment for reasons only they understand.

But just this once, I'm going to make an exception to address some ridiculous comments made by one of the bigger trolls of our time, former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.

In an interview with Slate Magazine, Frank rips into Bernie Sanders, calling him "McCarthyite" for demanding Hillary Clinton release the text of lucrative speeches she gave to a Wall Street investment bank.

Any comparison to the red-baiting Joseph McCarthy is a harsh one, and here Frank displays his ignorance of what McCarthyite tactics are. McCarthy would wave documents and claim they proved something; Sanders simply wants Clinton to produce documents to disprove the big-money kow-towing some suspect they show.

Frank then tears into former Gov. Mitt Romney for being a "pretend governor" during his term in office here. Actually, Romney got quite a bit done, including establishing so-called Smart Growth policies that were continued by his Democratic successor.

It's Frank who wants to pretend everyone has forgotten about the hash he made of federal housing subsidy policies when he was in office.

As long as lazy journalists keep turning to Barney Frank for comment, he'll keep trolling.

Better for us all if he's left to cruise the web for traction, like the rest of his ilk.

Listen to Jon's commentary: