[img_assist|nid=688|title=U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton)|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=200|height=169]U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) sharply criticized Mitt Romney Thursday, characterizing the former governor as the "most intellectually inconsistent politician."

Frank's remarks came on a conference call with reporters as part of coordinated campaign by the Democratic National Committee to discredit politicians believed to be on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain's vice presidential short list. The DNC has launched TheNextChenney.com as part of this effort, and the Romney section of the site went live Thursday.

"The first thing that ought to be noted," Frank said, "is that [Romney] is the most intellectually inconsistent politician."

Frank, the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, said Romney campaigned on a moderate platform when he challenged U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Hyannis Port) in 1994, then shifted to the right during time in Utah organizing the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics only to return to the Bay State to run for governor in 2002 again as a moderate. Once in office as governor, Frank added, Romney started shifting to the right again on issues like the environment, gun control, gay rights and abortion, as he prepared to run for president, Frank said.

Romney, Frank said, lacks "any commitment to any particularly principle and [is] willing to say anything that will win the next election" and practices politics "completely without moral scruple."

John Walsh, the chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, was also on the call, and reiterated Frank's point. "The flip flopping is legendary," he said, "I don't think it's possible for anyone to be comfortable with his positions."

In particular, Walsh added, Romney's "gyrations on abortion are really of Olympic" proportions.

Walsh also criticized Romney's tenure as governor of the Bay State. He said that the state ranked 46th in the national in job creation during Romney's term and that fewer people worked in the state when he left office than when he entered.

And that is why, Walsh said, "Mitt Romney was so unpopular when he left. Recent polls show that 41 percent of Massachusetts voters would be less likely to vote for John McCain if Mitt Romney was on the ticket."

"He wasn't very good at governing," added Frank. Romney, Frank said, has no penchant for governance and lacked any interest in it. "He was simply there to advance his political career," he said.

Ultimately, Frank criticized Romney for inconsistencies on policy positions. "This man," he said, "has zig-zagged extraordinarily."

To read Romney's response, click here.