When Barney Frank announced he wouldn’t be seeking re-election we were sad that America and the gay community was losing one of its best sentinels of liberty. What we didn’t realize is that we’d also be losing a sharp wit who could probably wipe the floor with Bill Maher and Jon Stewart.
On Friday, Frank gave a candid interview with the Times’ Andrew Goldman that had us wishing he’d either stay in office or book Radio City. Here’s a few excerpts:
On surviving his prostitute scandal when Anthony Weiner didn’t:
The Ethics Committee found that most of what he said wasn’t true. And when I was confronted, I told everybody everything. Lawyers are very, very good at keeping you out of prison, but they will sacrifice your reputation and credibility to do so. So don’t be evasive and don’t be cute. And unless you think there is a serious chance you’re going to jail, don’t listen to your lawyer.
On the less-than-flattering sweatshirt/suit jacket combo he wore in December:
I tore a ligament and a tendon, and I went to work wearing a pullover shirt that I could stick my cast through. When someone on the committee didn’t show up, I had to go to the floor. I thought I’d borrow a jacket, but there were only thin people in my office that day.On why he supports decriminalizing marijuana even though he doesn’t smoke weed.
Do you think I’ve ever had an abortion? I don’t play poker on the Internet, either.
Oh Barney, don’t ever change!
Source: NY Times via Buzzfeed. Photos: C-SPAN, house.gov
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ashton cruz
“Barney Frank gives the best interview to the New York Times” and these are the best 3 excerpts you could come up with to validate that headline?? Im guessing you either fell asleep while researching this post and phoned this crap in, your dog ate the real entry so you wrote this crap in the subway with a crayon you found under your seat, or perhaps you snorted a lil too much cocaine last night and somehow thought you wrote something else. If this was a school report and I was your Journalism teacher Id give you an F, shove the report up your ass, pull it out all covered in shit and slap you in the face with it. I call that a Dirty Hemingway by the way.
Mike in Asheville
@ashton cruz: Same thoughts here! What a dude of a review.
I’ll also add, there are NYT interviews of geniuses and wits, and geniuses of wit, from Dorothy Parker to Groucho Marx to Clare Booth Luce to Albert Einstein and Jack Benny, Gracie Allen, Johnny Carson, and many many more; among the gays, there are old interviews with Paul Lynde and Quentin Crisp, much more interesting people than a fucking politician.
Mike in Asheville
Oops, that is “dud” not “dude” of a review.
R.A.
How we devour our own.
As much as I adore Gracie Allen, she didn’t get DADT repealed or show the nation that an openly gay could be recognized as leader in the Congress by members of both parties.
Quentin Crisp? A clever old queen to be sure, but who died an embittered dinosaur castigating the gay rights movement.
Mike in Asheville
@R.A.: Devour our own? Really? Both Ashton (@No.1) and I tackle Queerty on their lousy review of the Frank interview. Yawn and hapless.
BUT WHAT YOU KNOW IS CRAP! Indeed Gracie Allen, long dead, had absolutely nothing to do with DADT. But, BARNEY FRANK VOTED FOR DADT in 1993!!!
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1993/roll565.xml
That’s right, Frank, is a fucking politician: he voted FOR DADT; voting to repeal DADT is a result of voting for it.
Lastly, what you know about Quentin Crisp is worse than pathetic. There are those who first make a difference, Crisp was the “Naked Civil Servant” long before Frank brought his ugly mug to Washington. He was not bitter; he lived his life with vigor.