Former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, the first member of the U.S.House to come out as gay, has died at 86. He was a one-off.
Our Barney’s leftist politics were mad as a box of frogs. But he was a witty, fierce, and able debater. No one better at defending the indefensible. He was consistently wrong but never in doubt. Forensically formidable, Barney, talking at about Mach .8, could twist a sane argument before a sensible person could utter, “Say what?”
Loopy as his politics were, Barney’s Massachusetts constituents kept re-electing him.
I was working on Capitol Hill, helping make the world safe for a conservative Florida congresman, when Barney was at his combative peak in the 1980s. TV loved his amusing, take-no-prisoners style when fencing with politcal opponents. He was, in TV studio parlance, “good TV.” So he was on the nightly news and weekend politcal yak-yak shows frequently. Hardly a day went by without a generous TV helping of Barney, rampant on one subject or other. He was in every way, politics and style, the exact opposite of the current TV favorite, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy. (Favorite at least on conservative outlets.)
The political ideas that Barney whooped up, and the bad policy that followed in their wake, did much damage to the republic. But because of his wit and brashness, he was fun to listen to. That is if you didn’t have to debate him. Those who went up against him with nothing more to defend themselves with but the merits of the question at hand must have suffered acute anxiety. Barney had a forensic fastball like no other at the time.
Loopy as his politics were, Barney’s Massachusetts constituents kept re-electing him. They remained true to him even after it was found that his roommate was running a gay prostitution ring out of his and Barney’s Washington apartment. Hard to imagine what would have made these loyal voters forsake him. Perhaps if it could have been established beyond doubt that he had kidnapped the Lindbergh baby.
RIP Barney Frank.
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