Barney Frank: Of Thee I Zing

As you know by now, longtime Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank will be retiring from the House of Representatives, opting to forego a post-redistricting reelection run next year for a career in writing and public policy advocacy. He'll leave behind a long legacy of legislating, obviously, but he'll also leave an equally impressive legacy of quips and zingers, which he deployed at will to ridicule reporters, belittle political opponents and, on one memorable occasion, compare the LaRouchie version of Ani DiFranco to a "dining room table."

Our own Ryan Grim remembers how he "bore the brunt of more tirades than he can count -- many of them deserved, no doubt, and all of them enjoyable, but only in hindsight." The ability to enjoy being cut down by Frank in hindsight is something that others have found difficult to master. Karl Rove, for one, sounded off on Frank's retirement by saying the Democratic legislator "is incapable of feeling shame, regret or a sense of personal responsibility." (As Alex Balk observes, Rove probably practiced that line in front of a mirror.)

Our own Ben Craw provides the definitive highlight reel of Barney Frank cold-stickin' it to people. Enjoy (in hindsight at the very least)!

Video produced by Ben Craw.

PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST:
Chewed Out By Barney Frank: Reporters Remember

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