A Frank Opinion

One of the small upsides to our current financial crisis is that it's put Barney Frank, my favorite legislator, front and center on all the news networks. I don't know whether he's a great legislator or not--I imagine he's got to be good, though, if he got caught with a male prostitute and still got reelected--but I do know he's the funniest member of Congress that I'm aware of, and has been for a long time. In interviews he will swear freely, or say shocking and unsayable things. In an interview he did with Rolling Stone during the Clinton impeachment, he was asked who he likes and dislikes in his party, and he said two interesting things: first, "No one likes to admit it, but deep down all of us are basically alike" (i.e., lawyer types who liked the thrill of passing big laws). And second, asked to single out anyone for real hatred he said, "If Bob Barr was on fire, and I had a pail of water, I'd have to think long and hard about whether to put him out. I'd probably do it, but I'm sure I'd feel bad about it later."

Anyway, here he is on today's bailout bill failure, after the Republican leadership blamed the failure on Nancy Pelosi's apparently partisan speech. It's an absurd excuse, and Frank is appropriately withering. It's only a minute and a half. Enjoy.