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September 08, 2009
Barney Frank wants Cabinet post (HUD Secretary)
Barney Frank wants Cabinet post (HUD Secretary)
Rep. Barney Frank is interested in capping his political career as a member of the president’s Cabinet, according to a new biography of the Financial Services Committee chairman.
Frank (D-Mass.) told author Stuart Weisberg that he would like to be Housing and Urban Development secretary. However, the 69-year-old lawmaker stresses that his departure from Congress is not imminent.
He first wants to pass more legislation on affordable housing, saying, “I want at least two years with President Obama and a solidly Democratic Senate so that we can get the federal government back in the housing business.”
The last time a president appointed an openly gay Cabinet member happened during the Clinton administration.
Weisberg, who used to work for Frank on Capitol Hill, spent five years on his authoritative book, titled Barney Frank, The Story of America’s Only Left-handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman. He interviewed over 150 people, including compiling 30 hours of interviews with Frank.
Frank talks about how he struggled as a gay man growing up in blue-collar Bayonne, N.J. He dated women throughout high school and college, but knew he was gay at 13. Still, he delayed revealing his sexuality until he had established a foothold in the House.
In the 501-page tome — to be released later this month — Frank is described by people who know him well as a masterful legislator, an impatient boss, and “socially handicapped.”Frank has been the subject of many profiles, but Weisberg provides news that political junkies crave.
One of the most riveting parts of the book is Frank’s recollection of his ethics scandal, when he paid a male prostitute for sex. Various media outlets called for Frank to resign, but he persevered by admitting his mistakes and asking the ethics committee to investigate him in 1989. Many Republicans, including then-Rep. Larry Craig (Idaho), called for serious sanctions against Frank, who was ultimately reprimanded by the House, 408-18. (California Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman both voted against the measure.)
The following year, a Republican challenger to Frank’s seat — described as “not the smartest person in the district” — called on Frank to take an AIDS test and reveal the results publicly. Frank replied that he would do so if his GOP challenger would take an IQ test and release it to the public.
Throughout his life, Frank has battled bouts with depression and his voracious appetite. When Frank was advised by a political operative to improve his appearance, Frank responded that “when you are 5 feet 10 inches and you have a 46 waist and your thighs rub together, your clothes have a way of not looking good.”
At other points in his life, he was able to lose weight — a lot of it. He once lost 100 pounds in eight months. Knowing that avoiding obesity would be a lifelong struggle, Frank said, “The day I die, I will either be fat or hungry.”
Sometimes to his detriment, Frank was not shy in criticizing Democrats publicly, most notably President Bill Clinton during the “don’t ask, don’t tell” debate. He also irritated Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) by suggesting Kennedy had no chance of becoming president after his 1980 bid fell short.
The personal details about Frank show a side of the Financial Services panel chairman that Washington insiders have not seen. He pumped gas as a teenager at his father’s truck stop in New Jersey, formally changed his name from “Barnett” to Barney and was an avid baseball and tennis player. Weisberg writes that only Frank’s mother Elsie, and his sister, Democratic strategist Ann Lewis, consistently won arguments against him. Elsie Frank died in 2005.
There are many amusing quotes from the quick-witted Frank. After then-Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) called Frank “Barney Fag” and then attributed the remark to a slip of the tongue, Frank said, “There are many ways to mispronounce my name. That one is the least common.”
Amid the GOP-led Congress’s actions to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, Frank challenged Republicans who offered their medical analysis during the debate: “The caption tonight ought to be: ‘We’re not doctors — we just play them on C-SPAN.’ ”
Frank acknowledges missteps in crafting the 2008 financial bailout bill, saying the measure gave the Treasury secretary too much discretion in how to use the funds. But he asserts that passing the legislation was a necessity.
Weisberg writes that “the best of times is now” for Frank, noting the 15-term member is “at the top of his game as a lawmaker and as a deal-maker … He feels comfortable with who he is and he is no longer emotionally isolated.
“I am what I am," Frank said, adding, "sort of like Popeye.”
Wild Thing's comment......
Barney wants a position on the President’s staff ???
Hmmmmm this is the guy who was pretty much responsible for the subprime crisis getting rewarded with a HUD cabinet post??? well ..................
OK get him out of his senate seat..and the Administration will be out in 2012. If Barney Frank wants a Cabinet post
I guess it is OK. But what does he intend to do with it?
He will mess up anything he does, that's for sure. But gosh it would be nice to be getting rid of the democrat body count to help us out in the next election.
He would be a perfect cabinet member: 1.) He does not pay his taxes, 2.) He lies on federal forms, 3.) He has proven himself to be incompetent on housing matters and 4.) He is a slut. ( can a male be a slut?) oh well he sure as heck is.
A perfect candidate for this administration.
Posted by Wild Thing at September 8, 2009 06:55 AM
Comments
YES! A post for Barney!
And I can tell you exactly where to put it.
Posted by: Rick at September 8, 2009 08:01 AM
Barney can go sit and spin. He's a fat, gay slob who thinks he runs this nation. He's an idiot and I hope to God Obamanation realizes this and ignores him.
Posted by: Lynn at September 8, 2009 08:10 AM
He is the last person I want to know many personal details about. It's bad enough that the people in my home state keep electing the sorry excuse.
And we so want him in charge of getting the government back in anything.
(and yes, Chrissie ~ gay men can be sluts.)
Posted by: yankeemom at September 8, 2009 10:17 AM
Yankeemom, that's too much info! His personal life is his own problem. He's his own worst enemy in that regard. His complete arrogance and lack of responsibility is what bothers me. He's one of those guys where you can have a photo of him standing over the body with a smoking gun and he'll still blame the republicans. Why he keeps winning re-election is beyond me.
Posted by: Jim at September 8, 2009 11:32 AM
Hey might not be so bad. Boney fwank in the whore house...err White House. First there was Monica Lowinsky in the white house, now Boney Fwank in the oval office. He could really Screw things up.
You know Boney and the Emanuell brothers would get along famously, One's gay the other a Ballerina ? Thats a match made in hea***,... eerr, scratch that, Hell.
Posted by: Mark at September 8, 2009 11:35 AM
Bonnie Fwank was one of the primary planners of the entire banking crisis. He is responsible for the loss of wealth and jobs by so many average Americans. obama may just pick this vain leftist for a cabinet position.
Posted by: TomR at September 8, 2009 12:30 PM
Hey, I hear there's a Green Jobs Czar opening! :)
Posted by: Anonymous at September 8, 2009 02:45 PM
The only position I recommend for homo Frank is dangling from a rope.
Posted by: Eddie (Locked & Loaded) at September 8, 2009 03:34 PM
Barny 'Compost' Fwwwank? "I taught I sawww a puddycat?" Does he eat corn on the cobb east to west or north to south?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at September 8, 2009 06:12 PM
LOL you all are great!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at September 8, 2009 11:47 PM
o barney your so queer!this country has been destroyed because of a loser like you. i sure you made a lot of your jew friends on wall st. billions of free tax payer dollars . there must be something wrong with your state for the people to have elected a loser like you.why in the world is a fag in charge of banking on the hill. im sure you would like to get behind the president and show him a thing or two!
Posted by: saul goldtosilverman at September 9, 2009 10:48 AM
