Compared To What: The Improbable Journey Of Barney Frank

Look, you start out in this line of work--

you better, if you're gonna do it right--

eager to help people.

When people tell you about something wrong,

that's a-- you get a good feeling 'cause,

"Now, maybe I can fix something.

"Maybe I can get rid of some unfairness.

Maybe I can improve people's lives."

And then you go along and, uh...

you get a little, well, you know,

sometimes people have bad complaints,

but you're still eager to help.

And at some point I reached the, uh, the transition,

so that when people called me,

it was no longer, "How can I help you?"

but in my mind, "Why are you bothering me?"

At that point, I realized,

"Yeah, you probably should get out."

Shocking political news yesterday.

One of the best-known names in the House of Representatives

is leaving-- Barney Frank of Massachusetts.

Over the years, he's become a big target for Republicans.

Say good-bye to Barney Frank.

He is corrupt.

Barney Frank is an idiot!

What a lying sack of you-know-what.

He's the worst of the worst!

Responsible for the housing bust!

Slob.

Barney, you're gonna burn in hell.

Then I won't have to listen to you. You're a homosexual.

Then I won't have to listen to you.

If you want to go to hell, Barney...

The words "end of an era" get thrown around a lot,

but this is one of them.

The news organizations trumped out analysts

to speculate the reason for his retirement.

To be the minority in the House of Representatives

is not that much fun.

The difficulty of getting acquainted

with his newly-redrawn district...

No indications that there are any health concerns.

Are you leaving your fellow Democrats in the lurch?

Hello there. How are you?

Good. What's your name?

Dylan. Dylan? Nice to meet you.

I thought you'd be here forever!

Barney Frank! I was trying to give you a break here.

Mr. Frank! How ya been? How are ya?

How you enjoying your retirement?

Not yet. Six months.

That's right, I'm looking forward. Ahh...

See ya. Have a good time.

I-- I will miss this job,

but I will tell you this and, you know,

maybe you're gonna laugh, but one of the advantages,

to me, of not running for office is

I don't even have to pretend to try to be nice

to people I don't like.

Now...

Some of you may not think I've been good at it,

but I've been trying!

No, I'm sorry, you're not gonna do this to me!

You're not gonna misstate what I said

and then shut me off from responding.

Well, congratulations, you're four for four

in managing to find the negative approach.

A rite of passage here in Washington

to have Barney Frank make you feel about this big.

Always a pleasure to have you on this program.

Sometimes more than others.

Barney, how ya doin', pal?

Barney Frank has spent 45 years in public life.

He spent 30 years in Congress,

and as he retires now he will be remembered

as the Frank in Dodd-Frank in Wall Street reform.

He will be remembered as the finance committee chairman

when Wall Street blew up.

He will be remembered as the member of Congress

you would most like to see argue with whoever it is

you most dislike in the world,

because he has a sense of humor

that he wields like a wrecking ball.

Well, first, to be... accused

by Bill, speaking on behalf of the Republicans,

of insufficient commitment to rational immigration policy

is like being called silly by The Three Stooges.

I mean that...

with no disrespect because...

No, to The Three Stooges. Shemp...

Shemp Howard-- Shemp Howard, born Horowitz,

was married to my father's cousin, Babe Frank.

So that's my, uh... but--

Now, that's impressive, you know.

Why do you continue to support a Nazi policy,

as Obama has?

When you ask me that question,

I am gonna revert to my ethnic heritage

and answer your question with a question.

She didn't start with you.

On what planet do you spend most of your time?

All right, Barney! Finish her!

Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you

would be like trying to argue with a dining room table.

I have no interest in doing it.

Oh, damn!

Ohh, damn...

I'm Barney Frank, and I authorized this message.

I can't imagine who else would.

How are ya?

Hello. Hello, Barney.

Hello. Hi, how are you?

Hey.

Hello, Barney. Good to see you.

Hello!

Hello.

Nice to see you guys.

Just sitting down for some lunch.

Well, I'm a congressman.

For another two months, then I won't be anymore.

Right front and center.

How are you?

274 Grove. I'm fine.

Yeah, okay, I got you, Barney.

There you go, turn out for the camera, come on.

Oh, he's doing a documentary.

We-- all right, smile for us, darlin'.

Okay.

It fell down. There we are.

I was always interested in politics in-- in high school.

Sorry, Toots!

I thought I saw one, but it's handicapped.

Okay. I never ran for anything there,

but I followed politics a lot.

When I got to college, I was engaged

in Young Democrat activities.

I never expected to be a candidate myself, though.

First, because I was Jewish, which in the '50s

and on to the '60s was still a constraint in America.

But secondly because I-- I realized when I was 13

that I'm gay, and, uh... at that point, certainly,

and for many years after,

the notion of a gay elected official

didn't seem very-- very plausible.

What's the backdrop?

Uh, just a rainy day in Boston.

But I happen to have moved into downtown Boston

to go to work for Kevin White when he ran for mayor,

and I had gotten prominent there working for Mayor White,

and some friends said, "You know,

you could probably get elected to the state legislature."

And, uh, to my pleasant surprise,

it turned out that was true.

Well, stay right where you are

and meet some wonderful people.

And our first "wonderful people" is Barney Frank.

Barney...

We're now faced, in the city of Boston,

with a very serious problem.

We're confronting the question about whether or not,

with an understaffed police force,

with a tax rate that's going up over the roof,

we can make this city safe for the voyeurs from Wellesley.

When Barney ran for the state legislature,

I remember two things vividly:

one, his campaign slogan, which I believe was,

"Neatness isn't everything."

And, uh, Barney being Barney,

uh, saying at one point

that running for the state legislature

is a great stepping stone

if you're going down.

When the government refused to recognize that the state

would run out of money,

Barney filed a bill to eliminate the month of February.

And he said, "Lookit, February, no one likes it.

"It's cold, it's ugly,

"and it's only 28 days anyway,

so people wouldn't notice if it were gone."

So he introduced that.

It was funny one day that a, um, legislator,

who was from New Bedford, actually,

and stood up and said,

"I am just tired of this. The Congre--

"Barney Frank keeps introducing legislation,

"one thing after another.

"First, it was legalized prostitution.

"Then it was legalized pornography.