That's what a hill is, right?
"A mellow and feisty Barney Frank visits Capitol Hill; Defends his law, reflects on bygone stress" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff July 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — It was hardly just a nostalgia tour when Barney Frank ambled into the Capitol on Wednesday. More like a return to the land of old grudges.
It's going to turn into one soon.
The former Massachusetts representative shuffled into his former committee room, taking a seat to testify in front of an overflow audience packed with advocates, aides, and banking lobbyists.
He was greeted coolly by Republicans, who now run the Financial Services Committee, and impassively by a large portrait of himself hung on the back wall, a reminder of the post-recession days four years ago when he guided passage of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations reform bill.
That means his career was ultimately a failure?
“Barney, do you miss us?” Representative Michael Capuano, the Somerville Democrat, asked halfway through the four-hour hearing.
“Uh,” Frank said, “no.”
I don't miss him, either.
Frank returned to Capitol Hill to defend his signature 2010 financial reform law. He was at times the same combative intellectual who served 32 years in Congress. Several times, he tried to speak when it wasn’t his turn — and Republicans had limited success reining him in.
And he -- gasp, cough -- smokes weed.
But at other moments, Frank was more reflective, professing to have mellowed since he retired in January 2013. He just celebrated his two-year wedding anniversary with his longtime partner, Jim Ready, and has moved to Maine. He even has grown a beard (“My husband’s a beard guy,” he says, by way of explanation).
How long, because he was getting his lovers jobs at Fannie and Freddie for a while (and was running the gay prostitution ring servicing Capitol Hill, remember that)?
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Since he left Congress, Frank has not exactly kept a low profile. He’s appeared regularly on MSNBC and CNBC, where he has contracts.
No big stink like with Brownie at Fox! 'course, I wouldn't know Barney was on those channels cuz I never watch them.
He’s been in one documentary (“Freedom Summer,” about young people like him who went to the Deep South in 1964 to crusade for civil rights) and he’s starred in another (“Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank”).
Notorious for resisting electronic office innovations while in office, he has obtained his own e-mail address for the first time and even set up a Twitter account. (One of his first tweets was: “I once said I did not intend to Tweet. As you can tell from reading this, I changed my mind.”) Generally, he tweets only every few weeks.
This spring, he finished a draft of his memoir, which he typed out on an oversize keyboard that Ready purchased at Walgreen’s to accommodate Frank’s clunky hands. He and Ready have spent considerable time at their home in Ogunquit, Maine. (Frank still has a condominium in Newton.)
He’s become a regular contributor to the Maine Telegram, writing columns on gay marriage, inadequate Veterans Affairs funding, the midterm elections, imposing sanctions on Thailand. He’s even styled himself as a television critic, penning a memorable takedown of the popular Netflix series “House of Cards.” After watching three episodes, he concluded that the show did a disservice because it portrayed a Washington where a powerful character controls too much and makes too few mistakes. (A better representation, he writes, is “West Wing.”)
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In the fall, Frank will start teaching a course at Harvard on the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement. In the spring, he’ll teach a course on Congress.
It’s not uncommon to spot Frank in Maine grabbing breakfast at the Backyard Coffeehouse and Eatery, or heading to a cocktail or dinner party with his husband. He’s been active in Maine politics, cohosting several events for Representative Mike Michaud, who is running for governor and came out last year as gay....
During an interview last year with Bill Maher, Frank revealed that he was an atheist. Last month, as the American Humanist Association gave him an award, he told Religion News Service that he stopped going to temple when it didn’t mean anything to him....
Let me be the first to say there is good in all people.
I'm a good Catholic; I don't much bother with it.
On Thursday, Frank is planning to meet with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulator Mel Watt and have lunch with Senator Elizabeth Warren before dropping by to see independent Senator Angus King of Maine. In the evening, he’s attending a reunion with former staffers at a home on Capitol Hill.
Away from the nitty-gritty, four-hour debate in the Financial Services Committee room, Frank had time to reconnect Wednesday as he navigated through the corridors of Congress....
As Frank waited in the House dining room for Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who was occupied with House votes, a delegation from Pakistan arrived, also to meet with Waters. The group included the country’s former president, Asif Ali Zardari....
Wow, so many things I'm told as all these politicians seem to survive the banking scandals.
--more--"
The article turned into a "What's Barney been up to?," didn't it?
And that is the last word on Barney.
