Rep Barney Frank (D-MA) put his trademark pugnaciousness on full display in his retirement press conference Monday, giddily bashing Republicans — especially former Speaker Newt Gingrich — at every turn.
Frank said he decided to retire for a number of reasons, including the Republican majority’s stranglehold on policy decisions, the prospect of a tough re-election, and a redesigned district that includes over 300,000 new constituents. Frank said the latter was the immediate factor behind his retirement, since he dreaded the prospect of having to reintroduce himself to so many new voters while still performing his job at a high level and wanted to give his party a heads up to find a new recruit to run.
“It would have been a tough campaign,” he told reporters in Newton, MA, citing a broader anti-incumbent tide. “In some ways, if you’re an incumbent representing people you haven’t represented you get the worst of both worlds.”
Frank said he would not use his Congressional experience to secure a lucrative job lobbying his former colleagues.
“I will neither be a lobbyist nor a historian,” he said, a jab at Gingrich’s self-proclaimed $1.6 million “historian” gig for Freddie Mac. “My intention is to do some combination of writing, teaching, and lectures.”
He got in some more one-liners at Gingrich as he waded into the GOP presidential primary.
“I do not think I have lived a good enough life to be rewarded by Newt Gingrich being the nominee,” he joked, calling his potential nomination “the best thing to happen to the Democratic party since Barry Goldwater.”
The Congressman said he had “no regrets” about the financial crisis that defined his tenure as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, blaming Republicans for ignoring problems he identified with the subprime mortgage market during their time in the majority.
He held nothing back in his criticism of the state of the House under Republican rule.
“It consists half of people who think like Michele Bachmann and half of people who are afraid of losing a primary to people who think like Michele Bachmann,” he said, “and that leaves very little room to work things out.”
Frank, who came out in 1987, reflected with pride on his role as a gay rights pioneer in the political world, saying he was moved by openly gay New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s claim that she was inspired by his experience.
“The best antidote to prejudice is reality,” he said, “because prejudice is by definition based on ignorance of people’s real condition.”
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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