Barney is Frank in this interview

Yeah, really did write that headline. Yikes. I probably need to break for lunch!

Congressman Barney Frank gave an exclusive interview to Lloyd Grove for The Daily Beast the day after his birthday this week (I guess it’s exclusive because it’s quite extensive – Frank is on TV doing interviews all the time!). Tbe 59-year-old openly gay politician touches on all the hot button topics: Antonin Scalia, Bill O’Reilly, Dick Cheney and even Larry Craig (what a scary quartet, huh?). Here are some excerpts:

Q. What did you do for your birthday?

A. Well my boyfriend [Jim Ready, who is 30 years younger than Frank] came down. He lives up in Maine and he flew down with me on Monday. He spent the day, sort of hanging out, then we used the gym, then went home, and had a nice quiet dinner at home.

Q. What was the reaction after that amazing Bill O’Reilly encounter, which is a YouTube favorite?

A. Mostly I heard from people who were sympathetic to me. I do think in that one he got somewhat damaged, and he did apologize for it a couple of times, in an article and elsewhere. Part of it was incredulity. “Why would you go on?” And I said, I think you don’t want to let these things go unrefuted. He’s not invited me back.

Ten years ago, I might have reacted more angrily, but I really am able to kind of separate it out. I’m being attacked not because of me personally but as an obstacle to regulate. I just did a fundraiser. I said, ‘OK, they need to get some money, they’ve got to refute some of these things.’ I’m being attacked by Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove—none of these people I respect. Finally to top it off, I was one of the handful criticized by Dick Cheney in his post-vice presidential interview, and I said, my mother was wonderful woman, died three years ago at 92, and I have missed her constantly. But I particularly would’ve liked her to be around when Dick Cheney attacked me, because—I don’t know how good your Yiddish is— she would’ve kvelled at the notion that I’m still haunting Dick Cheney.

Q. You’ve made a splash recently by identifying Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a homophobe—

A. Yes, based on his opinions. Let me clarify this. It wasn’t based on his being opposed to gay marriage, because a lot of people can be. It was in the Colorado case when he dissented—

Q. —and said it’s permissible to jail somebody for consensual sodomy.

A. Not only did Clarence Thomas put out an opinion that said the law was silly, Scalia basically said yeah, they should be in jail. He said, of course people have a right to disapprove of homosexuality, there are other areas people have a right to disapprove, like murder. He said the court, in ruling that you should not send two men to prison, criminally prosecute them for having sex in their own bedroom, that to say that was to take sides in the culture war on homosexuality. And obviously he took the other side. There’s no question Scalia thinks homosexuals are bad people and it’s a bad thing.

Q. Are you planning to identify any other homophobes in public life?

A. Oh, it became relevant. People were asking me strategically what I thought, and I said I thought it was better that this [pursuing the constitutionality of gay marriage] was going to be delayed with Scalia still on the court. I have done so from time to time, when there were people acting out of what seems to me a bias, but only if it’s relevant to public policy. I’m not a commentator in general, and I do that when it becomes relevant to a strategic or tactical decision.

Q. What do you make of Larry Craig, who was one of your chief tormentors two decades ago?

A. I feel sorry for him.